CONFESSIONS OF BOSTON BLACKIE (1941)For the second Boston Blackie adventure, Columbia chose 32 year-old Edward Dmytryk to direct, a Universal emigré who had joined their B-movie unit with talent and enthusiasm on two earlier 1941 co-features, THE BLONDE FROM SINGAPORE and SECRETS OF THE LONE WOLF. Even at Universal, Dmytryk had done fine work - including the Boris Karloff thriller THE DEVIL COMMANDS and the Ozzie and Harriet musical SWEETHEART OF THE CAMPUS - and he had apparently been sufficiently pleased with Harriet Hilliard's professionalism as an actress to cast her here as the leading lady. Working from a script by Paul Yawitz - the first of seven Blackie scripts he would pen - the series was off to a rousing continuation. Not only is Chester Morris back in vibrant form as Blackie, but the film properly introduces George E. Stone as The Runt, the always amusing Lloyd Corrigan as their wealthy and gullible friend Arthur Manleader, and Walter Sande as Inspector Faraday's meatheaded associate Detective Mathews.
In this story, Diane Parish (Hilliard's character) makes an arrangement with a prominent art gallery to sell a valuable sculpture she has inherited, not realizing that the gallery is a front for criminals who auction well-done fakes and reserving the original art for themselves. During the auction (which she has been advised not to attend), Diane realizes the sculpture being offered is a fake and shouts out a caution, bringing out the gun of the gallery owner - but someone else gets in the way of the bullet. Blackie, in turn, takes a shot at the gunman. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, the dead body is secreted inside the sculpture (!) and Blackie is apprehended by Farraday when his recently fired gun is found on his person. Arthur Manleader is taken with the fake sculpture and buys it for a minimal fee, not knowing there is a corpse inside - not to mention the bullet that could clear Blackie of the charge against him. It is a kind of situation mystery, but even with the addition of Joan Woodbury as Mona (a trouble-making redhead from Blackie's past who claims to be his wife), it's never overcomplicated and highly diverting.
ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE (1942)There is much to commend the this Boston Blackie effort but its most endearing quality is that it's an actual Christmas movie - opening with Blackie and The Runt at home, decorating their tree! All the main characters introduced in CONFESSIONS are back again, and the hulking Cy Kendall joins the repertory cast as the pawnbroker and fence Jumbo Kendall - Black can rely on him whenever he needs the latest dope on local criminal activity. Jumbo's character will take some interesting turns as the series continues.
With this installment - directed by Lew Landers (another of Columbia's Universal refugees, responsible for 1935's THE RAVEN) - Blackie really begins to assert himself as a guy with a heart of 14K sentiment. We learn that, each year since his parole, he and The Runt go back to the prison where they served their time to stage a Christmas show as a gift for the inmates. There's dancing, an acrobatic clown act, and - to show off Chester Morris's legerdemain - even a bit of stage magic, albeit the kind that really anybody could pick up in a magic store and easily master. Unbeknownst to Blackie, one of the showgirls in his company (Adele Mara) is the sister of one of the inmates (Larry Parks), who takes advantage of visit to escape from prison in the guise of the clown and seek revenge against those who framed him for murder. Blackie almost catches him, gets knocked out during a scuffle, and is subsequently implicated in the jailbreak by the eager Inspector Farraday.
This third entry has some very special bonus attractions: no-line cameos by Paul Fix (as a cabbie) and Lloyd Bridges (as a bus driver)! However, it's the Christmas setting that gives this one its most endearing charm.
BOSTON BLACKIE GOES HOLLYWOOD (1942)Despite its title, the location of this fourth film in the series hardly matters - there’s no involvement in the world of movies, just a glimpse of the famous Brown Derby restaurant far in the background during a rooftop chase. Directed by Michael Gordon, this one finds Blackie and The Runt trying to rescue gullible millionaire friend Arthur (the ever-delightful Lloyd Corrigan) from the cluches of two gunmen (one of them, The Whipper, played by a young Forrest Tucker) and a calculating blonde who’s bamboozled him out of a priceless gem and, hopefully, an additional sixty grand. In trying to help, Blackie once again convinces Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) that he’s gone back to his old criminal ways and must elude and embarrass the law while trying to lend a helping hand. To this end, Blackie introduces his mastery of disguise, which extends to the Runt being dressed up as a little boy. There is one outrageous bit of dialogue that got past the censor. When the Runt is introduced to the scheming blonde, she sneers “Hello... RUNT.” The Runt sarcastically replies, “Funny how words escape me!” All in all, perhaps a mite too complicated in its telling for its own good, and it disappoints the expectations encouraged by its title, but still a snappy, fast-paced 67 minutes.
TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR PART 3!
(c) 2019 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.
