Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion

Is there no end to the suspicions of "Insp. Farraday" (Richard Lane)? If he could, he'd probably have "Blackie" (Chester Morris) down for the Lincoln assassination! Anyway this time around, it's a valuable Charles Dickens first edition that sells at auction for a whopping great $62,000. It turns out, though, that this is a fake folio - and naturally, our deductive genius concludes that it must be our erstwhile thief. As usual, "Blackie" and his long-suffering factotum "Runt" (George E. Stone), alongside his wealthy but rather bumbling friend "Manleder" (Lloyd Corrigan) have to get to the bottom of a scenario where a criminal network doesn't just stop at forgery, and the outwardly butter-wouldn't-melt " bookseller "Constance" (Lynn Merrick) is maybe not just as sweet as she seems. It's quickly paced, if predictable, and en route we have some fun in a dumb-waiter, some slapstick fisticuffs and a few red herrings before a denouement that is hardly a shock to anyone. One of the better films from this series, I think.

I have seen nearly every Boston Blackie film they've made and while I really like Chester Morris' title character, the films suffered much more from repetition than other B-movie detective series films. Some of this could have been because they made so many Blackie films--other than Charlie Chan, I can't think of another series of the era that had as many films. But sometimes it was just sloppy writing. While this is generally an enjoyable film, there were just too many similarities to other films--the black-face scene (which is very tacky, I know), Blackie being stuck in the chute and is trapped by the police between floors in the apartment building, and the idiot Inspector and his even more imbecilic assistant--it's all rehashed.

Now how much you enjoy the film really depends on your familiarity with the series. If you are new to it, then it you'll no doubt enjoy it immensely (maybe even giving it a 7 or 8) but if you've seen many of them, there just isn't enough new and worthwhile about this pretty standard film. At least, however, the main plot idea of a forged valuable book IS new and interesting.

Suspicion is something that Chester Morris as Boston Blackie lives with as a given. Inspector Richard Lane books him on suspicion of murder when he accidentally sells a forged first edition of the Pickwick Papers. Charles Dickens who zealously fought for his copyrighted material his whole life would not have been pleased.

But Dickens might have been pleased at the way Boston Blackie works himself out of this frame. He would have been pleased at the way Morris disguised himself as a rare book dealer who actually has been ill and bedridden while all kinds of bad things are going on in his shop.

The villains are a husband and wife pair of crooks Lynn Merrick and Steve Cochran. Cochran who played slick villains in his prime gets a good showcase in Boston Blackie Booked On Suspicion. But the film really belongs to Lynn Merrick. She's one cool piece of work if there ever was one and a worthy antagonist for Morris.

Merrick is who you will remember if you see Boston Blackie Booked On Suspicion and you should see it.

For a relief from the real world which seems full of suicidal terrorist savages, I turned to this one out of the Boston Blackie series.

A simple plot: Counterfeit Pickwick Papers bought for $62,000 at auction, Blackie goes into overdrive after the thieves especially because, as usual, Inspector Farraday believes he's at the bottom of it all. With a few neat twists and turns and plenty of wisecracking it reaches a logical and satisfying conclusion - unless in error you thought you were watching Fellini - and in fact fits together like a done jigsaw puzzle. No big surprises then, but I'll have to leave you to guess whether Blackie gets his...person or not - no spoilers!

Good bits: Trussed up Blackie + cigar untying himself in hoodlum's den; Steve Cochran alternating as usual between a Tough Cookie and a Poodle; the scenes inside the hotel's dumb waiter. At this point my daughter insists Steve was gorgeously handsome and a Man! Bad bits: Too many forced laughs by the main characters, it was pleasant enough without that.

Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion (1945)

*** (out of 4)

Eighth film in Columbia's Boston Blackie series is one of the better films. This time out Blackie (Chester Morris) gets involved in a first edition book, which turns out to be a fake and soon a man is dead and Blackie is the main suspect. This 66-minute film flies by and manages to be quite good even though these story lines are starting to repeat themselves with minor issues. Morris is once again very energetic and fun to watch in the role. The supporting cast of George E. Stone, Richard Lane and Frank Sully adds a lot to the movie as does the femme fatale played by Lynn Merrick.