The Adventurous Blonde

When we last left them, Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell) and Steve MacBride (Barton MacLane were still about to get married,. In this one, what keeps them apart is that her fellow reporters decide the way to keep her on the paper is to have her report a fake murder. So they set it up with Leyland Howard, only to discover that he is, indeed dead. So MacLane and Miss Farrell investigate at cross purposes.

The nine Torchy Blane movies produced by Warner's B unit from 1937 through 1939 are a lot of silly fun, mostly because Miss Farrell was Warner's champion motormouth, and MacLane was tops at playing a solid guy; together they are surprisingly charming. Tom Kennedy, Charley Foy, and Jimmy Conlin appear for their own brands of comic action, and while these were never intended as great movies, they were always solidly entertaining.

The Adventurous Blonde (1937)

*** (out of 4)

The third film in the series has Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell) and Lt. MacBride (Barton MacLane) soon to be married, which drives her fellow reporters crazy because they feel she'll get all the scoops. To get even with her they get a famous actor needing publicity to pretend to be murdered so that Torchy will report the story and then get in trouble. The tables turn however when the actor ends up murdered just the way the joke was supposed to happen. This third film in the series is actually the best up to this point thanks in large part to the cast doing a fine job but the story here is also extremely well-done with a couple nice twists at the end. The idea of a "joke" murder getting into the newspaper is a bit far-fetched but I really thought this was rather fun at the start of the picture. The jealousy of the male reporters was quite funny but once the murder takes place things get a lot more serious. As someone who watches every "B" murder/mystery that comes on TCM, I must admit that the story here was quite good and especially the various suspects and their connection to the victim. Farrell and MacLane are both at the top of their game here with the chemistry flying high. Anne Nagel, George E. Stone and Tom Kennedy are all good in their supporting bits as is Anderson Lawler, , Leyland Hodgson and Virginia Brissac. The twist at the end is something I won't give away but I serious doubt anyone will see it coming.

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.