Zona Tórrida

This was the final film for James Cagney and Pat O'Brien who in my opinion invented the buddy film. O'Brien would be leaving Warner Brothers the following year and the two of them would not get together in another film until Ragtime in 1981 in which they both had small parts.

It's a typical fast paced comedy for both of them, they were incapable of doing anything else together. O'Brien slowed down when he was in a clerical collar and Cagney when he was doing a nostalgic film, but together the lines go at light speed.

Except when Ann Sheridan is concerned. Director Bill Keighley always slowed the pace for Sheridan because he didn't want anyone to miss some of her tart sayings. She has some of the best lines ever in her career. Typical being when she tells O'Brien that the stork that brought him must have been a vulture. Or when she's constantly one upping Helen Vinson who made a career of playing the other woman.

O'Brien is the hardnosed manager of a tropical fruit company and he's in big trouble because a local Sandinista type bandit leader, George Tobias, is wrecking his operations. Another distraction is Ann Sheridan whose redheaded beauty he figures is too much of a distraction to the men where redheads are scarce. Notice how O'Brien tells the local authorities what to do. More truth than humor in that situation.

He's desperate enough to hire back his number one troubleshooter James Cagney who gets the job done, but always gets himself in a jackpot where women are concerned. He's taken a fancy to Sheridan and she him.

A couple of other reviewers have pointed out the obvious similarities between this and The Front Page. The first film version of that classic play is the one where Pat O'Brien made his screen debut as the ace reporter. However he did it on Broadway in the role of the editor which he's playing here.

Perhaps this might be better described as another version of His Girl Friday. I can't say remake because both films came out at the same time. Sheridan comes off the same way as Rosalind Russell does in His Girl Friday, but Keighley also wants to accent her sensuality as well as her sharp tongue. He succeeds admirably because no woman in their previous films quite put off both Cagney and O'Brien the way Sheridan does.

The woman sure had oomph.

Good movie - love the way Ann Sheridan goes head to head toe to toe with Cagney in some very snappy dialogue.

"Torrid Zone" was the final film with real life friends, James Cagney and Pat O' Brien. They made several memorable films together for the studio, "Angels With Dirty Faces" being the best. The above is a light-hearted and amusing film about the various struggles on a Mexican plantation. The script is fairly standard but the cast really a lot to the screenplay by giving good performances and demonstrating a flair for light comedy. Ann Sheridan is a very good leading lady for James Cagney. She plays a card shark and nightclub singer who is on the run. They and O' Brien play off each other to amusing effect. The gunfight scenes add a bit to the proceedings as well.

Released in 1940, "Torrid Zone" probably did respectable business at the box office.

I think this is one of the funniest comedies ever made. This film should be considered a masterpiece. James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Helen Vinson, Jerome Cowan, Andy Devine, George Tobias and George Reeves star in this fast-paced action comedy. The dialog is very very fast and so funny. Why this film isn't on DVD is a crying shame. The real star of the movie is the legendary movie star and sex goddess Ann Sheridan. She steals every scene she is in. Its not easy to steal a film from James Cagney, but Ann Sheridan does in this one. I remember when the American Film Institute picked the 100 funniest films of all time, this was missing, but it was in their top 500 for the voting category. It should have been in the top 100 as far as I am concerned. If you never saw the film, please look for it on Turner Classic Movies they play it often. Why they don't release this movie as part of an Ann Sheridan box set is beyond me, she is an incredible actress and even a better comedienne. I won't give anything away. Just sit back and enjoy a bunch of pros do it for you.

A minor film but certainly watchable for the two leads, James Cagney and Ann Sheridan. Her ability to take care of herself and easygoing grace, his toughness and that mustache ... hey, they're just a joy, especially with a script full of banter and sharp lines. They're on a banana plantation in a tropical place, and both antagonized by its owner (Pat O'Brien). Despite a good start, the plot gets a little muddled and too crowded with other characters as it plays out, and I began losing interest in the second half.

Early on the film has elements that criticism colonialism and the absolute power the owner of a banana plantation wields over the natives, such as having people he doesn't like locked up and ordering the hapless police to carry out a death sentence prematurely. He also shouts out most of his lines and is generally quite disagreeable (O'Brien seems to have had many such roles). When a rebel (regrettably George Reeves playing a Hispanic man) says "Just because I don't like the fruit company, they say I am a revolutionist. All I want is to take back what belongs to me and my friends," it carries with it the subversive thought of what real justice would be, which was interesting. Unfortunately, this aspect never goes anywhere, and the natives are generally portrayed as childlike. Eventually we see Cagney's character take charge and hunt the rebels down, and while he's less vindictive, clearly the film's sympathies are with the colonialists at this point.

I hadn't really expected something progressive on that front anyway, but it's just unfortunate that the film tosses in another woman who is hot for Cagney (Helen Vinson), her husband (Jerome Cowan), and a mostly annoying sidekick (Andy Devine). Between romance, love triangle, comedy, business rivalry, card sharp, and native rebellion none of its elements are developed in a clean way, which is too bad, because more of Cagney and Sheridan smoldering together would have really made this a torrid zone.