Torchy Gets Her Man (1938)

A notorious counterfeiter passes himself off as a Secret Service agent to Steve and gets him to unwittingly help him bilk the racetrack out of tens of thousands.

Director:

William Beaudine

Writers:

Albert DeMond (original screen play by), Frederick Nebel (based on characters created by)

Stars:

Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Glenda Farrell	...	Torchy Blane
Barton MacLane	...	Steve McBride
Tom Kennedy	...	Gahagan
Willard Robertson	...	Charles Gilbert
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Gloomy (as Tommy Jackson)
George Guhl	...	Desk Sergeant Graves
Frank Reicher	...	The Professor
John Ridgely	...	Bugs
Joe Cunningham	...	Maxie
Herbert Rawlinson	...	Tom Brennan

Storyline

Notorious counterfeiter "100 Dollar Bill" Bailey has eluded police capture for fifteen years while passing off his signature C-notes. He brazenly passes himself off as Secret Service agent Charles Mitchell to McBride and McTavish and recruits police help in what they think will be a sting operation at the local racetrack to catch Bailey. Actually, Bailey/Mitchell uses the opportunity to exchange his phony bills for the real thing right under Steve's nose. Torchy, with the aid of a furloughed Gahagan and a German shepherd named Blitzen, is able to penetrate the counterfeiting ring.

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Plot Keywords:

nitroglycerin | secret service agent | racetrack | secret service | police | 

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Taglines:

Torchy Puts All Her Yeggs In One Basket... And Cracks A Crime Trust Wide Open!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

12 November 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Caçando um Homem

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Park Racetrack - 1050 S. Prairie Avenue, Inglewood, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Several cast members in studio records/casting call lists did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names, if any): Leo White (Bettor), Paul Panzer (Vendor), Al Lloyd (Vendor) and Sally Sage.

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Quotes

Charles Gilbert: [after hearing Gahagan slurping his soup] How did you find your soup?
Gahagan: Fine. I just looked into the dish and there it was.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits appear as newspaper headlines.

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Connections

Followed by Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939)

User Reviews

Comedy-mystery bogs down when lively leads are off screen

Reporter Torchy Blane bumps lightly into a cop as she breezes through the police station's front door. "Oh, sorry," she says. "I meant to knock you down." Torchy's friendly smirk pretty much sums up her attitude toward the police: they're supposedly in charge but they sure move a lot slower than she does.

Glenda Farrell returns as spunky girl reporter Torchy Blane in this amusing but uneven series entry. Farrell is excellent as usual—Torchy is a quick thinker and a fast talker, and Farrell presents just the right mix of wit, charm and silliness.

Tom Kennedy is equally good as Gahagan, the lumbering police chauffeur who is liable to burst into poetry at any moment. This time around, Gahagan is given an unscheduled vacation, the other cops figuring that keeping him off of the case entirely is the only way to prevent him from spilling inside information to Torchy.

Barton McLane's role as Lieutenant Steve McBride is, alas, rather dry. The plot sets him up to be the eventual hero…but boy, it sure takes him a while to sort things out. What's worse, he's not only dumb, he's boring.

The story, for what it's worth, concerns a master counterfeiter known as "Hundred Dollar Bill" Bailey (Willard Robertson) playing an elaborate trick on an extremely gullible police force. Posing as an ace federal agent, this Bailey sets up shop behind a window at the racetrack, where he exchanges his phony bills right under the cops' noses. Needless to say, Torchy catches on that something is fishy long before Steve or the other cops.

Highlights include Gahagan's system for betting on the horses (it involves the fact that 6 x 6 = 37); and a rented German shepherd that only understands German (Torchy rents a phrase book along with the dog).

Very silly and enjoyable when Torchy and Gahagan are on the scene….not as lively during passages involving counterfeiters or detectives.