Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood

Boston Blackie and sidekick Runt as they're about to go to Florida on a vacation get a transcontinental call from their good friend, playboy Lloyd Corrigan. Get $60,000.00 from a safe in his apartment and bring it to California. Corrigan has a couple of hoods pointing guns at him as he makes this call and of course Chester Morris thinks something is up. So Morris and George Stone get the money and make the trip with NYC cops trailing them because they think he's involved in a nice jewel heist also having taken place in California.

Columbia was doing both the Boston Blackie and Lone Wolf series at the same time and the plots were pretty interchangeable. Both retired master criminals, both with helpful sidekicks, both living good and no visible means of support, and both with cops constantly questioning them every time some notorious crime breaks at which they're always innocent. My own theory is that they lived off the proceeds of their previous criminal lives, the money having been laundered clean and untraceable. Just what were Blackie and the Runt vacationing from?

In this Lloyd Corrigan who's a good hearted and empty headed soul with too much money to burn always finds someone to help him burn it, usually of the female variety. That was Corrigan's function in all the Blackie films he did. Columbia starlet Constance Worth fulfills the function here, she's a poor man's Rita Hayworth.

Corrigan does have himself peripherally involved in the stealing of a legendary jewel, it's up to Morris and Stone to get him out of the jackpot if they can just shake loose from NYPD's not so finest Richard Lane and Walter Sande. They do it as usual with aplomb.

This one is a nicely paced Blackie entry that also features an up and coming Forrest Tucker as one of the hoods. This is a good one for a potential Blackie fan to be introduced to.

As you have already read by the person who has only seen this one film in the Boston Blacke series, they are not in the A budget class. Look a little closer and you'll see some up and coming actor, namely Forrest Tucker (Whipper). Who cares if it's not an A picture. These films are fun to watch! And by the way, the original writer of the Boston Blackie series was an opium addict and did time in prison. He began writing in prison and when he got out his stories were bought and changed for the movies. Columbia pictures had a hit on it's hands. Not all the movies made back then were Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford, if it weren't for Boston Blackie and his antics Columbia would have probably gone bankrupt a long time ago. Most movies made even today aren't worth the time and money, but every now and then the movie makers get it right and it works. Open your mind and enjoy a fun film. Any Boston Blackie movie is fun to watch.

Turner Classic Movies just recently showed most of the Boston Blackie films starring Chester Morris and while they are pretty good B-detective films, they are also very, very formulaic--even for the genre. I practically saw all of these movies and noticed that the same stupid inspector and his subhuman sidekick are accusing Blackie of committing the crimes in question. And, each time, Bost Blackie solves the crime for them--making their idiocy apparent again and again and again. You'd think that these bumblers would be fired and that any cop with a functioning cortex would realize the best thing to do it just sit back and let Blackie solve the crime! Plus, in the process, the Inspector almost always gets himself captured or is tricked by Blackie. At first, this is all pretty funny, but by the time this film came out, the formula was wearing a bit thin. They could have easily kept most of the formula but also had the cops not always been so stupid--this would have greatly improved the films.

About the only new thing about this film is that now in addition to the idiotic cops, Blackie has a rich friend who is introduced to the series and he manages to be even dumber than the police!! While it would have been easy for even a two year-old to figure out what was happening, this Neanderthal was clueless--making the film itself seem pretty lame in spots. Still, the snappy dialog and able support by Blackie's buddy, Runt, is pretty good and make this film an amiable time-passer--just don't expect anything particularly new or interesting except for appearances by very young actors Forrest Tucker and Lloyd Bridges.

"Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood" is another entry into the 14-film BB series. Boston Blackie doesn't exactly go Hollywood; I guess the producers wanted a snazzy name. These series - Blackie, The Saint, The Falcon, Nick Carter all follow a formula - the hero is an amateur detective, a smooth fellow who has flirted with the dark side of the law who usually has a sidekick and always has an officer of the law either angry with him or after him.

This time Blackie is in trouble with the law - as usual - because as an ex-jewel thief, he comes under suspicion every time there's a heist. This time it's the Monterey diamond, even though Blackie is in New York.

Then his good friend Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan) calls from Los Angeles, and he's in trouble and in need of $60,000 out of his safe. Of course the police enter Manleder's apartment just as Blackie is making a large withdrawal from said safe. The Boston Blackie police are completely moronic so Blackie and his short friend Runt (George E. Stone) are always able to get away, often in diabolically funny ways. This time is no different.

What distinguishes these various series is the personality of the actors, which makes telling The Falcon and The Saint apart since George Sanders played both. Boston Blackie is the most amusing, starring the personable and well-tailored Chester Morris. The scripts have very witty dialogue - better than the others, in my opinion - and it's delivered well by Morris who has grace and cool under fire.

I find these movies very enjoyable. Look for a young Forrest Tucker and also Lloyd Bridges, who has a small role.

Lloyd Corrigan gets himself in trouble in Los Angeles. He asks Chester Morris to bring him $60,000 from his wall safe. Morris cracks it easily enough, but inspector Richard Lane and his stooge, Walter Sande, sees him doing it. They arrest Morris and stooge George E. Stone, who escape, and then the two pairs of men play tag with each other to LA. There they discover Corrigan is being hoodwinked by a bunch of crooks who are ready to double-cross each other.

Michael Gordon's first feature as director is by no means a classic. However, with a script filled with funny incidents, fast pacing, performers who understand comedy, and characters smart enough to get the drop on the others on occasion, the stern chase is a long one, but a funny one. Some of the players are rather wasted in the haste to get from one gag to the next, but in the end, virtue, such as it is, is triumphant, the good guys win, and the bad guys are hauled offstage in handcuffs. Which is what we come for.