O.K., when you have the hero of a detective series recognize the film's leading lady and identify her as a character that the audience has never heard of before, make sure she's not the femme fatale actress of the same series from two films before. That's the case for Lynne Merrick, a charming blonde who was already "booked on suspicion". Here, she's gone from books to the stage, and is rescued from apparent kidnappers by Blackie in an obvious frame-up. Toss in a baby for her, and the entry starts off with more sugar than a coffee shop. The corn is high in this entry, rushed together for post war double bill audiences, obviously written and produced quickly to cater to increasing audiences. Merrick's scheme involves an apparently estranged husband, and for some reason, "the ruby" (George E. Stone) ends up watching the baby with the aid of the dizzy Claire Carlton, an eternally chatty magpie who could drive the pope to murder. There's an overabundance of over-the- top comedy, awkwardly interrupting what little mystery there is. Busy character actor Charles Lane gets the chance to play a different style of character and gets a shocking (for him) exit. Kathryn Card will be recognizable to "I Love Lucy" fans, here playing a prickly hotel clerk. Stone and Morris continue their trend of disguises, providing the few funny moments during these occurrences. This "remdevous" is not so memorable.

Blackie and the Runt rescue a woman (Lynn Merrick) who's been attacked in the street right in front of their building. They carry in the unconscious woman, who is quickly identified as Gerry Peyton, one of Blackie's old flames. Nothing much new so far, but when they open the bedroom door we see the main twist that this series entry has to offer: a baby! Rather quickly, the rest of the plot is set into motion—Gerry's husband, a gunshot from around the corner of a doorway, some doubts about the identity of the baby and the honesty of Gerry. (Honestly, it's funny that Blackie and the Runt aren't suspicious of Lynn Merrick right away, since she just played a character pulling a similar deception on them in Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion!) If you're familiar with the Boston Blackie series, you'll easily guess who is accused of the first murder and also who does the accusing. Yes, Inspector Farraday is—as always—shocked that Blackie has stooped to murder, but after all, Blackie did have a good motive and was caught with the body in his apartment. He must be guilty! Blackie and the Runt, Farraday and his sidekick Matthews are all in good form. The story's nothing special but it moves fast. Blackie once again disguises himself as an old man…and in a nice touch, Matthews turns up in the same disguise! (Blackie and Farraday had the same idea, it seems.)Easygoing fun that's all wrapped up in exactly an hour.

Chester Morris is "Boston Blackie" in this 1946 entry into the series. The Boston Blackie series is far superior to many others which seem to have less humor and move a lot more slowly. In this film, Blackie helps out a former girlfriend whose husband is recently out of prison - she's afraid he's going to kill her and their baby. Then the husband is murdered and Blackie is blamed, and he finds out his ex-girl has been using him as part of a plot to shake down her father-in-law for money so that she will give him the baby. Except it's not his grandchild; the child has been borrowed from a crook who has been cut into the scheme. It's up to Blackie to figure out all of this, keep a step ahead of Farraday and the baby out of the wrong hands."A Close Call for Boston Blackie" has a lot of humor in it as well as delightful performances from Morris, George E. Stone as The Runt and Claire Carlton as Mamie, The Runt's girlfriend. Viewers will also recognize Kathryn Card, who played Lucy Ricardo's mother and always called Ricky Mickey, at the apartment house reception desk. All and all, quite entertaining.

This Blackie entry has a more complicated plot to it, but essentially it's the same formula as before: Blackie accused of a crime he didn't commit, Inspector Farraday after him while Blackie's after the real baddies. The two main baddies in Close Call are Lynn Merrick (baddy from Booked on Suspicion) and Erik Rolf (baddy turned goody from Chance of a Lifetime), involved in a murky and murderous extortion racket. Suffice to say, there's a "kidnapped" baby involved too, meaning some great lines from the cast as the baby keeps popping up in all hands except for the police's.Sgt. Matthews plays a larger comic role here, unfortunately bringing a larger slapstick element into the snappy dialogue between Blackie and Farraday. However - Matthews: "I'm all ears Chief", Farraday: "With nothing between" - sums up Frank Sully's performance well. At least Blackie didn't feel it necessary to don black-face in this outing just his usual old man disguise (5th time) which was a blessed relief!*** Cute baby, orphaned pointlessly. ***