Columbia Pictures had an unbeatable formula in the 40's - get stars who had passed out of the limelight but still had great talent and charisma and make them the leads in short B crime mystery films with lively scripts. They did this with Warner Baxter and the Crime Doctor series, with Warren William and the Lone Wolf series, and with Chester Morris and the Boston Blackie series. They also had a habit of naming the films in almost a random way. For example this film has nothing to do with the hour of midnight or what came before or after.The basis of the story is an old friend of Boston Blackie -"Diamond Ed" - is getting out of jail and has some diamonds hidden away for his grown daughter that are apparently from the heist for which he was doing time. His old gang has been waiting for him to get out and wants the loot. Blackie is drawn into the whole situation by Ed's daughter, who wants Blackie to help Ed decide to go straight. Of course, things never go right for Blackie or else we wouldn't have a story and soon Blackie finds himself falsely accused of killing Diamond Ed to get to his loot. The incompetent and always mistrusting detective Farraday and his sidekick Matthews get their usual exercise jumping to conclusions and running in circles.There are a few items of note in this particular Boston Blackie film. First, we finally get to hear Blackie's real name. Second, apparently Blackie's friend "The Runt" (George E. Stone) has it in him to court and marry a very tall and buxom amazon of a woman who's a burlesque dancer at a local club...or does he??? Finally, I may have missed something but it is not entirely apparent at the end that Blackie turns over Ed's diamonds to the police. You walk away at the end not knowing if Blackie gave the diamonds to the daughter and told her to keep them or not. For a production code era crime film this would be quite an event.Action packed from beginning to end, and even using a WWII west coast blackout as a plot device, I highly recommend this fast little film.

"After Midnight with Boston Blackie" is another fun entry into the Boston Blackie series, starring Chester Morris and George E. Stone. An old man, Diamond Ed Barnaby (Walter Baldwin) is freed from prison and intends to give some stolen diamonds to his daughter (Betty Barnaby). However, his old gang wants them. His troubled daughter appeals to involved with the police and proves himself smarter. Meanwhile, The Runt's marriage to one Dixie Rose Blossom (Jan Buckingham) keeps being delayed, and friend Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan) has to keep the intended entertained, since the wedding is taking place at his apartment.These Blackie films follow the same formula over and over - the dumb Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) and the clever Blackie interfering with a police case - which is a good thing because without Blackie, the case would never be solved.Nevertheless, these films always manage to be entertaining, thanks in large art to Chester Morris and George E. Stone. Morris has a lot of charm and a lighthearted attitude as Blackie. He manages to keep some of these tired plots going. Hard to believe that the woman who played the sweet daughter Betty is the same woman who played the hard-boiled femme fatale in Detour.

This low budget film with the usual cast of characters has Chester Morris, as Boston Blackie coming to the aid of an ex-con buddy who he got to know while serving in the State Penn. His buddy is being released and has some diamonds hidden my his previous business investments and is afraid his old gang will want the diamonds and kill him. Ann Savage, "Detore" is the ex-con's daughter and she wants to look after him and seeks Boston Blackie's help. Richard Lane, Inspector Farraday is still out to handcuff and arrest Blackie for breaking into a locker containing the diamonds. There is train rides and plenty of car chases and Boston Blackie even impersonates an African American in order to disguise himself from Cy Kendall the top gangster. If you like these sequels, you will love this film which runs very smoothly and is enjoyable.

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 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.This film isn't much different from the rest--having a pretty standard plot involving stolen diamonds and a vicious gang who will stop at nothing to get them. Of course, as usual Blackie is blamed by the moronic cops for everything and as usual, Blackie is able to easily outwit them. Frankly, if Blackie had played peek-a-boo or "got your nose" with these policemen, they probably would have been surprised again and again--they were just THAT stupid. The only plus is that at the end, the stupid Sergeant did a much better job than usual assisting Blackie.There was one small scene, by the way, that truly amazed me. Blackie and Runt were in a cab being followed by the police in another cab. Blackie told the cabbie to pull over. Then, after doing this he told the guy to "back up into the cab behind us"...and the guy DID!!! I'd love to find a cabbie that compliant. I might tell him to give me all his cash, then get out of the cab and drop his pants and sing show tunes!