Main Cast: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Andy Devine, Helen Vinson
Release Year: 1940
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Torrid Zone star James Cagney once described the film as "The Front Page among the bananas." Indeed, the screenplay diligently follows the Front Page plot device of a tough boss (Pat O'Brien) pulling every underhanded trick in the book to keep his top man (Cagney) from quitting. This time the setting is a Central American plantation owned by O'Brien, which supervisor Cagney would dearly love to leave behind. Complicating the plot is a nightclub singer (Anne Sheridan) over whom O'Brien and Tracy do battle; a bored married woman (Helen Vinson) with eyes for Cagney; and a gang of Latino bandits, led by George Tobias (providing comic relief). What Torrid Zone lacked in originality it made up for in sheer energy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Anyone visiting the Torrid Zone better be prepared to duck -- not to avoid a stray bullet (though there are a few of those), but to protect himself from the onslaught of wisecracks that are tossed around with such abandon. As might be expected from a film that many consider to be a variation on The Front Page, the lines in Torrid come thick and fast -- and that's just the way it should be. What is unexpected for the period is how double the entendre is in many cases; one wonders how the strict censors of the periods let some of these slide by, but thank goodness they did. The salty, slangy, streetwise dialogue is a huge asset for Torrid; what other film could get a howl from the simple line "History repeats itself"? The effect comes all from the setup (and from Ann Sheridan's impeccable delivery), and the creators of Torrid know exactly how to make setups work. The screenplay and William Keighley's rapid-fire direction are vitally important, but so is the cast. James Cagney and Pat O'Brien are once again a team that works together like a well-oiled machine, with Cagney played his familiar pugnacious ladies' man routine and O'Brien delivering a tougher characterization than usual. The aforementioned Sheridan is sensational, demonstrating that her label as the "Oomph Girl" applies as much to her delivery of a tart wisecrack as to her stunning looks. Andy Devine is his usual bizarrely voiced self, and there's even a young George Reeves on hand. Some of Torrid doesn't hold up as well today, especially its depiction of Latin Americans, but most viewers will give in to its verve and forgive it its flaws. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Steve Case (Pat O'Brien) has to deal with trouble at his tropical fruit company's Central American banana plantation. A revolutionary, Rosario La Mata (George Tobias), is stirring up unrest among the workers, and the only man who can handle the situation, foreman Nick Butler (James Cagney), has just quit. Steve manages to persuade Nick to stick around (for a big bonus). Adding to the complications is Lee Donley (Ann Sheridan), a woman who Steve has ordered out of the region for causing a different kind of trouble among the men.
