The Adventures of Jane Arden (1939)

"The Adventures of Jane Arden" is an orphan film: It was supposed to be the first in a series about a popular comic strip heroine, but the series never got rolling.

Audiences presumably didn't warm up to this movie, but it's hard to understand why. Compared to most of the "B" cheapies of its time, it's excellent. Though it's short (about an hour), it starts with a bang and rolls right along. And its obscure star, Rosella Towne, is really good.

Jane Arden, spunky girl reporter, is said to have been the inspiration for the later but better-remembered comic strip character Brenda Starr. Jane's strip died out sometime in the 1960s, but judging from her brief film career, I wish she were still around. It was a pleasure making her acquaintance.