Torchy Gets Her Man

One of the best of the Torchy Blane series is one that really puts her in the most danger in Torchy Gets Her Man. That title does not mean that Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane finally wed. In fact the title is a misnomer in that the object of her story nearly gets Torchy with Geohagan thrown in for good measure.

This is one bold as brass crook, a notorious counterfeiter played by Willard Robertson who impersonates a Secret Service man of all things. He's got a scam to use the racetrack to spread his phony bills and he's using the cops as shields because they think he's part of a sting.

Torchy using the ever gullible Geohagan played by Tom Kennedy catches on, but they're both taken captive by the gang who plans to do them in. How she gets out is for you to see.

Once again Tom Kennedy as lovable, but thick as an adobe brick Sergeant Geohagan steals the film. How he ever passed the civil service for the police is beyond me. And Barton MacLane turns out to be handy to have around.

Starring the usual cast of Torchy films, Glenda Farrell is Torchy, reporter hot on the trail of criminals on the run. Co-stars Tom Kennedy and Barton MacLane. In this one, Willard Robertson is from the Secret Service, trying to track down a counterfeiter, starting with the local racetrack. Gahagan is again the stumbling, bumbling goof, who doesn't realize he's spilling his guts to all the wrong people. But Torchy is onto him, and is determined to get her man! No real surprises here, but it's all part of the grand adventure if you're a fan of the series.

Directed by William Beaudine, and has a very detailed bio on wikipedia.org ... he had worked with DW Griffith in the EARLY days of silents, including "Birth of a Nation". and apparently fimed about half of the MANY Bowery Boys films. His brother was director Harold Beaudine. Turner Classics shows this about once a year.

The sixth in the Torchy Blane series and the return of Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane after one movie with different leads. This time around Torchy is after a group of clever counterfeiters running circles around boyfriend Steve and the police department. Tom Kennedy once again shines as the dimwitted but lovable Gahagan. George Guhl is funny as the desk sergeant. Farrell and MacLane are both fine, although the script doesn't really give either much that highlights their talents. The rest of the cast includes solid character actors like Willard Robertson, Thomas E. Jackson, Frank Reicher, and John Ridgely.

A fun movie but something is definitely different compared to the previous Farrell Torchy movies. For one, it's more focused on comedy. For another, the relationship between Torchy and Steve isn't quite the same. It isn't even all that focused on Torchy, for that matter. Gahagan and the criminals get a lot of screen time. The case in this one is pretty good, though. The police may be buffoons but the crooks are interesting and pretty smart for B movie villains.

The sixth of Warner Brothers' nine Torchy Blane series returns with the usual troupe, led by Glenda Farrell as Torchy, Barton MacLane as Steve, Tom Kennedy as the nitwitted, poetry-spouting sergeant, plus the welcome addition of a handsome, uncredited German Shepherd. They're on the trail of counterfeiters, and the unnamed dog dog seems to be the smartest of the investigators ..... Miss Farrell's talents seem to consist of talking fast and inserting herself into unlikely situations.

It's directed by William Beaudine, who directed one more of the series for Warners, and then went into free fall. He had survived the transition to sound pretty well, and a trip to Britain, where he directed some pretty good comedies, including some Will Hay features, but his return to Tinseltown seemed to leave him forgotten. He seems to have gotten these assignments for Auld Lang Syne, then it was downward into Gower Gulch, still turning out competent features when given something to work with; but his willingness to go without retakes endeared him the cheapest producers. He kept slogging through the middle of the 1960s, working for whoever would hire him, but his glory days, alas, were behind him.

With the fifth of Glenda Farrell's seven Torchy Blaine films, the Warner Bros. series would begin to drift away from knotty whodunits to more cops-and-robbers action with which the series would remain, incl. the two non-Farrell Torchys made after hers. Too bad, because now, instead of two sweethearts partnering to solve a murder, Torchy and Barton MacLane's Detective Steve McBride relationship now becomes adversarial reporter vs cop. Ho hum. Still, it was fun while it lasted. The chief pleasure of the series remains; Glenda Farrell as the brassy, intuitive and unstoppable newshound, Torchy Blane - greatest of all 30s Hollywood B movie female reporters.