Torrid Zone

For the region of the Earth, see Torrid zone.

Torrid Zone is a 1940 adventure film starring James Cagney, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien.

Plot summary

Steve Case (Pat O'Brien) has to deal with trouble at his tropical fruit company's Central American banana plantation. A revolutionary, Rosario La Mata (George Tobias), is stirring up unrest among the workers, and the only man who can handle the situation, foreman Nick Butler (James Cagney), has just quit. Steve manages to persuade Nick to stick around (for a big bonus). Adding to the complications is Lee Donley (Ann Sheridan), a woman whom Steve has ordered out of the region for causing a different kind of trouble among the men.

The film borrowed plot elements from 'The Front Page' and 'Red Dust' and ended with Cagney saying to Sheridan "You and that 14-carat oomph", a studio 'in-joke' in reference to Sheridan's title as the 'Oomph Girl'.

Cast

• James Cagney as Nick Butler
• Ann Sheridan as Lee Donley
• Pat O'Brien as Steve Case
• Andy Devine as Wally Davis
• Helen Vinson as Mrs. Gloria Anderson
• Jerome Cowan as Bob Anderson
• George Tobias as Rosario La Mata
• George Reeves as Sancho
• Victor Kilian as Carlos
• Frank Puglia as Police Chief Juan Rodriguez

External links

• Torrid Zone at the TCM Movie Database
• Torrid Zone at IMDb