Rastro en las tinieblas

This was a good start to the Chester Morris Boston Blackie series of yarns at Columbia, the next 13 more or less maintained this frantic pitch of action and badinage. On the print I've got it looked like one of Blackie's magic tricks had been cut out in the first minute, not auguring well for the completeness of the rest of the film, but if there were cuts, they were expertly executed.

Blackie about to be pulled in by Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) for robbery gets mixed up with murders and spies and dames. On the way through the cast have a splendid assortment of patter eg dame to Blackie "Who are you?" - "At the moment a fugitive from an autopsy", or Blackie to Farraday "You'll be pounding the beat so far out of town you'll have to send smoke signals to report in", keeping just the right balance in what was, after all, a comedy-thriller. Rochelle Hudson as Cecilia looked extremely decorative, especially when she took that hat off! What were we supposed to be thinking she was thinking at the end of the film?!

Minor points: I preferred George E. Stone as the Runt to come, but all the cast were excellent, and the film could have done with 5 or 10 minutes more, but all the same basically I'm glad at what we've got. Not for serious people - if you like the genre as I do I recommend you watch the entire series, if you don't like the genre why not watch the entire series just to waste your time.

When Boston Blackie leaves a room, he likes to leave a witty note for Inspector Faraday—written in soap in large letters across a mirror. I have to admit—ever since seeing this movie, I've been looking for an opportunity to leave somebody a soap-on-mirror note. That Blackie is indeed an irresistible character, a sharp wit who leaves a clean but clever mark.

Chester Morris is excellent in that title role—fast moving, confident, a magician and a sleuth. And possibly a jewel thief…though in this film we never really know that for sure.

Richard Lane is also strong as the police inspector who is Blackie's dedicated stalker, friendly rival or both. Blackie always outwits the inspector but never makes him look stupid; Inspector Faraday vows to catch Blackie and lock him up but never resorts to dirty tricks and is not grudging in his respect for Blackie's nerve, expertise and luck.

Rochelle Hudson is very good as Cecilia Bradley, properly impressed by this man Boston Blackie who essentially hijacks her car but does it in a very dashing manner. Hudson is just right, actually—romantically interested, yes, but still plenty sharp enough to follow events and lend assistance as needed. Her smart and attractive performance hits just the right notes.

Good script, excellent pace, just the right amount of humor…oh, and all the standard amusement park elements, including a Mechanical Man who figures snugly into the plot. A top notch series opener all the way!

In the opening film of the Boston Blackie series, Chester Morris as Blackie and his pal Charles Wagenheim as the Runt are back from a long European vacation. Ready to greet them is his old nemesis, Inspector Farraday of the NYPD, still looking to pin some robberies on the smooth talking and very clever conman/jewel thief.

But homicide is not something Blackie does and when a dead body turns up in his stateroom, he's got himself in a real jam. As always there's a mysterious beautiful woman involved and Blackie trails her to Coney Island where she winds up good and dead. As Blackie escapes the men who killed her, another female turns up and helps him out as well.

Chester Morris who received an Oscar nomination in the early days of sound for his role in Alibi had gone down considerably in the Hollywood pecking order since then. The Boston Blackie character gave him a lease on life until television came along where he almost exclusively appeared until he died in 1970.

Blackie was one smooth talking charmer, but if you looked hard you could see he didn't come from any privileged background. He was clever and street smart and Meet Boston Blackie established his character who would do several films right into the Fifties. The Boston Blackie films weren't done on blockbuster budgets, but they were fast and entertaining and depended on Morris's charm which never failed.

What Blackie got himself caught up in was an espionage ring operating out of Coney Island. But of course all was righted in the end.

It had to be, Morris was signed for several more films.

Now if THAT wasn't a novelty, especially in the 40s, in the middle of the Production Code reign (which EXPLICITLY says: "The treatment of crimes against the law must not... make criminals seem heroic and justified"!): Columbia Pictures took the hero of Jack Boyle's stories from the 1910s - 'Boston Blackie', a jewel thief and safe cracker! - and made him the protagonist of a whole series of 14 movies; a bigger number than quite popular and utterly decent 'Ellery Queen' or the highly moralistic 'Whistler' stories ever reached.

And from the first movie on, this safe cracker hero, thanks to Chester Morris' wonderful, charming as well as cheeky and clever performance, but also to the way the script models him, certainly IS heroic, and has the audience's FULL sympathy despite his illegal 'hobby' that has made him widely known to the police - he's even got something like a feud-friendship with Inspector Faraday.

Well, the reason his 'petty crimes' are forgivable is that, when it comes to CAPITAL crime, Boston Blackie becomes a REAL help for the police: because he's not only enormously smart and quick, but he also knows magical tricks and a lot of other things the average cop has got no idea of.

So, in this case, he himself becomes a murder suspect, and at the same time has to clear himself, to escape the assaults of the real murder gang AND to blow up a spy ring! With him is his friend and 'colleague' called 'the Runt', and a beautiful young lady whose car he 'hijacked' while fleeing from the gangsters - and sometimes with him, sometimes against him is Inspector Faraday...

You just CAN'T help loving this cheeky, wisecracking, smart rogue, and feel the suspense throughout the movie where he is almost constantly on the run from someone; this wonderful movie, full of excitement and fun, is the beginning of a wonderful film series of which you shouldn't miss a single one!

Returning to America from Europe via ocean liner, notorious jewel thief Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) gets mixed up with a murder, a spy ring, and someone called The Mechanical Man. The first of Columbia's Boston Blackie series of B detective movies. I say detective because, despite Blackie being a jewel thief, he spends every movie solving crimes and helping people out. Usually he's the one accused of the crime and in order to prove his innocence, he must figure out the real culprits. Richard Lane plays Inspector Faraday, the cop forever on Blackie's trail who likes him despite their being on opposite sides of the law. Charles Wagenheim plays Blackie's sidekick Runt. George E. Stone would play the role later and was much better-suited for the part than Wagenheim. Rochelle Hudson and Constance Worth provide the pretty in this first film. The Blackie series always had lovely actresses. Fun start to a great series.