Torchy Blane.. Playing with Dynamite

I just watched this one on TCM. Torchy gets herself tossed in jail so that she can cozy up to Jackie McGuire, girlfriend of the notorious gangster Denver Eddie. Torchy and Jackie break out of jail and go on the lam, finally linking up with Eddie and his two goons. Steve McBride and Gahagan are close behind. We learn that Gahagan is a former wrestling champion from the navy. The climax is a wrestling match between Gahagan, AKA Harry the Horse, and The Bone Crusher, his old wrestling nemesis from the navy.

Jane Wyman takes over the Torchy role in this final film of the series. Glenda Farrell had left the studio. Allen Jenkins is Steve McBride. He was much better suited to comedy. Pretty but hard looking Sheila Bromley is very good as Jackie.

This is an OK entry as the series swan song. It's fast paced and the script is clever. The action scenes, especially the wrestling match, are well done. Tom Kennedy had been a professional wrestler and boxer before becoming an actor so he was very well suited to the ring sequences. TBPWD is only 59 minutes long but is an OK way to spend a lazy Saturday morning.

For the final entry of this series, Torchy Blane, girl reporter on a quaint metropolitan New York newspaper gets herself pinched speeding to file a story. Turns out to be a lucky break because she gets tossed into jail with Sheila Bromley, girlfriend of notorious bank robber Eddie Marr.

The original stars of the series, Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane as NYPD Detective Steve McBride were replaced by Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins. This may have been the only time in screen history that Allen Jenkins got the girl. They were fine in the parts, but the public didn't accept them and the series was discontinued.

Along though for the final ride was Tom Kennedy who was McBride's cop sidekick as he was for the rest of the series. Kennedy was a former boxer who was also a former wrestler. Familiarity with the squared circle plays an important part in what was a most interesting climax to the film.

Torchy Plays With Dynamite was something I'm sure entertained many people on the double bill who might have come to see one of Warner Brothers big budget attractions like Dodge City in 1939. It's fast paced and amusing and no one I'm sure walked out.

Torchy Blane... Playing with Dynamite (1939)

** (out of 4)

The ninth and final film in the series finds Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane being replaced by Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins. This time out Torchy has herself thrown into jail so that she can get close to a gangster's girlfriend (Sheila Bromley). The plan is for the two to get close and Torchy hopes that the girlfriend will then lead her to the gangster where Lt. McBride and Gahagan (Tom Kennedy) will arrest him. TORCHY BLANE... PLAYING WITH DYNAMITE really isn't all that bad when you consider it's the ninth film in a series but there's still no question that the only ones who need watch it are those who watched the previous eight and just want to say they've seen everything in the series. I think there are some good moments scattered around but even at just 59-minutes there's just not enough going on to keep you fully entertained. I thought both Wyman and Jenkins were good in their roles and I thought their chemistry and back and forth nature made for some entertainment. Bromley was also attractive in her part as is Eddie Marr as the gangster. Kennedy doesn't get as many poems to read but that's okay because it's still nice seeing him appear for his ninth time. The story itself has quite a few plot holes and there are many logical issues but these here shouldn't be taken too serious. After all, this is a "B" picture that was probably made in a week or two.

"Torchy Blane...Playing with Dynamite" is the final Torchy Blane film by Warner Brothers. While the earlier films were very good for B-movies, the studio monkeyed around with the cast--and the original star and co-star (Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane) were replaced twice in the series. This really made little sense, as Farrell and MacLane were both excellent....but the studio thought that the series might do better with Lola Lane and Paul Kelly in the leads. Well, the studio was wrong and they brought back the original cast. But after a couple more films, Farrell changed studios and instead of retiring the series, they tried it one final time with Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins. And, since they only made one film with Wyman and Jenkins, the change obviously didn't sit well with audiences.

The plot to this one is very familiar as well as totally stupid. While in court, Torchy notices Jackie Maguire is there....and she's the girlfriend of a notorious gangster. So, she comes up with an insane idea....to get thrown into jail so she can pal up to Jackie and learn where her wanted boyfriend is hiding. However, her plan to get arrested goes too well and she's sentenced to 11 months in jail....not a few weeks like she assumed. But her insane plan gets even dumber when she plans on escaping with Jackie in order to find Denver Eddie! Can this convoluted plan possibly work? Well, in real life, no....but in an old B-movie....most likely.

Overall, this is only an okay B-movie that could have been better. It's not just the cast that's the problem, but the plot is too familiar and silly to be taken very seriously. A time-passer and not much more.

I love Glenda Farrell. She is always fun, and she's fun in this series. But the plots are thrown rogether so quickly they frequently make no sense.

Lola Lane was a ghastly substitute in the Panama outing.

In this one, Jane Wyman and Alan Jenkins seem an unlikely couple, to say the very least. However, it has a linear plot that makes good sense and is both exciting and funny (when it wants to be.)

Jane Wyman: such a strange career. She is heartbreaking in "The Yearling" and deserves her Oscar for "Johnny Belinda." And she was a charming light comic before and even these two.

Then she got ultra-serious and made those schmaltzy women's pictures. Douglas Sirk? OK. Fine craftsman. But most of Wyman's output after the early 1950s is a disappointment, though it kept her in the public eye and surely made a good deal of money.