Meet Boston Blackie

Blackie arrives back in the US (via steamer) only to find himself in trouble with the law again when he finds a corpse, Martin Vestrick, in his stateroom. Blackie trails Marilyn Howard, who was seen with Vestrick by Blackie and Runt on the ship, to Coney Island where a group of spies meet at the freak show exhibit. Marilyn is later killed when she goes on the Tunnel of Horrors ride with Blackie, and the same killers go after our hero. Blackie forces a ride with Cecelia Bradley, an innocent bystander, and the two manage to elude the killers. Inspector Faraday, in the meantime, goes after Blackie for the murder of Marilyn, while Blackie, Cecelia, and the Runt try to unravel the spy activities at the amusement park. Nice opening to this 14 film series, with Chester Morris providing the jovial attitude seen in his other movies and beneficial to the character (also nice to see some of Morris' magic tricks as well). Rochelle Hudson was very beautiful here and lent fine support. I was impressed with Florey's direction and Planer's camera-work giving us some interesting perspectives and camera angles. My beef with this film was that there was little action with the villains in the movie, seeing the case from Blackie's perspective. Next film in the series: Confessions of Boston Blackie. Rating, 8.

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.

This was my first look at this old-time crime "series," if you will, of hour-long tales starring Chester Morris as "Boston Blackie." I don't know enough about the character, since this was my first look, to make many comments on him but Morris reminds me a bit, with his smugness, of William Powell playing "Nick Charles" of "The Thin Man" movie fame.

In a nutshell, I found this movie surprisingly fast-paced and entertaining. I hope they all are similar to this with interesting characters and a good mix of crime, snappy dialog that includes humor, nice-looking "dames," chase scenes and the like. Yes, it's dated but that's okay for the most part although some scenes you shake your head with the implausibility. At the end, Blackie makes a throw that a Major Leauge baseball pitcher couldn't make, but despite the credibility it was a short, fun story that doesn't drag.

Rochelle Hudson filled the bill as the female lead. I remember her from a Shirley Temple film or two. Richard Lane was a bit odd as "Inspecor Faraday." He kept saying - or hinting - that he cared about Blackie but but at the same time he kept trying to put him in the electric chair. Some friend!

Overall, enjoyable, and I hope I see many of the 13 others in the series is they are as fast- paced as this one.

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.

CHESTER MORRIS and ROCHELLE HUDSON star in the first of the Boston Blacie series from Columbia, MEET BOSTON BLACKIE.

Inspector Farraday (RICHARD LANE) is Blackie's old friend. They run into each other aboard a steamship where Blackie finds a murdered man in his stateroom. A mysterious blonde (an international spy) is what Blackie has to follow and there's an amusement park scene that involves The Tunnel of Horrors and a Mechanical Man before the woman is murdered and he meets up with Rochelle Hudson.

With Farraday on his trail, Blackie has to prove that he's not the murderer even though his fingerprints were at the scene of the blonde's murder. With the spy element established, it seems that the Morse Code abounds everywhere in the plot, readily interpreted by one and all.

Spies, murder and an amusement park background makes for a lively little Boston Blackie caper.