Good idea lost in the noise

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The sixth in the Torchy Blane series and the return of Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane after one movie with different leads. This time around Torchy is after a group of clever counterfeiters running circles around boyfriend Steve and the police department. Tom Kennedy once again shines as the dimwitted but lovable Gahagan. George Guhl is funny as the desk sergeant. Farrell and MacLane are both fine, although the script doesn't really give either much that highlights their talents. The rest of the cast includes solid character actors like Willard Robertson, Thomas E. Jackson, Frank Reicher, and John Ridgely.A fun movie but something is definitely different compared to the previous Farrell Torchy movies. For one, it's more focused on comedy. For another, the relationship between Torchy and Steve isn't quite the same. It isn't even all that focused on Torchy, for that matter. Gahagan and the criminals get a lot of screen time. The case in this one is pretty good, though. The police may be buffoons but the crooks are interesting and pretty smart for B movie villains.

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.

Like others here have observed, the "Torchy Blane" series by this point was moving further away from the mystery genre and more towards the crime-adventure genre. In fact, the one good twist of the plot is not only revealed to the audience halfway through, but Torchy herself never figures it out until it is revealed to her as well. Torchy is still smart, but no longer the smartest person, or should I say smartest living being, in the film; Glenda Farrell is still a winning lead, but the dog (a German Shepherd) steals the show. Overall, I would say that this series seems to be running out of steam. I did like Gahagan's racetrack-betting system, though. ** out of 4.

After a one film absence (where Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane were replaced with different actors playing their roles in a previous film), they are back. As a result, the quality of the film is better than this last outing, TORCHY BLANE IN PANAMA.This Torchy Blane story all revolves around how stupid the police and how audacious criminals can be. The plan that is hatched really is insanely dangerous and makes little sense, though it does make for a decent film--if you don't think very much!! A criminal poses as a federal agent (this will get you a bazillion years in prison if you are caught) and convinces the amazingly gullible police that he needs their help in catching criminals passing forged $100 bills. So the police arrange for the local race track to give this crook a job, where he makes a ton of money for his gang substituting real money with forged! Idiot cops.Overall, the film is a pretty typical and brainless outing for the series. The only thing of note is that the longer the series went, the less chummy Torchy and her boyfriend, McBride, behaved. In the first film they got engaged. However, here in the 6th, they are dating but that is all and there isn't much romance between them.The only bright aspect is Gahagan. The longer the series went, the funnier and more endearing he became. His "system" for horse betting is amazing...simply amazing.