Torchy Runs for Mayor

I watched TRFM on TCM this Saturday morning. It's the last Torchy film with Glenda Farrell and Barton McLane. Warner Brothers made one more, with Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins in the leading roles.

TRFM has a pretty wild plot, with an unscrupulous criminal boss/medical doctor named Dolan suddenly taking over the city. He controls the mayor and other key city officials, including the police commissioner. Torchy wages a one woman war against him. She commits a few felonies to get the goods on him, including illegally bugging the mayor's office, breaking into Dolan's house, and stealing a red notebook with key evidence inside it. When the newspapers refuse to print her sensational stories, she quits her reporter job and tries to convince someone to run against the crooked mayor. Steve secretly submits her name as a candidate. So, as the title says, Torchy runs for mayor. Dolan has Torchy drugged and kidnapped. Steve gets frustrated and resigns from the police force so that he won't be constrained by any rules in his search for Torchy. Gahagan goes along with him. But can they find Torchy in time?

If you can get past the implausible plot situations, this is an enjoyable last offering for Glenda and Barton. It's fast paced, with good action. But Gahagan's character is really in the background and his comic relief lessened. The ending seems to indicate that the series is ending or that it's taking a new turn. But the final Torchy movie with Jane Wyman continues on the original storyline as though the ending in TRFM never happened. Only in Hollywood.

Final Glenda Farrell Torchy Blane comedy newspaper crime drama. Torchy, a hotshot newspaper reporter, illegally gathers evidence proving corruption on the part of the city Mayor and the real power behind the city administration -- Dr. Jeff Dolan. Dirty city politics and the fear of honest citizens of power reflect the times.

Glenda Farrell as Torchy is both annoying and an interesting feminine hero. She is a fast-talking, hard-boiled, strong woman lead -- which is what is needed to carry off the theme of the outsider who helps the police. Torchy's long-suffering fiancé, Detective Lieutenant Steve McBride (Barton MacLane), alternates between depending upon and rescuing Torchy. Actually Farrell and MacLane are a good team. Sidekick police officer Gahagan (Tom Kennedy) is in the mold of many other detective sidekicks of the era. As in most stores of this type, the police cannot succeed without the intervention of the amateur detective. John Miljan plays the part of Dolan most believably.

In the end, Torchy is tricked into running for Mayor, wins the election, but at the sight of a baby at a press conference, opts for marriage and a home rather than a career. That ending played much better in 1939 than it would today.

In her last appearance as Torchy Blane, Glenda Farrell writes a series of stories about the corrupt mayor. When the reform candidate is murdered, she becomes a candidate for the office.

Miss Farrell largely disappears from the last third of the movie when she disappears, and Barton MacLane investigates what he thinks is her kidnapping. I suspect Miss Farrell's contract was ending, and so her role was reduced. Even so, there are plenty amusing bits to this movie, with the usual gang appearing.

Torchy Runs for Mayor from 1939 is the last of the series starring Glenda Farrell. There was a final one starring Jane Wyman as Torchy.

Fast-talking, energetic newspaper reporter "Torchy" is a big believer in breaking the rules. Office bugging, break-ins, are all part of her investigative work.

For this particular story - corruption in the mayor's office - it has totally paid off. So much so that her reporting costs her paper $65,000 in advertising.

Torchy peddles her story about graft and the fact that a thug has control of the mayor's office to every newspaper in town. They all turn her down, save one. And Torchy decides to get him on the ballot to run for mayor.

When he's murdered, her fiancé Steve (Barton MacLane) puts Torchy's name on the ballot. She's been meddling too much and he's aggravated. Torchy, however, runs!

Since this is a '30s film, and Steve is ready to marry Torchy, you can guess the rest. Fun performances from Farrell, MacLane, and Tom Kennedy, who gets demoted to walking a beat for helping Torchy.

The eighth film in the Torchy Blane series and the final one starring Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane. This time Torchy is trying to take down a corrupt politician. The title of the movie eventually does happen, although not until late into the picture. It's an exciting, fast-paced B movie. Arguably the best in the series. There's less comedy and more grit in this one. Stars Farrell and MacLane are both in fine form here, as is Tom Kennedy as the lovable Gahagan. Great support from John Miljan, Frank Shannon, Joe Downing, and Irving Bacon.

The first four Torchy Blane movies were fun little B's with a snappy pace and a nice balance of comedy and murder mystery. Then Farrell and MacLane sat out the fifth film. When they returned, things were a little different. The focus was less on Torchy or the Torchy/Steve relationship and more on the movie's villains and comic relief sidekick Gahagan. He's a fun character but I'm glad his part is scaled back in this one. It allows Farrell to shine in her final Torchy movie. The series would continue on with one more movie starring Jane Wyman.