Blondes at Work (1938) User Reviews

Hilarious if nonsensical mystery is extremely lightweight

[csteidler · 7/10 · 15 November 2012]

Reporter Torchy Blane is getting all the scoops, and Captain McTavish is mad. He thinks Torchy's fiancé, Lieutenant McBride, is giving her inside police information. The rival newspaper's editor "wants to know if we're running the police department for the taxpayers or for Torchy Blane." McBride ought to keep her in line!

Glenda Farrell as Torchy is funnier than ever in this fast-moving farce with a bit of mystery tossed in. Torchy plays innocent when asked where she's getting her leads ("Oh, I don't know, those things just seem to come to me. I told you I was psychic") but has soon tracked a missing businessman to a hotel room where someone has been stabbed. Inside info or no, Torchy is consistently a step quicker than the cops.

Barton McLane is a good sport as the generally bewildered Lieutenant McBride; the character is solid enough but essentially a straight man for Torchy and for police chauffeur Gahagan.

Tom Kennedy is back as poetry-loving cop Gahagan and this time around he's keeping a diary—for "postererity," he says. He lets Torchy in on the secret diary; she asks if he has a good hiding place for it and encourages him to keep track of every little thing his boss McBride does….

The plot has a few thin spots. Could you really trace a person that easily from a single smudge of lipstick on a handkerchief? The ending is rather abrupt as well, wrapping things up in an awful hurry. However, such issues hardly matter since plot here is always secondary to the goofy character interplay. The mystery, such as it is, involves a disappearance and murder but is little more than a backdrop for the comic story of Torchy and her sources.

Not much suspense but lots of fun…. Farrell especially—hilarious and cute—appears to be having a ball.

"When that taxi in front of us leaves, heel it! And there's ten in it for you if you don't lose it!"

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 25 May 2017]

Fourth in the WB series of B movies about a fast-talking lady reporter named Torchy Blane and her cop boyfriend Steve McBride. In this one, as usual, the couple are separately investigating the same case, each trying to solve it before the other. Lightweight, enjoyable entry with the stars at their best. The scene stealer in this one is Tom Kennedy. He's a treat as the dimwitted cop Gahagan, who inadvertently helps Torchy stay one step ahead of the police. Carole Landis has a bit part. The rest of the cast includes John Ridgley, Rosella Towne, and Donald Briggs. One of my favorites in the series.

The Resourceful Torchy

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 19 January 2013]

Frank Shannon as Captain McTavish feels that Barton MacLane is giving too much information to gal pal Torchy Blane so he's issued orders cutting her off from scoops. Plus it doesn't look bad if he can't solve his own cases. So Torchy is cut off.

If Shannon thinks that will stop Glenda Farrell, does he have another think coming. Farrell not only keeps scooping the cops without a bit of help from her boyfriend MacLane, she makes monkeys out of the whole police department. That includes thick as a brick Tom Geraghty and young rookie patrolman John Ridgely. And quite a few more.

As it happens she and Ridgely are the last to see a department store owner alive as he gets into a taxi. Although Farrell is resourceful she comes mighty close to obstruction of justice in her quest for the ultimate scoop.

Blondes At Work is a fair enough entry in the Torchy Blane series. The stories aren't much, but I just love the chemistry between Farrell and MacLane. Marry that girl quick Lt. McBride or pin a badge on her.

Fourth Times a Charm

[Michael_Elliott · 19 January 2013]

Blondes at Work (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Fun fourth entry to the series has Torchy Blane (Gelnda Farrell) finding news ways to get sources even when her fiancé Lt. McBride (Barton MacLane) has made it clear he won't be giving her any scoops. She gets on a hot murder case and is able to track down the suspect but things don't go as planned. BLONDES AT WORK is another fine film in the series and I'm sure fans are really going to enjoy it even though Blane is actually somewhat a villain here. The film basically has the police trying to keep the case quiet so that they can locate the killer but Torchy, obviously just thinking of her stories, manages to keep messing up the case. I don't think even fans will agree with the way she gets her news here and the ending, which I won't ruin, is actually quite fitting. As with the previous film, this one here benefits from a pretty good story that has a couple nice twists and of course two nice leads to carry us through it. Farrell is certainly at the top of her game here as she perfectly works her comic timing. MacLane is also good in his supporting bit but it's Tom Kennedy who steals the film as the dimwit who wants to be a poet. Rosella Towne is also good in her role. The film runs a fast-paced 63-minutes and contains enough entertainment to keeps fans interesting. Bette Davis fans will probably recognize this story as it borrows quite heavily from FRONT PAGE WOMAN.

