Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Hot 888 Mama . . . and forgot to cast Bob? It might look a lot like TORRID ZONE. Only the steam engines are hot in this picture. James Cagney and Pat O'Brien try to get their staccato patter up to gangster film Tommy gun speed, but instead they go bananas. They probably don't know Who's on First, what with wondering who's on Gloria. Set in a so-called "banana republic," but filmed on Warner Bros.' back lot, there's not much to see, and even less to think about. Executions are more frequently threatened than the implausibly absent tropical rains, but it's all tongue-in-cheek. Ugly Americans may rule the roost, but why not, since the bananas are being grown for U.S. consumption? Perhaps the best time to view TORRID ZONE is when you're slicing up the yellow boomerangs into Jello or atop a bowl of cereal. But James Cagney is not yet a YANKEE DOODLE DANDY here, and his comic timing seems way off. Though there's one topical joke about FDR running for a third term, you'd never know the world as at war watching this twilight--Er, TORRID ZONE.

mark.waltz "Mister, the stork that brought you must have been a vulture!" That's how American chanteuse Ann Sheridan refers to South American plantation owner Pat O'Brien when he has her fired and deported in this reunion of the three stars of "Angels With Dirty Faces". James Cagney, with pencil thin mustache, is the nuisance hero that annoys O'Brien but is also someone he can't run the plantation without. Some might find the bandito character played by George Tobias as offensive. He recites common phrases with humorous alterations such as, Now you see the tables are inside out and I save this money for a rainstorm. At times, Tobias sounds like Bela Lugosi as Igor. The best dialog is Sheridan's romantic denials towards Cagney and her verbal sparring with Vinson. O'Brien is a borderline villain, manipulating Cagney, harassing Sheridan and threatening his two aids, . Andy Devine and Grady Sutton every time they take a collect wire from Cagney.As for Devine, it is interesting to note how maliciously Sheridan's character treats him with, such obvious contempt displayed simply because of his appearance. She never even looks him in the face. But his loyalty towards Cagney over his own boss is touching and he delivers each comical line with squeaky voiced glee. A mix of comedy, adventure and romance makes this a sure crowd pleaser.

slymusic "Torrid Zone" is a fine fast-paced action/comedy/romance film starring one of America's favorite tough guys, "oomph" girls, and Irishmen: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, and Pat O'Brien, respectively. Featuring mounds of witty dialogue, this film takes place south of the border in Puerto Aguilar, where the cheap cigar-chomping son-of-a-bitch scoundrel Steve Case (O'Brien), general manager of a struggling fruit company, finesses the mustachioed wiseass Nick Butler (Cagney), who he needs to be the foreman at his banana plantation, to postpone his plans to leave for the States. Along for the ride is the glamorous entertainer Lee Donley (Sheridan), an adorable card shark extraordinaire who can wisecrack with the best of them. And that's only the beginning, folks. Add a colorful group of supporting players such as Andy Devine, Helen Vinson, Jerome Cowan, and George Tobias, and you have a smashingly good flick. Two memorable scenes include the opening number "Mi Caballero" sung by Lee Donley, and the exciting shoot-out between the plantation workers and the banditos. In closing, my favorite characters in this film are the aforementioned completely unlikable Steve Case, the notorious yet likable bandito Rosario La Mata (brilliantly portrayed by George Tobias), and the absolutely lovable but dimwitted Wally Davis (Andy Devine).

bkoganbing This was the final film for James Cagney and Pat O'Brien who in my opinion invented the buddy film. O'Brien would be leaving Warner Brothers the following year and the two of them would not get together in another film until Ragtime in 1981 in which they both had small parts.It's a typical fast paced comedy for both of them, they were incapable of doing anything else together. O'Brien slowed down when he was in a clerical collar and Cagney when he was doing a nostalgic film, but together the lines go at light speed. Except when Ann Sheridan is concerned. Director Bill Keighley always slowed the pace for Sheridan because he didn't want anyone to miss some of her tart sayings. She has some of the best lines ever in her career. Typical being when she tells O'Brien that the stork that brought him must have been a vulture. Or when she's constantly one upping Helen Vinson who made a career of playing the other woman.O'Brien is the hardnosed manager of a tropical fruit company and he's in big trouble because a local Sandinista type bandit leader, George Tobias, is wrecking his operations. Another distraction is Ann Sheridan whose redheaded beauty he figures is too much of a distraction to the men where redheads are scarce. Notice how O'Brien tells the local authorities what to do. More truth than humor in that situation.He's desperate enough to hire back his number one troubleshooter James Cagney who gets the job done, but always gets himself in a jackpot where women are concerned. He's taken a fancy to Sheridan and she him.A couple of other reviewers have pointed out the obvious similarities between this and The Front Page. The first film version of that classic play is the one where Pat O'Brien made his screen debut as the ace reporter. However he did it on Broadway in the role of the editor which he's playing here.Perhaps this might be better described as another version of His Girl Friday. I can't say remake because both films came out at the same time. Sheridan comes off the same way as Rosalind Russell does in His Girl Friday, but Keighley also wants to accent her sensuality as well as her sharp tongue. He succeeds admirably because no woman in their previous films quite put off both Cagney and O'Brien the way Sheridan does.The woman sure had oomph.