The Adventurous Blonde

Third in WB's fun Torchy Blane series. This time Torchy and Steve are about to get married but get sidetracked with another murder investigation. The particulars of this murder are a doozy. Four of Torchy's rival reporters stage a murder to stop the wedding but then the actor playing the victim actually winds up killed. Cast includes Anne Nagel, George E. Stone, William Hopper, Charley Foy, and Natalie Moorhead. Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane are especially cute together in this one.

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.

The whodunit part is fairly complicated involving a newspaper rivalry, a faked murder that turns real, along with Torchy and her cop buddy trying to stay out of trouble. Logic-wise, the plot's more than the usual stretch.

I haven't seen other entries in the Blaine series so I can't compare. This programmer, however, carries the earmarks of 30's style WB—fast paced, lots of street-wise mugs, few lengthy talk scenes, and a sassy blonde. Torchy (Farrell) is a cannily aggressive reporter who pairs up with cop Steve (Mac Lane) to scoop rival reporters. Note how, in one scene, she even takes over Steve's seat at the station house. There's some typical lowbrow humor from the likes of Tom Kennedy who specialized in such roles. And catch tough guy Mac Lane in what's almost a leading man role, certainly a departure for him. Likely a handsomer Lawler (Hugo) was added to compensate in the looks department. I guess I missed Perry Mason's William Hopper who's in the credits, but short on screen time.

Anyway, the programmer's okay as a time passer, especially if you keep a note pad to keep up with the plot, but otherwise it's nothing special.

(In passing—Over the years, I've surmised that whenever viewers see a city street closed off at one end by a cross street, that means it's a back lot set, as is the case here.)

Glenda farrell is torchy blane, on a train, heading east to get married. Co-stars the usual barton maclane and tom kennedy. It's a battle of newspapers, and the other reporters want to put torchy in her place. So they stage a fake murder. Which turns out not to be fake. Will she ever get married? Some funny lines. Fast action. Well done who-dunnit, wrapped up in sixty one minutes. We were still pretty happy go lucky, between the two wars. I really liked the energy of this one... not a minute wasted. It really moved along. Fun stuff. Directed by frank mcdonald; he made six films with farrell. Torchy blane character by writer fred nebel.

Barton MacLane, William Hopper and George E. Stone all appeared in TV's Perry Mason. Hopper as a main character PI Paul Drake, Stone as the court reporter in many episodes and MacLane as a guest star.