I don't care if you're an eclipse on the sun

[boscofl · 6/10 · 13 June 2020]

The fourth Torchy Blane installment, Blondes at Work (1938), is the first time the popular series appears to be running out of gas. The main culprit for its mediocrity is the script which recycles situations from the previous film and provides a weak mystery that is unsatisfactorily resolved. The raison d'etre for the film is to watch Torchy outwit the police at every turn while making it clear she lives in a man's world and must fight every day for respect. Even there the script fails because, in what would become a tiresome plot contrivance, Torchy gets herself into a bind that requires rescue by Steve at the climax. Finally, Torchy commences her evolution into more of a nuisance as she betrays Gahagan's confidence, uses deceitful tricks to break stories, and ultimately ends up in jail (deservedly so). Through it all Glenda Farrell is wonderful to watch but the movie is compromised by the poor narrative and unflattering treatment of its main asset.

The story begins similarly to The Adventurous Blonde: in a fabulous stroke of good fortune Torchy immediately encounters a key player in the subsequent mystery. This time she witnesses department store magnate Marvin Spencer in obvious pain being helped along by Maitland Greer (Donald Briggs) while she is getting a parking ticket. Pretty soon Spencer is found dead, Lt. Steve McBride is on the case, and he won't listen to Torchy after getting the riot act from Captain McTavish regarding favoritism. The bulk of the running time is absorbed by Torchy and Steve working separately to crack the case while she is breaking stories that hamper the police investigation. Following the established formula the police have the wrong slant on the crime and railroad Briggs while Torchy, as in the previous film, works to force a confession from the true culprit.

Glenda Farrell is her usual brilliant self in the lead role and clearly is having fun outfoxing the police, her competing journalists, and embarrassing Steve with cutesy comments. Unfortunately the script frequently puts her in a bad light with her more underhanded tactics used to acquire dope. She manipulates Gahagan into keeping a diary so she can learn about the police investigation and ultimately puts him in a tough spot when Steve finally figures out where the leak of information is coming from. She uses a beat cop named Regan (John Ridgely) to gain access to the Spencer murder scene and finally eavesdrops on a jury deliberation to break a story. The most egregious incident for modern audiences is a horribly racist scene between her and Sam Wong where she speaks pidgin Chinese while negotiating for some intelligence.

Steve MacBride (Barton MacLane) once again finds himself between a rock and a hard place regarding his relationship with Torchy. After his Captain lays down the law regarding her butting into investigations and continuously scooping rival papers Steve attempts to avoid her throughout the film. They have a telling conversation in a restaurant where Torchy finally gets some steak: Steve wants her to marry him and quit the newspaper but, of course, she refuses and cajoles him into paying for her meal! Steve then gets himself a new detective sidekick named Parker (Thomas Jackson) who travels with him and learns the hard way how difficult it is to keep Torchy out of the information loop. MacLane has a hilarious scene where finally figures out how Torchy keeps getting scoops and undresses Gahagan with extreme exasperation.

Many series regulars return. Tom Kennedy takes his buffoonery to another level as the bungling Gahagan; on one hand it's impossible to suspend belief to accept this nitwit as a member of law enforcement but Kennedy is so sweet, trusting, and lovable in the role that he transcends the weak script. As Captain McTavish, Frank Shannon is once again on the warpath against Torchy while giving stories to her rival paper. Joe Cunningham reappears as Maxie in a 5 second bit and will be on hand for the remaining 5 films. Desk Sergeant Graves has begun reading a memory book "Forgetfulness Forgotten" which seems to have no effect on him and George Guhl offers a few chuckles enacting the absentminded cop.

