User Reviews

Ray Cooke helps the boss's son get a deer past a game warden to serve for supper and win a bet.

The Torchy series of short stories by Sewall Ford were turned into a popular series of shorts in the early 1920s. With the coming of sound, producer C. C. Burr decided that they could stand revival, and this is the second comedy about the red-headed office boy. Given the titles of the sound and silent shorts, it's likely a remake.

Torchy (Ray Cooke) is an office boy....sort of like a secretary that does a variety of tasks for the boss. Well, when the boss is out one day, a friend of Torchy's has friends come to see him. Torchy wants his friend to make a great impression, so he sneaks him into the boss' office and has him pose as the boss! Soon, however, the boss arrives but instead of exposing the ruse, he goes along with it. But he also convinces Torchy to do a job for him...to sneak some venison past the game warden. It seems the boss wants to serve it to friends and win some odd bet. What's next? See the film.

In the early 30s, Ray Cooke made quite a few Torchy shorts though I have no idea how many more (if any) exist today, as I could only find one on YouTube (this film). So, since I couldn't find the other films, I can't compare them to "Torchy Passes the Buck".

Overall, I liked "Torchy Passes the Buck" but I think it's less of a comedy and more a nice slice of life story. No big laughs...but a nice happy ending where Torchy's nemesis gets his comeuppance.