That was an excellent one.

Fantastic!

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Torchy (Glenda Farrell) and her boyfriend, Steve (Barton MacLane) are once again preparing to get married. And, once again, a murder occurs and derails their plans. This is a perennial theme in this series as well as in the Falcon and Bulldog Drummond.The police, naturally, arrest the wrong man and Torchy thinks that the real killer is going on a worldwide race--and she intends to chase him and prove his guilt. However, there are a lot of twists and turns and she isn't exactly right--but of course she saves the day by the end of the film. All of this is very, very ordinary...EXCEPT the location of the final portion of the film. During this worldwide jaunt, the trail leads to Germany...yes, NAZI Germany! And, with the help of the German police, the mystery is solved...ABOARD THE HINDENBURG!!!! For an ex-history teacher like me, it made the film worth seeing--even if the plot really is a bit pedestrian.

Back in Jules Verne's steam-powered 19th Century, a trip around the World in only 80 days was considered astounding. In 1924 two U. S. Army aviators managed it in a new world record of 15 days, 11 hours. But that was nothing! In 1937 Warner Brothers second feature Fly-Away Baby, Glenda Farrell as irrepressible, smart-girl reporter Torchy Blane zips around the world in less than 30 minutes, using only the final half of the fast-moving, action-packed one-hour movie. All done with stock footage of the vehicles used and still pictures or footage of the various cities Torchy passes through, the mood for each locale set with appropriate regional music. All the while, a bold line meanders across a map of the Pacific Ocean, Asia, and Europe with the shadow of an airplane following along, motors humming. Lengthy scenes in Honolulu and Stuttgart are economically but artfully dispatched with small sets and back-projection. You may be so swept away by this Old Hollywood magic, and so absorbed into this engrossing, lightning-paced mystery pot-boiler, you will feel as if you've actually been to San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Suttgart with Torchy. And wow! what a window into time! You get to see file footage of a huge China Clipper taking off from a choppy sea, a gigantic Zepplin majestically gliding though the clouds, and a shot of the yet unfinished Golden Gate Bridge -- not to mention the usual swarms of square-top, spoke-wheel automobiles to be seen careening about the streets of 1930's motion pictures.The Torchy Blane series was a chance for reliable Warner supporting players Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane to strut their stuff in lead roles for a change. And they both shine! He's Torchy's tough cop boy friend Steve McBride, who needs her help to dope out the cases he's not sharp enough for. At least that's the way she tells it. Fly-Away Baby has the crime-solving duo after a diamond thief/murderer. The main suspect (Gordon Oliver), who is a columnist of a newspaper rival to Torchy's, is making an around-the-world promotional trip. Torchy and Steve suspect the crook will try to sell the hot diamonds somewhere along the way, so Torchy convinces her own newspaper publisher (Henry Davenport) to spring for her to follow along in what is promoted as an "around the world race." Hugh O'Connell provides sophisticated comedy relief as another reporter in the so-called race. A dandy with a rich wife, he's always bragging to his no-class cronies about spending her money and playing around on her. Little does he know his suspicious spouse has hired Steve's muddled, philosophical driver Gahagan (Tom Kennedy) to tag along and keep an eye on him. Steve joins Torchy in Stuttgart, where another murder takes place, then they take off aboard the Zepplin for the final leg of the journey and the exciting denouement. The airship scenes are very impressive for a B-movie.Fly-Away Baby is not quite so good as the first in the Torchy series, Smart Blonde (1937) (see my review). But Smart Blonde was something special, really a tough act to follow, and Fly-Away Baby is still wonderful. Fast-talking, fast-moving, breezy, funny, engaging, exciting, beautifully filmed, and expertly acted, especially by the two charming leads -- a delight from beginning to end. All handsomely wrapped up in polished production values only a slice below what you would expect from one of Warner Brothers' top "A" pictures. Director Frank McDonald, a career B-picture specialist, and film editor Doug Gould pack so much action into sixty minutes of running time, it's like five gallons of slick, smooth Classic Hollywood entertainment concentrated into a half-pint movie!It's never ceases to amaze how the big studios of Old Hollywood could turn out these minor masterpieces while bringing to bear only a fraction of their available resources.

Some of the Torchy Blane films are better than others and Fly Away Baby falls in the middle. Now you have to approach these series films with a more charitable perspective. Except for The Thin Man series all the series films back in the studio days were B picture programmers.Fly Away Baby has reporter Torchy Blane hot on the trail of a jewel thief and murderer. She's got one suspect in her sights, but another comes as a bit of a surprise to her. Of course she's once again treading on the toes of her homicide cop boyfriend Barton MacLane as Lieutenant Steve McBride. MacLane is the original alpha male, but Glenda Farrell gives as good as she gets.In fact even when the plots are sub par as this one really is, the Torchy Blane series always has that marvelous chemistry between Farrell and MacLane. Farrell in this series gets a chance to shine in a way she never did mostly getting parts that Joan Blondell rejected at Warner Brothers. These two are like a working class Tracy and Hepburn.And Barton MacLane I'm told was a whole lot like Steve McBride other than a lot of four letter words peppered his daily conversation. Usually he's a bad guy in his early film days, but it's a treat to see him on the side of the law. Folks always seem to be a step ahead of him though whether it's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon or Torchy in this series.Also there's Tom Kennedy who gives a droll performance as that thick as a brick assistant. Torchy and McBride are miles ahead of him.

Fly Away Baby (1937) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The second in the series has Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell) and her boyfriend Steve McBride (Barton MacLane) trying to solve some smuggling as well as a murder and the two end up flying across the world trying to catch the killer. FLY AWAY BABY is certainly a step up from the previous film as the story is a lot stronger, the characters more fun and we even get some nice support this time around. One thing that would have made the film even better is if it had been filmed with any sort of budget because one of the big things in the story is that it takes place in various locations throughout the world. These cities are just seen inside hotel rooms and other locations because they obviously didn't have the money to film at these places. In their place is a bunch of stock footage, which obviously makes the film look somewhat cheap but outside of this the story is pretty good. I thought both Farrell and MacLane were even better here than they were in the first and it seems that the two of them really worked on their chemistry. The duo come across here as a lot of fun and they certainly help carry the story with their charm. Gordon Oliver and Hugh O'Connell also add some value in their supporting roles. The film certainly doesn't become a classic and it's far from perfect but I think fans of the genre or fans of Farrell should at least have a good time with it.