In the Familiar Faces department Blondes at Work offers a full quota of recognizable countenances in small roles. John Harron has a bit as a hotel clerk in his 3rd of 7 appearances in the series while John Ridgely and Carole Landis return in billed roles this time. Perhaps most interesting is a very young Richard Loo as the aforementioned Sam Wong who's welcome appearance is tainted by the painfully dated and racist treatment of his character.

The rest of the supporting cast isn't particularly memorable. Rosella Towne and Donald Briggs have minimal opportunities to shine and are forgettable while Thomas Jackson has more screen time to make an impression and tosses off one of the film's funnier lines when referencing playboy Milton Spencer: "The only dame who didn't carry a torch for Spencer was the Statue of Liberty". Suzanne Kaaren has a small role as a department store model and pal of Carole Landis; connoisseurs of vintage horror films will remember Miss Kaaren from her role in the Bela Lugosi poverty row classic "The Devil Bat." And one more for the cringeworthy department is Milton Owen as Mr. Jay, the outrageously homosexual coordinator of the department store fashion show.

The film features an unusual denouement: Torchy is thrown in jail for contempt by the judge at Briggs' trial after she leaks the verdict to the press before it is announced. While she's in the jug Steve cracks the case and gives the story to the Star under Torchy's name leading to a tender clinch between the stars at the fade out. Once again a Torchy Blane film mines the vein of career vs home and presents the bittersweet fact that although Steve and Torchy love each other their respective careers will always come first. Marriage never becomes a serious question again in the series which would undergo a startling overhaul in episode five, Torchy Blane in Panama.

another chapter in the "Torchy Blane" series

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 25 October 2016]

SPOILERS --This is one of the "middle" Torchy Blane, reporter at large, stories. When a department store owner disappears, its up to "Torchy" (Glenda Farrell) to figure out what happened. With the usual cast of characters, Barton MacLane and Tom Kennedy, she runs circles around the police. The story is OK... but not much new here. It's the usual conniving and trickery to get the scoop when no-one else can. One interesting note -- Carol Landis is in here, with a speaking part... she was married five times, then committed suicide, and was only 29 years old ! About half of her roles were un-credited. Directed by Frank McDonald, who had directed a bunch of the Torchy Blane films. It's the usual fare, shown on Turner Classics now and then.

Many viewers have accused Warner Bros. of being extremely misogynist . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 15 November 2018]

. . . with their release of BLONDES AT WORK, but ARE they? Many if not most film buffs are aware of the fact that the always eponymous Warner Bros. have served as America's proverbial "canary in the coal mine," warning us of our upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti for nearly a century. Because BLONDES AT WORK seems (to some casual movie consumers) to feature the twin themes of women horning in on a Man's World, and Femme Fatales slicing up the Flower of the American Ruling Class, they consider this flick to be a sexist warning against women in the work place, and against dates with lower class females who have not been thoroughly vetted. However, please note that the murder weapon in question is a plastic paper knife! BLONDES AT WORK clearly is warning America that the next 9-11 may well be carried out by terrorists wielding lethal weapons STILL virtually invisible to the best Security Systems that money can buy. A more careful review of BLONDES AT WORK may suggest to perceptive viewers that the Warner Bros. are promoting creation of a Task Force primarily composed of Platinum Blondes be trained to scare the brimstone out of the predominantly male Terrorist Community. As these BLONDES AT WORK march through our major public gatherings, sports venues, transportation hubs, and campaign rallies like something out of HEATHERS, ASSASSINATION NATION, or DEADPOOL, those who want to harm America will quake in their boots, cease, and desist, thanks to Warner Bros. and BLONDES AT WORK!

Starts off well but ends with a whimper

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 1 July 2009]

This film begins with Torchy and her fiancé, Lt. McBride, having an argument. It seems he is once again getting a lot of pressure from his boss to stop giving Torchy inside information about the cases he's working on at the time. That's because she's a reporter and the reporters from other papers are complaining about this. This has been an ongoing complaint in this detective series. Tired of constantly hearing these complaints, McBride bans Torchy from coming on any more cases. This doesn't stop her, as she uses every trick she can to spy on him! When the murder of a department store owner occurs, she manages to find out before any of the other reporters. So it seems that even without McBride's help, she still gets the scoop again and again.

