Alias Boston Blackie

Alias Boston Blackie (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Third film in Columbia's Boston Blackie series has Blackie (Chester Morris) tracking down a prison escapee who escaped during one of Blackie's shows. Lew Landers (The Raven) returns to direct this entry and like the previous film in the series, this one here moves at a very fast pace but for some reason most of the comedy is left out of this film. The mystery isn't all that compelling either, although the first half of the film works the best with the second half losing some of its fire. Morris is really good here as he seems to really have the role down to ease.

It's Christmas at the Boston Blackie household, which means that Blackie is trimming the tree and the Runt is telling him that Christmas trees are bad luck. Will a Christmas mystery ensue? Well, a mystery there is, but oddly little time is devoted to the season aside from that opening and then a bit at the end.

Blackie rounds up a gang of theatrical friends, including Adele Mara as Eve, and buses them out to the prison for a Christmas show for the inmates. Eve's brother Joe (Larry Parks) is an inmate who is hot for revenge on two hoods who lined him up for this prison stretch; during the show, Joe steals a costume/disguise from one of the entertainers and escapes with the troupe on their way out. It isn't long before one of said hoods turns up murdered, and our old friend Inspector Farraday seems to have Blackie dead to rights for aiding in the escape, the murder, or both.

Less comic relief than expected in this one, though the banter between Blackie and Farraday is, as always, crisp and catchy. Chester Morris and Richard Lane both look very confident in their third film in the roles.

When Larry Parks uses a Christmas show at the penitentiary to cover his escape, show arranger Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) needs to prove his own innocence -- and to explain how neither he nor Parks had anything do with a murder.

It's a typically fast-paced episode in the Columbia series, with the usual cast of character actors: Adele Mara as Parks' sister, George E. Stone as Blackie's assistant, Richard Lane as the police inspector, and Lloyd Corrigan, Paul Fix, and Cy Kendall rounding out the cast.

Blackie was created by Jack Boyle after he had spent time for kiting checks. A fix-up novel from the short stories was a success in 1918, and there were eleven silent films from 1918 through 1927, with performers like Lionel Barrymore, Bert Lytell and Walter Long playing the safecracker. Columbia revived the series in 1941, starring Chester Morris. In them, Blackie is a reformed crook who keeps having to help out pals and prove his own innocence. He also starred in a summer replacement radio show in 1944. There was a TV show from ZIV in the 1950s, and a graphic novel in 2002.

Well, it's Christmas time and Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) celebrates the only way he knows how -- by proving himself innocent of a crime he didn't commit! This time it starts with a magic show Blackie puts on for convicts, only to have one of them escape. Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) is present for the jailbreak and convinced Blackie helped with the escape. So, along with his sidekick Runt (George E. Stone), Blackie sets out to find the escaped prisoner and winds up trying to prove the man's innocence.

The third in Columbia's great Boston Blackie series of B detective flicks is a solidly entertaining entry. In addition to the primary trio of Blackie, Runt, and Farrady, this one has recurring characters Arthur (Lloyd Corrigan), Sgt. Matthews (Walter Sande), and Jumbo Madigan (Cy Kendall). The Boston Blackie series had a great bunch of regulars. This one also has fine support from Larry Parks, Paul Fix, and pretty Adele Mara. Lloyd Bridges has a bit part as a bus driver. Another fun and fast-paced Boston Blackie movie.

These BOSTON BLACKIE movies are the kind that demand your attention never strays from the screen lest you are unable to follow the convoluted plot. They tell their tales in a brisk, no-nonsense way and seldom run ten minutes over an hour.

ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE has Blackie finding himself implicated in the escape of a convict from a prison magic show at a Christmas celebration. LARRY PARKS (before he played Jolson in THE JOLSON STORY) is among the supporting players as the escaped convict. ADELE MARA is his worried sister who knows he wants to break out in order to seek revenge on two pals who put him there.

Blackie has to evade the detective work of Inspector Farraday (RICHARD LANE) and track down the escaped convict who becomes implicated in two murders. Along the way, he's constantly outwitting the inspector with a bag of tricks that leave him being hotly pursued by the police.

It's an entertaining enough entry in the Boston Blackie series, but nothing special.

Trivia note: Watch for an uncredited LLOYD BRIDGES as driver of the bus headed for prison. He hasn't a word of dialog.