Torrid Zone (1940)

Really Surprised!

Admirable film.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This movie was made right in the heart of the period when Hollywood was using one road-tested plot and just switching location and names and the fact that Jerry Wald - widely believed to be the prototype for Sammy Glick in Budd Schulberg's What Makes Sammy Run- is credited as producer adds credence as Wald was noted for 'stealing' ideas, plots, and/or anything that wasn't nailed down. Other posters have viewed this as The Front Page in drag but I find more parallels with the previous year's Only Angels Have Wings; tropical setting, incompetent professional (Cowan, Barthelmess) married to joint love interest (Vinson, Hayworth), 'adventuress' (Arthur, Sheridan) allowed to remain only on sufferance, plus outside factors (bandits, weather) affecting the efficiency of US-owned interests (bananas, mail). Hawks' movie had a classier cast - Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell - than Keithley's and overall was the classier movie but Torrid Zone gives almost as good as it gets and should not be dismissed lightly.

Torrid Zone (1940) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A banana plantation owner (Pat O'Brien) hires a tough guy (James Cagney) to look after everything but an escaped bandit (George Tobias) causes some trouble as does a woman (Ann Sheridan). This is a slightly entertaining film that offers some nice performances but in the end there's nothing too special with the screenplay, which at times wonders around. O'Brien steals the show as the tough talking owner and this is one exception where he steals the film from Cagney. Cagney is decent in his role but he doesn't bring too much energy to the film. I'm not a fan of Sheridan but she's actually very good her delivering a tough performance. Tobias is great as the villain and Andy Devine offers nice comic support. The cast makes the film entertaining but I wish the screenplay had tried to do a tad bit more. The movie is pretty light weight, which keeps it from being better.

Life at a banana plantation must have its compensations, judging from the way things turn out in this fast-moving, wise-cracking comedy directed stylishly by William Keighley. PAT O'BRIEN is the hard-nosed manager of a plantation who needs his former overseer's help in keeping some criminal elements from causing too much trouble. So JAMES CAGNEY comes back to help him--but trouble brews when he and O'Brien quarrel over red-headed ANN SHERIDAN, who just about walks off with the film's best lines.It's strictly a Warner comedy-melodrama with stock players turning up in some good supporting roles, particularly GEORGE TOBIAS, ANDY DEVINE, JEROME COWAN and, in a small role, GEORGE (Superman) REEVES.The real surprise of the film is ANN SHERIDAN, handling herself in every situation as a gal to be reckoned with. It's fun all the way.

This film is basically "The Front Page" set on a banana plantation, with the "Oomph Girl" thrown in for a love interest, but somehow it manages to transcend that sort of genre-typing.Everyone from Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien (in one of the best of their 10 films together) to George Tobias shines in this snappy action-romance, sprinkled with the kind of dialogue that made the movies of the '30s and early-'40s the most fun ever. My favorite exchange in the history of film is in this movie...Helen Vinson (Gloria) is kissing Jimmy Cagney (Nick), and her cigarette has slipped from her fingers to the floor. The camera follows the cigarette down, and then a hand reaches in from out-of-frame to pick it up...the camera pulls back to reveal Ann Sheridan (Lee):Lee: This is how the Chicago Fire got started.Gloria: The Chicago Fire was started by a *cow*.Lee: History repeats itself.Now, how can you not love a film like that? Ann Sheridan singing! Pat O'Brien conniving! George Tobias as a Latin American bandit! Jimmy Cagney with a mustache!Sadly, Torrid Zone is not yet available on video, but it shows up on TV from time to time. Don't miss it!