This film starts off well. However, it sure ended poorly. After spending much of the film to convict a guy of murder, the trial is shown in depth. So far so good. However, after all this and the guy being found guilty, in the last three minutes, as Torchy is sitting in jail (it's a long story), McBride shows up and announces that the real killer just confessed! So, they didn't show the confession but just tacked it on at the end! How cheesy. This slapped on ending sure helped make this movie end with a whimper, not much of a bang--making it a rather poor addition to the series.

By the way, in one scene, Lt. McBride showed a handkerchief to a lady at a cosmetics counter so she could identify the type and brand of lipstick. The blonde lady barely even looked at it and went on and on about the exact lipstick it was. This was hard to believe, but the director should have at least told her to spend more than .003 of a second examining it!

I counted only one blonde!

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 10 November 2011]

After increased pressure from Steve's superior, he and Torchy decide to part ways for a while, professionally speaking: each one will go on doing his job without the other one's help. When a department store owner is found stabbed to death, Steve is doubly puzzled: who killed him, and how does Torchy still manage to get all those inside scoops about the case? Not as fresh as the first two entries, but better than "The Adventurous Blonde", "Blondes At Work" is exceptionally slow-moving (it certainly feels longer than an hour), and not much of a mystery either, but it does have some standout moments of Torchy outwitting her opposition, and an ending that's both unexpected and sweet. ** out of 4.

Scooped!

[sol-kay · 5/10 · 27 April 2009]

**SPOILERS** Coming up with scoop after scoop for her newspaper The Star hot-shot woman reporter Torchy Blane, Glenda Ferrell, is told by her boyfriend and fiancée Police Let. Steve McBride, Barton MacLane, to lay off the latest murder case that he's handling. As it turned out the murder victim department store tycoon Martin Spencer, Kenneth Harlan, was seen by Torchy being escorted into a cab by his friend Maitland Greer, Donald Briggs, just moments before he was found dead, in his room at the Park Plaza Hotel, from a stab wound.

With Torchy's latest scoop, Spencer's murder, hitting the front pages Steve's boss Capt. McTavish, Frank Shannon, orders him to keep away from Torchy, suspecting that he's providing her with secret police information, or else he'll end up pounding a beat in Staten Island. We soon realize that Capt. McTavish isn't really playing cricket in his concern about Torchy getting her hands on top secret police matters. Capt. McTavish is secretly working for Torchy's rival newspaper-The Daily Express-who frustrated editor-in him always being out-scooped by Torchy-Boyland, Robert Middlemass, want's him to cut off Torchy's access to top secret police investigation files.

With Greer, who was last seen with him alive, arrested in Spencers murder it looks like an open and shut case for the D.A's office and jury with Torchy, who somehow knows better, being the only dissenter! Getting the drop on the Greer murder jury, by listening in from a nearby supply closet, Torchy out maneuvers both Capt. McTavish and the Daily Express into thinking that the jury verdict is going to be innocent.

***SPOILERS*** To both Capt. McTavish and the Daily Express' surprise Greer is in fact found guilty in Spencers murder which has the newspaper's editor Boylan ending up with egg on his face in his jumping the gun on a breaking story that he never really had the facts for. And at the same time Torchy ends up behind bars for contempt in her manipulating, by planting false facts, the Greer verdict in order t screw-The Daily Express-her competition. As things soon turned out Torchy was in fact right in feeling that Greer was innocent, Spencer's killer later confessed, but by being behind bars she didn't have the time to write the story and have it make the front pages. It's there where Steve McBride came to Torchy's rescue in, after having Torchy released from jail, filing the story for her and at the same time giving Torchy all the credit!

awful

[writtenbymkm-583-902097 · 1/10 · 9 April 2018]

This is the one that ended the Torchy Blane series for me. It had already gotten ridiculous, but this one is awful. A man who is so stupid he would probably flunk kindergarten is kept on the payroll as a cop? A reporter who lies and cheats and subverts justice to get a scoop? A police detective who lets the reporter get away with it because he is stupid and because he wants to marry her? Give me a break. This is not comedy, it is just dumb. The only good part of this particular movie was the judge putting the reporter in jail. I will never watch another Torchy Blane movie.