Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture

With this one Columbia closed down the Blackie series, the 14th in 8 years and a fairly satisfying conclusion. Times and tastes were changing and actors and technicians were spending more time working for TV, this type of b film series became popular TV series during the '50's. Chester Morris moved onto doing more TV and stage stuff - and Richard Lane already was a successful TV wrestling commentator! I can almost hear him now - his high speed buzz-saw of a voice must have been perfect for the job!

Blackie and Runt (Sid Tomack for the once) get accused of murdering Chinese laundry shop boss, tracking down the real killers with Inspector Farraday and Sgt. Matthews on their heels leads them into a web of ingenious diamond smugglers. This involves a diamond-cutting Nazi refugee held against his will but who seems to put up a good fight when confronted with Blackie, a night club owner who might be good or bad, a redhead who seems to walk all over Chinatown with hot diamonds in tow, and plenty of tea. As usual the 57 minutes are taken at warp speed, meaning that even though I've already seen it a couple of times I'll still have to see it again to finally settle who murdered who. Favourite bits: The "sleazy" tour of Chinatown that is by turns cringe-worthy and hilarious and Farraday's continuous witty estimations of Matthews' intelligence.

All in all I think the BB's are an enjoyable and unjustly overlooked series with some films of course better than others, but with the last being as good as the first makes me wish they'd gone on churning them out just a few more years!

Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) is seen leaving a Chinese laundry moments before the owner is discovered murdered inside. Shockingly, Inspector Farraday does NOT arrest him but lets him go due to lack of evidence. Blackie investigates the case himself before Farraday realizes this time he actually did have just cause to take Blackie in.

The last of the Boston Blackie series is far from the best but still enjoyable. Chester Morris and Richard Lane are good as always but this time George E. Stone is missing. His character, The Runt, is here alright but he's played by Sid Tomack. Charlie Chan fans might like to know that two of the actors who played his sons, Victor Sen Yung and Benson Fong, have bit parts here. The humor is the best part of this one, such as the funny one-liners or the phony tour of Chinatown's underbelly. At least they had the sense to end the Boston Blackie series before it became pathetic like some of them did. I'm looking at you, Monogram Charlie Chan.

As usual, Blackie and Runt (oddly, NOT played by George E. Stone in this film) are at the wrong place at the wrong time and are accused of murder. However, as the film progressed, it was obvious that some deeper conspiracy was afoot. Stupidly, this conspiracy became unbelievably complicated--far more than common sense would dictate and you're left wondering why the thieves went to so much trouble. After all, after stealing diamonds and re-cutting them, why have all the complicated business involving the tour guide, the theater and the lady?! Also, the stunt doubles towards the end for the fight scene were just awful--making it pretty obvious that they were NOT the star fighting with a criminal.

While this movie is far from great, considering that it is much more original than many of the previous films in the series, it's a pretty good movie. Up until then, Chester Morris had played the title character in more than a dozen films in less than a decade and the scripts had become very repetitive and formulaic. Unfortunately, it still has Inspector Farraday AGAIN blaming Blackie for a crime--even though Blackie ALWAYS finds the real criminals by the end of EVERY film. But, apart from that, the film's change in locale (to Chinatown) is a welcome relief--thank goodness for SOME originality! What you think about this and other Blackie films probably does depend on how many you've seen. If you've only seen a few, this one is probably one of the lesser efforts but after seeing more than a couple, this is quite different.

By the way, in a very small scene you have a police lab scientist talking to Farraday about an analysis he did on a package of tea leaves. This lab man was very funny--too bad he was only briefly in the film, as he was sarcastic and offered a nice respite from the usual material.

Well, finally the writers of the 'Boston Blackie' crime adventures that entertained the audience so fabulously for a whole decade DID seem to run out of new ideas; or maybe this kind of crime movie just wasn't 'fashionable' anymore? The VERY long-running 'Charlie Chan' movie series ended the same year...

Of course, there is some solid suspense and quite a few good jokes in this last case of Blackie's (like when Sergeant Matthews 'keeps an eye' on Blackie walking up and down in his apartment all night - while it's really a cardboard figure tied to a toy train moving around!), and we get a glimpse of New York's Chinatown, where some very shady business is being done - but mostly by white people! It's not one of the best entries in the series, it's REALLY a swan song - but it's still better than many other 'average' crime movies.

George E. Stone, who had played the 'Runt' in almost all of the movies, is already missing here - and now it's curtains for the series as a whole. One of the most entertaining, inventive and funny crime movie series of all times, with one of the BEST protagonists: Chester Morris, alias Boston Blackie...

"Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture" is the last in the Boston Blackie series, filmed in 1949. Thanks to Blackie, Chester Morris had to return to the theater, as he was quoted as saying, "After ... these films, a producer wouldn't put me in an 'A' movie even if I paid for the privilege."

Without the good-looking, amusing Morris as Blackie, the series would not have worked as well as it did. The stories were usually very formulaic, and you really had to love the Runt in order for him not to become annoying. (The Runt here is Sid Tomack and not George E. Stone.)

This story is actually kind of interesting - Blackie gets involved with a diamond smuggling ring in Chinatown after the owner of a laundry is found dead right after Blackie dropped off his laundry! Of course, as usual, he has to clear his name or be arrested by Inspector Farraday.

The fun part about this film is the underground Chinese tours for tourists showing gambling, dancing slave girls, etc. - all fake, with the performers dropping their acts as soon as the tour guide moves on.

Sorry to see Blackie go, but it became a TV show in the '50s starring Kent Taylor, a very different type from the amiable Morris.