Torchy Blane.. Playing with Dynamite

Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins team up as the reporter/detective pair in their first but also the series final episode. Wyman looks great but simply does not have the wisecracking hard-boiled presence of the annoying Glenda Farrell. Jenkins is fair but Barton MacLane is better.

As in the rest of the series and many other films of this type, the amateur is a necessary component of bringing the criminal to justice. Torchy goes undercover in jail and on the lam in order to meet up with the notorious Denver Eddie. By the end of the movie she is in the arms of fiancé Detective Lieutenant Steve McBride.

Tom Kennedy steals most of the movie by playing a former Navy wrester turned policeman. In reality Tom was a boxer and he carries off his match as Harry the Horse with Bone Crusher (played by Tiny Roebuck in his final on-screen performance) with good comedic style. If you have ever wondered what the protagonists in a wrestling match say to each other while they are otherwise locked into their imposing holds, watch this movie.

For the final entry of this series, Torchy Blane, girl reporter on a quaint metropolitan New York newspaper gets herself pinched speeding to file a story. Turns out to be a lucky break because she gets tossed into jail with Sheila Bromley, girlfriend of notorious bank robber Eddie Marr.

The original stars of the series, Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane as NYPD Detective Steve McBride were replaced by Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins. This may have been the only time in screen history that Allen Jenkins got the girl. They were fine in the parts, but the public didn't accept them and the series was discontinued.

Along though for the final ride was Tom Kennedy who was McBride's cop sidekick as he was for the rest of the series. Kennedy was a former boxer who was also a former wrestler. Familiarity with the squared circle plays an important part in what was a most interesting climax to the film.

Torchy Plays With Dynamite was something I'm sure entertained many people on the double bill who might have come to see one of Warner Brothers big budget attractions like Dodge City in 1939. It's fast paced and amusing and no one I'm sure walked out.

The trouble with all those Torchy Blane movies were that they were all too similar in plot and style. In other words, if you've seen one, you've seen them all.

Once again, Torchy finds a way to nab a criminal for her policeman pal Steve McBride, with the roles now played by JANE WYMAN and ALLEN JENKINS. Needless to say, they're not a convincing match. Wyman does all of her cutesy tricks that she employed during her early days at Warner Bros., and Jenkins plays a dumb cop in his usual style, for laughs. TOM KENNEDY is still on hand as the bumbling helpmate of the two, this time involved in a wrestling match that spins the film toward its finale.

Fast moving entertainment, it's a B-film that played the second half of a double feature in 1939. Apparently, it didn't catch on as well as the series did with Glenda Farrell in the lead, so it became the last film of the Torchy Blane series.

"Torchy Blane...Playing with Dynamite" is the final Torchy Blane film by Warner Brothers. While the earlier films were very good for B-movies, the studio monkeyed around with the cast--and the original star and co-star (Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane) were replaced twice in the series. This really made little sense, as Farrell and MacLane were both excellent....but the studio thought that the series might do better with Lola Lane and Paul Kelly in the leads. Well, the studio was wrong and they brought back the original cast. But after a couple more films, Farrell changed studios and instead of retiring the series, they tried it one final time with Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins. And, since they only made one film with Wyman and Jenkins, the change obviously didn't sit well with audiences.

The plot to this one is very familiar as well as totally stupid. While in court, Torchy notices Jackie Maguire is there....and she's the girlfriend of a notorious gangster. So, she comes up with an insane idea....to get thrown into jail so she can pal up to Jackie and learn where her wanted boyfriend is hiding. However, her plan to get arrested goes too well and she's sentenced to 11 months in jail....not a few weeks like she assumed. But her insane plan gets even dumber when she plans on escaping with Jackie in order to find Denver Eddie! Can this convoluted plan possibly work? Well, in real life, no....but in an old B-movie....most likely.

Overall, this is only an okay B-movie that could have been better. It's not just the cast that's the problem, but the plot is too familiar and silly to be taken very seriously. A time-passer and not much more.

I just watched this one on TCM. Torchy gets herself tossed in jail so that she can cozy up to Jackie McGuire, girlfriend of the notorious gangster Denver Eddie. Torchy and Jackie break out of jail and go on the lam, finally linking up with Eddie and his two goons. Steve McBride and Gahagan are close behind. We learn that Gahagan is a former wrestling champion from the navy. The climax is a wrestling match between Gahagan, AKA Harry the Horse, and The Bone Crusher, his old wrestling nemesis from the navy.

Jane Wyman takes over the Torchy role in this final film of the series. Glenda Farrell had left the studio. Allen Jenkins is Steve McBride. He was much better suited to comedy. Pretty but hard looking Sheila Bromley is very good as Jackie.

This is an OK entry as the series swan song. It's fast paced and the script is clever. The action scenes, especially the wrestling match, are well done. Tom Kennedy had been a professional wrestler and boxer before becoming an actor so he was very well suited to the ring sequences. TBPWD is only 59 minutes long but is an OK way to spend a lazy Saturday morning.