Smart Blonde

Good start to the B series about the fast-talking, gutsy, and snoopy lady reporter, a forerunner to Lois Lane. It has a brisk pace and a fun cast of characters. This first entry deals with the murder of a guy who just bought a popular nightclub. Reporter Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell) and her detective boyfriend Steve McBride (Barton MacLane) set out to solve the case, together and in spite of each other.

Farrell and MacLane are both terrific in parts well-suited to their particular talents. Jane Wyman, who would later play the role of Torchy herself, has a small part here as a gabby hatcheck girl. Good support from Addison Richards, Tom Kennedy, Wini Shaw, Robert Paige, Joseph Crehan, and Charlotte Wynters (the future Mrs. Barton MacLane). If you're a fan of B's from back in the day, or just a fan of the great Glenda Farrell, you should find a lot to like here.

This 1937 "Torchy Blane" film, "Smart Blonde" has Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell) trying to find out who killed an entrepreneur who just purchased a night club and some gambling establishments.

Torchy is a witness to the murder. Later on, one of the suspects, the dead man's bodyguard, is also found dead. Torchy and her some time boyfriend, Lt. McBride (Barton MacLane), as usual, are at odds as far as who the killer is.

There were quite a few of these films, this being the first, starring character actress Farrell, with MacLane as McBride. The two have great chemistry.

These films were always lively and the real story always seemed to be about Torchy and McBride's relationship rather than any actual mystery, though the mysteries certainly were present.

Fast-talking, smart Torchy is an independent woman along the lines of Hildy in "His Girl Friday" and the Torchy Blane series was the first (I think) to star a woman; the Maisie series began in 1939.

Always entertaining.

A taxi races along beside a moving train. The passenger leans forward: "Driver, let me off at the next crossing, will you?" She hops out, takes a few running steps, then leaps aboard the very last car as the train rolls by. –That's our first glimpse of Torchy Blane, ace reporter.

This snappy opening is a good introduction to our heroine: fast talking, quick witted, and pretty much fearless. Boarding a moving train is typical of Torchy's style—she simply wants to snag an interview with an incoming businessman before his arrival in town, so she hops the train he's on. Sure enough, she gets the interview…and gets herself a mystery along with her scoop when the man is murdered a few hours later.

Glenda Farrell is just about perfect as Torchy—sweet smile, rapid fire delivery, irrepressible charm. Also on the case is Barton McLane as Torchy's boyfriend, Lieutenant Steve McBride. Torchy appreciates his manliness ("All he needs is a leopard skin"), but she is consistently a step or two ahead of him in the investigation—which fact he grudgingly admires but finds annoying as well.

Tom Kennedy is wonderfully goofy as an assisting cop named Gahagan who loves life and composes poetry ("I love the night!" he exclaims, more or less at random). And a young Jane Wyman is hilarious in a small role as a hat check girl who, among other adventures, comes home from a party with a St. Bernard: "I wish I knew where I got that dog," she muses.

A nice plot keeps us guessing and ties up neatly; likable characters and lively dialog add up to a very entertaining quickie.

My favorite exchange comes when Torchy is trying to talk her way into a murder scene. (She's there well ahead of Steve, naturally.) "I'm from the Herald," she argues to the cop guarding the door, "I'm Torchy Blane." His deadpan response: "I don't care if you're Flaming Youth, you can't go in there."

Entertaining entry in Warner Bros. "Torchy Blane" series. In fact, it's very entertaining, with all the usual trimmings of the series and with a good, solid mystery to boot. The best murder mysteries are the ones that keep you guessing right up to the end, and this one delivers.

There is the usual back story, the relationship between Torchy (Glenda Farrell), the reporter/ sleuth, and Det. Steve McBride (Barton MacLane); are they an item or not? The role of Torchy is tailor-made for Glenda Farrell, the prototypical wisecracking blonde of 30's movies, and she doesn't disappoint.

For Golden Age movie fans, there is another wisecracking blonde in the supporting cast who is tough to recognize - none other than Jane Wyman, who most of us remember as a brunette. Maltin says this is the only entry in the series taken from material from its author, Frederick Nebel, which could account for the better storyline than most of the other entries.

Glenda Farrell originates the role of Torchy Blain, a fast-talking wise-cracking reporter who will do anything for a scoop, including using her amiable lieutenant boyfriend to sneak into crime scenes, steal clues from the police, and even bully suspects into making false statements to find the real culprit. Farrell has a filmography a mile long, usually playing a second-fiddle gold diggers and hard-luck girls, so it's nice to see this forgotten actress take the lead in a role that is smart and funny. Lasting only an hour, SMART BLONDE is one of those "B" movies that was shown before the main feature, so don't expect deep characters or an intricate mystery, but Farrell tears through the script at lightning speed, trading quips and unraveling a murder cover-up. Barton MacLane as her lieutenant boyfriend McBride is a sturdy and likable foil -- for once the cops aren't entirely stupid. Despite some shamefully racist moments, the Torchy Blane series of films are overall very satisfying and fun. They should be remembered in the same pre-war vein as HIS GIRL Friday, where a woman could be every bit as smart and career-driven as a man. Oddly enough, Farrell played an identical character in the horror classic MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933) but lost top billing to Fay Wray.