There are several key questions to be answered in this drama taking place in Central America. Firstly, is Nick Butler(James Cagney) going to make up his mind if he's willing to continue as the most competent forman of a banana plantation managed by Steve Case(Pat O'Brien)., or is he going to relocate, as he periodically threatens, to Chicago? ........Secondly, is Nick going to wind up with one of 2 American women who are presently located at the banana plantation.? They are: Lee Donley(Ann Sheridan): an adventurous American nightclub singer and card shark who claims she has arrived wanting new scenery, and : Gloria Anderson(Helen Vinson), who has lost any confidence in her overseer husband, preferring Nick as a lover. She looks down on Lee as being socially inferior........Thirdly, is laid back revolutionary Rosario(George Tobias) and his followers going to be captured and executed for the mischievous things they have done to impede the export of bananas? Rosario is your stereotypical Latin revolutionary, with a bullet belt across his chest. Actually, he's rather blaze about the possibility of dying for his cause or the chance of success for his revolution. He plays cards with Lee, in the next jail cell, while awaiting the firing squad to get ready to execute him. But in the firing gallery, the police chief got too close to him, and has his gun stolen, and Rosario climbs over the wall to freedom. He will be recaptured later, after his men wreck some rails and pile wood on the tracks for the train that carries the bananas to the port. Nick leads a search and destroy mission against his gang, resulting in a shootout, and the capture of a wounded Rosario. But, again, he escapes before execution time, again by stealing the police chief's gun. Before he leaves, he chastises Gloria and Steve for trying to make Lee vanish, saying that she loves Nick. In Steve's case, he thinks it's unbecoming for a Caucasian American to be entertaining a bunch of peon Chicanos.........Lee comes across as an all-American girl next door type, who is not pushy about establishing a romantic relationship with Nick. In contrast, Gloria is clearly marked as 'the other woman', throwing herself at Nick, acting somewhat snobbish, and trying to abandon her disappointing husband. ..........Lee comes to the rescue of Nick and Gloria when Mr. Anderson commented on the lipstick on Nick's lips, saying that was the type Gloria used. Lee interjected that it was her lipstick.........I failed to detect any torrid romances,: just a kiss or 2. .......I didn't like Cagney's appearance with a pencil mustache...........I commend the Warner staging group for creating a true feeling of actually being in the banana republic.
Review of Torrid Zone
