These unprepossessing and inexpensive detective entertainments appeared on the screen in droves during the 30s and 40s. The lead characters ranged from the street wise (Michael Shayne) through the somewhat dandified (Philo Vance) to the exotic (Charlie Chan). They were ground out like franchise hamburgers, with similar plots and many of the same characters, and they must have kept the writers, crew, and actors steadily employed.Boston Blackie is typical. Blackie, played by Chester Morris, is an ex safe cracker who helps out the police while maintaining the properly ambivalent relationship with Inspector Faraday. Blackie has the usual comic sidekick, here called "Runt." There is usually a young woman swept up in the plot, whose identity varied from one film to the next.On the social scale, Blackie registers as High Prole. Chester Morris always has his lips compressed. He has a jutting jaw. He's of modest height and walks in quick strides, swinging his brief arms vigorously, his chest puffed out. He could hardly be a Fancy Dan but the script gives him mock-eloquent locution. Who's trying to kill him? "Oh, just some former acquaintances." The plot isn't really worth describing in any detail. Something to do with an unidentified mob trying to steal "the new Navy bombsight." The mob is probably German but this was shot before Germany declared war on us so naming the heavies was noch verboten.The studio setting include a kind of interesting carnival or amusement park, probably meant to be suggestive of Coney Island, since the story is set in New York. There are some modestly exciting moments but no brutality -- just the occasional clip on the jaw, the screeching car pursuing the screeching car, the dart in the back of the neck. I kind of enjoyed the mechanical man, although at times it was hard to tell him from the other actors.The genre ended around 1950 when similar mystery stories, often based on the same characters and starring the same performers, began to appear on weekly television.

Meet Boston Blackie (1941) ** 1/2 (out of 4) First entry into Columbia's Boston Blackie series with Chester Morris. In this film, the ex-thief tries to track down a group of spies hiding out in Coney Island. This was a pleasant enough little film with some nice laughs and decent action. With my first viewing of the series Morris struck me as merely good but nothing great ala some of the other crime series like Holmes, Chan and Moto. There were some very good moments and the film got better as it went along but there were a few too many "cheap way out" moments where pieces of the mystery are put together and they seemed too easy. Richard Lane is also very good as the Inspector who never believes Boston has gone straight. Directed by Robert Florey.

The first installment of a third-rate detective series, featuring a former safe-cracker, Blackie (Chester Morris), his sidekick the Runt (Charles Wagenheim), and the impatient Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane). Crimes get pinned on Blackie so he has to sort them out. This time he acquires a pretty lady (Rochelle Hudson) when he commandeers her car, and she's almost a match for him. With a modicum of witty repartee, some excellent carnival locations, and an unusual villain (a master spy whose cover is playing a sideshow mechanical man), this one might have ascended from third to second rate, were it not for Morris's acting (mostly a matter of flashing a grin that looks too wide for his face) and his hat (its too-small brim accentuates his big square face and makes him look stupid amongst all the elegant, wide-brimmed hats worn by everybody else, even the weaselly villains).

Blackie arrives back in the US (via steamer) only to find himself in trouble with the law again when he finds a corpse, Martin Vestrick, in his stateroom. Blackie trails Marilyn Howard, who was seen with Vestrick by Blackie and Runt on the ship, to Coney Island where a group of spies meet at the freak show exhibit. Marilyn is later killed when she goes on the Tunnel of Horrors ride with Blackie, and the same killers go after our hero. Blackie forces a ride with Cecelia Bradley, an innocent bystander, and the two manage to elude the killers. Inspector Faraday, in the meantime, goes after Blackie for the murder of Marilyn, while Blackie, Cecelia, and the Runt try to unravel the spy activities at the amusement park. Nice opening to this 14 film series, with Chester Morris providing the jovial attitude seen in his other movies and beneficial to the character (also nice to see some of Morris' magic tricks as well). Rochelle Hudson was very beautiful here and lent fine support. I was impressed with Florey's direction and Planer's camera-work giving us some interesting perspectives and camera angles. My beef with this film was that there was little action with the villains in the movie, seeing the case from Blackie's perspective. Next film in the series: Confessions of Boston Blackie. Rating, 8.