Torchy and Steve just might get married this time around: they've got the license and the minister and are meeting at the station. But wait—the boys from the rival paper hatch a plan: they stage a phony murder, arrange for Steve to be called in to investigate, and hire an actor to play the corpse.
—Heavy on the comedy so far, but when the "corpse" is really murdered, the plot thickens into a somewhat convoluted but very funny comedy-mystery, the third film in the Torchy Blane series (and third of the same year!).
Barton McLane is fine in his third go-round as Steve McBride, serious-minded police detective; gruff but loyal and tenacious, Lieutenant McBride seems to be getting smarter and more appealing as the series progresses.
Glenda Farrell is just great as reporter Torchy Blane, once again mixed up in a murder investigation
once again scooping her rival reporters
and once again staying approximately one step of Steve in a case that sorely interferes with their wedding plans.
Tom Kennedy is also back as Officer Gahagan, composing poetry in his spare moments and hopefully asking, "Siren and all?" every time McBride orders him to drive somewhere in a hurry.
It's an unsettled first fifteen minutes; that phony murder plot really makes little sense. Once the real plot starts rolling, however—and once Torchy is on the case—this picture is great fun and moves at a terrific pace.
The supporting cast is steady if unspectacular; the plot itself is rather complicated at times, partly because Farrell talks so fast. Luckily, the appealing main characters, and a script that gives them some good moments together, do keep things zipping right along, whether they're talking murder or marriage:
Steve: "I never know what you're gonna do next." Torchy: "You wait'll we're married."
Exceedingly light but delicious.
