I'll tell you why so serious

Fresh and Exciting

Absolutely brilliant

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A surprisingly entertaining Warner Bros venture into pure escapism, with some of the most crackling and sizzlingly witty dialogue ever heard on the classic screen. Keighley puts it all across with a terrific punch, with the assistance of Wong Howe's superlative camera-work. From the long opening shot with its sweeping photography, we just know we're in for a real treat. Keighley doesn't let us down. In fact, he maintains the torrid pace with only a few breaks. The players are both well cast and brilliantly matched. Cagney and Sheridan make a great team, whilst that uneven actor, Pat O'Brien, is here at his persuasive best. O'Brien makes such a forceful impression that we miss him when he's off the screen for a long stretch in the middle of the movie. We also enjoyed Frank Puglia in another of his typically amusing studies, this time of a harassed police chief. Maybe Tobias is a bit too heavy as the revolutionary, but wait till you catch George Reeves partnering Victor Kilian as a couple of below-the- border stereotypes. Aside from the ambush which is just a little too realistically staged to jibe with the jovial mood of the rest of the action, atmosphere is winningly captured. Production values are lavish. As far as most audiences are concerned, Torrid Zone is marvelous fun because of its three principals. Cagney, Sheridan and O'Brien make the most of their endlessly witty comebacks. Their delivery is fast, their charisma catching, their style impeccable.

"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).

This movie was made right in the heart of the period when Hollywood was using one road-tested plot and just switching location and names and the fact that Jerry Wald - widely believed to be the prototype for Sammy Glick in Budd Schulberg's What Makes Sammy Run- is credited as producer adds credence as Wald was noted for 'stealing' ideas, plots, and/or anything that wasn't nailed down. Other posters have viewed this as The Front Page in drag but I find more parallels with the previous year's Only Angels Have Wings; tropical setting, incompetent professional (Cowan, Barthelmess) married to joint love interest (Vinson, Hayworth), 'adventuress' (Arthur, Sheridan) allowed to remain only on sufferance, plus outside factors (bandits, weather) affecting the efficiency of US-owned interests (bananas, mail). Hawks' movie had a classier cast - Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell - than Keithley's and overall was the classier movie but Torrid Zone gives almost as good as it gets and should not be dismissed lightly.

Life at a banana plantation must have its compensations, judging from the way things turn out in this fast-moving, wise-cracking comedy directed stylishly by William Keighley. PAT O'BRIEN is the hard-nosed manager of a plantation who needs his former overseer's help in keeping some criminal elements from causing too much trouble. So JAMES CAGNEY comes back to help him--but trouble brews when he and O'Brien quarrel over red-headed ANN SHERIDAN, who just about walks off with the film's best lines.It's strictly a Warner comedy-melodrama with stock players turning up in some good supporting roles, particularly GEORGE TOBIAS, ANDY DEVINE, JEROME COWAN and, in a small role, GEORGE (Superman) REEVES.The real surprise of the film is ANN SHERIDAN, handling herself in every situation as a gal to be reckoned with. It's fun all the way.