Torrid Zone (1940)

Director:

William Keighley

Writers:

Richard Macaulay (screenplay) and
Jerry Wald (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 May 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Plot:

Plagued by revolutionaries that harass his plantation in a banana republic, fruit company exec Steve Case rehires former nemesis Nick Butler to restore order and profits.

Plot Keywords:

Rebel Leader | Ambush | Revolutionary | Cheap Hotel | Wiseguy Dialogue

Cast

James Cagney	...	Nick 'Nicky' Butler
Ann Sheridan	...	Lee Donley
Pat O'Brien	...	Mr. Steve Case
Andy Devine	...	Wally Davis
Helen Vinson	...	Mrs. Gloria Anderson
Jerome Cowan	...	Bob 'Bill' Anderson
George Tobias	...	Rosario 'Rosie' La Mata
George Reeves	...	Sancho, Rosario's Henchman
Victor Kilian	...	Carlos (Rosario's henchman)
Frank Puglia	...	Police Chief Juan Rodriguez
John Ridgely	...	Gardner
Grady Sutton	...	Sam, Steve's Secretary
Paul Porcasi	...	Garcia, Hotel Bar Proprietor
Frank Yaconelli	...	Lopez, Plantation Driver (as Frank Yaconnelli)
Dick Botiller	...	Hernandez, Plantation Worker (as Dick Boteler)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6091)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

When Frank Puglia says, "I don't believe in a third term," he was referring to the then speculative run of Franklin Delano Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term as U. S. President in 1940.

Quotes:

Lee Donley: [picking up a cigarette dropped by Gloria] I believe this is how the Chicago fire got started.
Gloria Anderson: The Chicago fire was started by a cow.
Lee Donley: History repeats itself.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Timid Toreador (1940)

Soundtrack:

I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

Torrid Zone chokes on its own fumes.

Subtract James Cagney and Ann Sheridan, and leave Pat O'Brien as the arrogant dictator at the head of a fruit export concern in South America... It may not sound like the recipe for box-office success, but if the makers of Torrid Zone had kept the script going along these lines, it would have been a lot more watchable than the banal fluff that exists under that title today. "Tepid Region" is more like it.

1940 is about when Cagney started becoming a caricature of himself, and it's also about when Pat O'Brien started becoming interesting. Here O'Brien is a businessman under constant pressure from "revolutionaries" -- read: those who try to stop him raping their land -- as well as from his own staff and from the exigencies of the market. The movie is briefly fascinating as we ponder the moral choices that O'Brien faces. Is he bringing a civilizing influence to this lawless territory, or is he simply a Western exploiter of other peoples' resources? Is his iron-fisted rule the only answer to jungle insanity, or is he just a power-tripping egomaniac?

Pat O'Brien doesn't play him as a Colonel Kurtz, but more as a very efficient and briskly ruthless CEO, who doesn't even sweat for a second over his decision to bring a man before a firing squad. I wonder if he was given this role because of his support of Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Knowing Hollywood's ultra-leftist politics, maybe the intent was to make the audience confuse Franco, who did have a legitimate counter-revolutionary purpose, with this rapacious landlord.

Whatever the case, O'Brien's acting is so realistic and nuanced that when Cagney appears, wearing a ridiculous little mustache and ordering people around, the movie never recovers. O'Brien drops out of the film for almost 45 minutes, and we are left with a menage-a-trois -- Ann Sheridan is in love with Cagney, Helen Vinson is in love with Cagney, and Cagney is in love with Cagney. Who will end up with Cagney? We know at least Cagney will.

It was slightly believable, in his early Warner Bros. gangster films, that Cagney's drive and confidence might briefly attract some insecure and venal women -- you know, the way Al Pacino attracts Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface. Here we're expected to buy that women as tough-minded as Ann Sheridan just melt at the sight of his 5'3" frame. He knows what he wants, see, and he knows how to get it. Excuse me while I vomit. This is Cagney playing the role as Cagney, as a movie star, without the slightest concern for building a character. He destroys this film.

Sheridan is very good doing her Rita Hayworth as the girl next door routine. She projects enough intelligence that you believe her zingers are ad-libbed. And I doubt a more appealing woman has ever gotten in front of a movie camera. She leaps off the screen the way a good writer's sentences leap off the page. But like I said, she is part of the problem here -- a Shakespearean set-up devolving into a formula romantic comedy about a bunch of useless bims circling around a pint-sized Don Juan. Not her fault. But this is a prime candidate for a more focused and gritty remake that ditches the chicks, and the Cagney, entirely.