Torchy Gets Her Man

Torchy Gets Her Man (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The sixth film in the Warner series has Glena Farrell returning to the role of reporter Torchy Blane. This time out she learns that her fiancé detective (Barton MacLane) is working with a government man as they two to capture a counterfeiter known as $100 Bailey. TORCHY GETS HER MAN is certainly a step up from the previous film, which was just downright flat due in large part to a weak story and the lack of Farrell. Thankfully the studio was able to get her back for this installment and there's no question that the picture is much better for it. As with the previous entries, the stories themselves aren't the greatest things out there but this here is good enough to at least keep you interested in everything that's going on and the cast just makes everything all the more entertaining. Farrell was certainly at ease in the role and I think her comic timing is right on the mark from start to finish and she just gives such a fun performance that you can't help but smile watching her work. MacLane, also back after missing the previous film, is good but there's no question that he's not given too much to do. Tom Kennedy nearly steals the film as the dimwitted driver and wannabe poet. The supporting cast doesn't feature any real stand outs but everyone is nice in their roles. I think the weakest thing about this entry is that director William Beaudine lives up to his reputation of just doing one take. There are some pretty ugly and cheap shots to be seen here and it takes the "B" level quality down a notch. Still, he at least keeps the film moving at a nice pace and fans of the series should be entertained.

With the fifth of Glenda Farrell's seven Torchy Blaine films, the Warner Bros. series would begin to drift away from knotty whodunits to more cops-and-robbers action with which the series would remain, incl. the two non-Farrell Torchys made after hers. Too bad, because now, instead of two sweethearts partnering to solve a murder, Torchy and Barton MacLane's Detective Steve McBride relationship now becomes adversarial reporter vs cop. Ho hum. Still, it was fun while it lasted. The chief pleasure of the series remains; Glenda Farrell as the brassy, intuitive and unstoppable newshound, Torchy Blane - greatest of all 30s Hollywood B movie female reporters.

The sixth of Warner Brothers' nine Torchy Blane series returns with the usual troupe, led by Glenda Farrell as Torchy, Barton MacLane as Steve, tom Kennedy as the nitwitted, poetry-spouting sergeant, plus a welcome addition of a handsome, uncredited German Shepherd. They're on the trail of counterfeiters, and the unnamed dog dog seems to be the smartest of the investigators ..... Miss Farrell's talents seem to consist of talking fast and inserting herself into unlikely situations.

It's directed by William Beaudine, who directed one more of the series for Warners, and then went into free fall. He had survived the transition to sound pretty well, but a trip to Britain, where he directed some pretty good comedies, including some Will Hay features, but his return to Tinseltown seemed to leave him forgotten. He seems to have gotten these assignments for Auld Lang Syne, then it was downward into Gower Gulch, still turning out competent features when given someone to work with; but his willingness to go without retakes endeared him the cheapest producers. He kept slogging through the middle of the 1960s, working for whoever would hire him, but his glory days, alas, were behind him.

Reporter Torchy Blane bumps lightly into a cop as she breezes through the police station's front door. "Oh, sorry," she says. "I meant to knock you down." Torchy's friendly smirk pretty much sums up her attitude toward the police: they're supposedly in charge but they sure move a lot slower than she does.

Glenda Farrell returns as spunky girl reporter Torchy Blane in this amusing but uneven series entry. Farrell is excellent as usual—Torchy is a quick thinker and a fast talker, and Farrell presents just the right mix of wit, charm and silliness.

Tom Kennedy is equally good as Gahagan, the lumbering police chauffeur who is liable to burst into poetry at any moment. This time around, Gahagan is given an unscheduled vacation, the other cops figuring that keeping him off of the case entirely is the only way to prevent him from spilling inside information to Torchy.

Barton McLane's role as Lieutenant Steve McBride is, alas, rather dry. The plot sets him up to be the eventual hero…but boy, it sure takes him a while to sort things out. What's worse, he's not only dumb, he's boring.

The story, for what it's worth, concerns a master counterfeiter known as "Hundred Dollar Bill" Bailey (Willard Robertson) playing an elaborate trick on an extremely gullible police force. Posing as an ace federal agent, this Bailey sets up shop behind a window at the racetrack, where he exchanges his phony bills right under the cops' noses. Needless to say, Torchy catches on that something is fishy long before Steve or the other cops.

Highlights include Gahagan's system for betting on the horses (it involves the fact that 6 x 6 = 37); and a rented German shepherd that only understands German (Torchy rents a phrase book along with the dog).

Very silly and enjoyable when Torchy and Gahagan are on the scene….not as lively during passages involving counterfeiters or detectives.

After a one film absence (where Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane were replaced with different actors playing their roles in a previous film), they are back. As a result, the quality of the film is better than this last outing, TORCHY BLANE IN PANAMA.

This Torchy Blane story all revolves around how stupid the police and how audacious criminals can be. The plan that is hatched really is insanely dangerous and makes little sense, though it does make for a decent film--if you don't think very much!! A criminal poses as a federal agent (this will get you a bazillion years in prison if you are caught) and convinces the amazingly gullible police that he needs their help in catching criminals passing forged $100 bills. So the police arrange for the local race track to give this crook a job, where he makes a ton of money for his gang substituting real money with forged! Idiot cops.

Overall, the film is a pretty typical and brainless outing for the series. The only thing of note is that the longer the series went, the less chummy Torchy and her boyfriend, McBride, behaved. In the first film they got engaged. However, here in the 6th, they are dating but that is all and there isn't much romance between them.

The only bright aspect is Gahagan. The longer the series went, the funnier and more endearing he became. His "system" for horse betting is amazing...simply amazing.