Torchy Blane.. Playing with Dynamite (1939)

Absolutely the worst movie.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

In court for a traffic ticket, reporter Torchy Blane encounters a shoplifter sentenced to nine months in jail—and later spots said shoplifter in a photo with much sought bank robber Denver Eddie. Torchy loses no time in having herself thrown into jail, befriending the moll, and planning an escape that—she hopes—will lead her to Denver Eddie himself and a great big scoop.Jane Wyman is a brisk and chipper Torchy Blane, bubbling with self-confidence and bright ideas in this fun final picture in the Torchy Blane series. Wyman also talks fast—though not as fast as Glenda Farrell, who played Torchy in most of the series' previous entries. Wyman's Torchy is perhaps a bit sweeter than Glenda's and not quite as hard-nosed.Wyman is aided greatly by Allen Jenkins as Lieutenant Steve McBride—annoyed, as always, by his fiancée's superior detecting skills as well as her willingness to poke criticism at his department's failures. Jenkins brings a touch of good humor to the role, at least in comparison with Barton McLane, who was the series' regular Lt. McBride…. It's a sour but not really bitter Stevie who complains that Torchy's latest column makes "a hero out of this Denver Eddie punk after we do everything but go through the public schools looking for him." Tom Kennedy is as much fun as ever as Gahagan, police chauffeur and assistant. This time around we learn that Gahagan was once wrestling champ of the Navy—and has the belt buckle to prove it. He is, of course, pressed into service in the wrestling ring, billed (reluctantly) as "Harry the Horse" and allowed to show off his moves.Other highlights include Torchy's crime spree—setting off fire alarms all over town in order to get herself locked up. There's also a wonderful "gritty prison picture" sequence that lasts all of about two minutes, in which Torchy and the shoplifter cross paths, form a bond, and plan their breakout; it's brief, but it sure has all the earmarks of a Warner Brothers crime drama for that one (fun but rather incongruous) scene.The stars work well together; a decent plot, some fair dialog and a little action all add up to a very enjoyable little comedy-mystery.

(There are Spoilers) Both Jane Wyman and Allen Jerkins replace Glenda Ferrell & Barton MacLane as newspaper women Torchy Blane and her boyfriend Det, now promoted to police lieutenant,Steve McBride in this Torchy Blane series finale.Torchy as usual gets herself into hot water in getting herself arrested, by setting off 11 false fire alarms, so she can be close to the fugitive hoodlum Denver Eddie's, Eddie Marr, shoplifting girlfriend Jackie McGuire, Sheila Bromley, and find out where he's hold up. Later breaking out of womens prison both Torchy & Jackie end up in San Francisco where Jackie is to meet her boyfriend when he finally resurfaces. As this is all happening both Torchy's boyfriend police Let. McBride and his partner, the Irish poet who don't know it, Gahagan (Tom Kennedy) keep a tail on her until Denver Eddie who despite being wanted in 48 states and Mexico, with his photo in every post office in both countries, is completely unidentifiable just by wearing a pair of shades or sun glasses!Denver Eddie's hoods who end up kidnapping Let. McBride, who was posing as one of them, end up getting wasted by not keeping a close eye on McBride or having him handcuffed. As for McBride's partner Gahagan who's using the cover of wrestler "Harry the Horse", to fool Denver Eddie and his boys, he ends up in the ring with his former wrestling rival back in the Navy "The Bone Crusher", Tiny Roebuck.***SPOILER*** As things turn out Gahagan, or "Harry the Horse", puts an end to Denver Eddie's life of crime by Eddie being at the arena, together with Jackie & Torchy Blane, to watch the match between him and the "Bone Crusher". Even though it wasn't part of the act, between Gahagan & the "Bone Crusher",in the wrestling ring Gahagan's totally unexpected and spectacular flying exit, courtesy of the "Bone Crusher", put an end to Denver Eddie's life on the lamb.

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.

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.