Torchy Blane.. Playing with Dynamite (1939)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Powerful

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

All told, Torchy Runs for Mayor would have made a brilliant close to the series. But it was not to be, for Warner Bros already had another in the works, Torchy Plays with Dynamite (1939). This one was also titled Torchy Bame...Playing wth Dynamite. This time, Jane Wyman, who essayed a minor role as a hat-check girl in in the Torchy's "Smart Blonde" entry, played the lead - opposite Allen Jenkins as Steve McBride! The mind boggles. Jenkins often played cops. Inept, stumblebum, custard-pie cops. True, on a few occasions he did venture into a rare straight role - notably in The Case of the Howling Dog (1934) in which his Sergeant Holcomb emerges as a particularly vicious and vindictive adversary for Perry Mason - but Torchy...Dynamite marks his only excursion as the hero lead. Actually, despite his plug-ugly face, Jenkins comes over surprisingly well. But audiences refused to accept his transformation. Not even a crisp script and Noel Smith's pacy direction could rescue this movie from what was perceived by both critics and moviegoers as ridiculous miscasting. Torchy Blane had penned her last headline.

Since Glenda and Barton went on to other things, their roles were played by Jane and Allen to great effect. It's the character work that makes the series shine, with Tom Kennedy and so many familiar faces all doing their thing for The Cause. It was likely the Cause Of Supporting Oneself, but who cares? Fast talking and sprightly handling of tough guy dialogue gets me every time and since Torchy Blane is a series dependent on each of those factors, it's not a bad thing to be entertained for about an hour while we viewers try our darndest to follow the plot. Tom and Allen share a room and I guess a double bed with the same sitch deployed by Jane and the gal she's befriended, Sheila Bromley, all in the hopes of capturing Sheila's boyfriend on the lam when they finally rendezvous. He's got a dilly of a disguise to throw off the cops: sunglasses. Add to the mix a fun professional wrestling ending, and you've got the premise of this entertaining entry in the series. It was the last one. As someone here wrote, Allen "gets the girl" for one of the few times in his decades-long career and is endearingly bashful as Jane hugs his neck and kisses his cheek at the ending. "Nix," he says.

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.