TORCHY BLANE IN CHINATOWN 1938Barton Maclane, Glenda Farell. From the Torchy Blane series. Classic fast-talking good-guy police detective MacBride and his girl, Torchy (reporter). I have a love/hate relationship with this whole series (nine of them). This one was one of the better ones. A blackmail case.But throughout the series Torchy, a pretty reporter, is constantly trying to snoop into ongoing police investigations, jeopardizing her own and other peoples' lives, not to mention stealing or tampering with evidence. She is always on the verge of getting arrested or rubbed out by the murderers or gang members. So she's irritating.I'd rate the similar "Maisie" series (with Ann Sothern) higher.

Glenda Farrell really shows up the police department in Torchy Blane In Chinatown. She's got the whole thing figured out long before the cops get wise. Of course interestingly enough the apprehension of the villains themselves is a really good idea cooked up by Barton MacLane.Henry O'Neill plays a US Senator who is a collector of Chinese jade and when he purchases some jade death masks he gets threats, the unsigned note threats and in Chinese. Fortunately Patric Knowles is around to translate the threats.Their ancestors graves have been defamed, but a little American hard cash will sooth the ancestor's feelings and be good for their descendants as well. It all smells pretty bad, but it's Torchy Blane who catches the right whiff.Tom Kennedy as Geohagen once again steals the show. Seeing Kennedy in New York harbor rowing that boat to the final rendezvous was quite a sight.If Torchy could figure it out you can too. Even with that the film is still kind of fun. And MacLane comes in handy in the apprehension. You have to see what he uses.

Poor Torchy! Her boyfriend, Lieutenant Steve McBride, breaks their date to go protect an art smuggler from a sinister gang. Steve sure doesn't seem too sorry—he hardly even apologizes to Torchy. Of course, she sneaks after him that night, hoping to catch a scoop for her newspaper….Barton McLane gets a big role this time around—his Lieutenant McBride is right at the center of the action. Unfortunately, the lieutenant has never been dumber. He tells the smuggler not to worry, that the police will protect him—and the smuggler is promptly murdered. He tells the next threatened victim the same thing—and that guy is murdered just as quickly. He's not protecting anybody!Glenda Farrell is fine as always in her sixth appearance as adventurous reporter Torchy Blane. The cops do their best to keep her in the dark, but Torchy gets her leads and reports them without resisting a dig or two: the first murder, she writes, has left "investigating officers, headed by Detective Lt. Steve McBride, running around in circles so fast they're apt to meet themselves coming back."The plot concerns some stolen jade "burial tablets" and a supposed Chinese gang out to retrieve them. Unfortunately, there's not enough humor or snappy by-play between characters—the really appealing elements of the series' better entries—to keep this one moving. Tom Kennedy, back again as faithful but dim police chauffeur Gahagan, isn't given nearly enough to do, either. It's a cast of pros and the production is competent, so the picture is certainly watchable. Farrell, especially, is never boring. However, the rather dreadful plot and an overall lack of zip place this one at the bottom of the list of Torchy Blane mysteries.

This entertaining entry in the Torchy Blane series also happens to be one of the least PC movies of all time, and that's saying quite a bit. Every Asian stereotype you can imagine is dredged up by screenwriter George Bricker and there's even a minstrel show joke for good measure. When Barton Maclane exclaims, "Chinese!", Gloria Farrell responds, "oodles of them!". The story is the usual stuff about stolen jade, ancient curses, family honour, and murder. The twist is telegraphed early on but the film remains briskly entertaining, especially when that brassiest of brassy dames, Ms. Farrell, is on screen--which is most of the film's 58 minutes running time.