One Mysterious Night (1944)

Film Title: One Mysterious Night
Also known as: Behind Closed Doors (UK)
Released: October 21, 1944
Directed by: Budd Boetticher
Written by: Paul Yawitz based on the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Janice Carter & Richard Lane

Plot: Inspector Farraday recruits Boston Blackie to help him find a stolen diamond.

IMDb: 6.1/10
My Score: 3/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

The seventh in Columbia Pictures Boston Blackie series of films, One Mysterious Night shakes things up in more ways than one. First of all, several new actors are present in roles previously established in the series by other actors. Present as ever are Chester Morris as Blackie, Richard Lane as Inspector Farraday and George E. Stone as Blackie's sidekick the Runt but the newcomers to the series include Lyle Latell as Farraday's assistant Detective Matthews, Harrison Greene as Arthur Manleder and Joseph Crehan as pawnbroker Jumbo Madigan. Another change is the formula of the script as One Mysterious Night actually has Morris working with Lane on the case instead of at odds with him (although, by the middle of the movie Lane is as much chasing after Morris as he is the real culprits). The film opens with a famous diamond being stolen from its display case in broad daylight. The police are baffled and when asked by reporters, Lane says that the only person possibly responsible is Morris. The story gets printed and then brought to the attention of Morris who heads right down police headquarters to talk to Lane. It turns out the story was Lane's way of getting Morris' attention and to ask for his help in the case. Morris goes undercover but is recognized by a beautiful reporter (Janice Carter) and "arrested." He then tells Lane to let the reporters know that he "escaped," allowing him to keep up his rogue persona to the real culprits. Relentless on the case is Carter, who complicates things for Morris more than once. One Mysterious Night is a bit of a shot in the arm for the series and nicely changes the predictability that the scripts have fallen into. The change in so much casting is bit disheartening, though, as I had come to enjoy the familiarity of Blackie's extended cinematic family. Co-starring Robert Williams and William Wright as the crooks behind the caper and Mark Roberts (billed as Robert E. Scott) and Dorothy Malone as a brother and sister embroiled in the robbery. Malone won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Written on the Wind in 1956. Director Budd Boetticher (billed here in his first credited directorial role as Oscar Boetticher Jr.), was known later in his career for a string of westerns starring Randolph Scott, but was also nominated for an Oscar for his story of The Bullfighter and the Lady in 1951, which he co-wrote with Ray Nazarro and James Edward Grant. Watch the opening sequence below or the whole movie here.

The Chance of a Lifetime (1943)

Film Title: The Chance of a Lifetime
Released: October 26, 1943
Directed by: William Castle
Written by: Paul Yawitz based on the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Richard Lane & Erik Rolf

Plot: Boston Blackie has to help a parolee when his old partners come looking for the money they stole four years earlier and one of them ends up dead.

IMDb: 6.3/10
My Score: 3/5

The sixth film in Columbia Pictures Boston Blackie series was also the first not to contain the main character's name in the title. The Chance of a Lifetime marks the feature-length directorial debut of B-movie legend William Castle and gathers the same cast of characters that we have grown to know and love over the previous five entries: Chester Morris as Blackie, Richard Lane as police Inspector Farraday, George E. Stone as Blackie's sidekick the Runt, Walter Sande as Farraday's assistant Detective Matthews and Lloyd Corrigan as the easily flustered millionaire Arthur Manleder. Cy Kendall also returns as pawnbroker Jumbo Madigan after appearing as a villain in the last film, After Midnight with Boston Blackie. This time around, the movie opens with Morris making a case to the Governor (Pierre Watkin) to parole a group of prisoners with skills needed in the war effort. Lane is on hand to rebut Morris' proposal but when even the prison warden backs Morris up, the motion is granted and the parolees are set to stay with Morris in his apartment. When he allows one of the men (Erik Rolf) to go see his wife and child on the first night out, Rolf's former partners come looking for the $60,000 they stole together, which Rolf has just recovered. When they tussle with a revolver, one of them ends up dead and the other (Douglas Fowley) runs off when Morris shows up. Knowing that no one would believe the death occurred in self-defense, Morris agrees to help Rolf out of the predicament but when Lane catches he and Stone with the body, Morris then spends the rest of the movie trying to prove his and Rolf's innocence. Full of the comedy, drama and action that the series is known for, The Chance of a Lifetime is another fine entry into the series. If watched back to back, I can see how the films would really start to get tiresome but due to the stand alone nature of each, if watched individually they don't wear out their welcome. Co-starring Jeanne Bates as Rolf's wife, it also has appearances by Sid Melton, who would later appear on the long running Danny Thomas sitcom Make Room for Daddy, and Ray Teal, best known as Sheriff Roy Coffee on the long running western series Bonanza. Rolf went on to appear in Disney's Song of the South a few years later with his real-life wife Ruth Warrick but he died he 1957 at the age of 45. Fowley is probably best remembered as movie director Roscoe Dexter in the classic Singin' in the Rain. Watch the opening sequence of The Chance of a Lifetime below or the whole movie here.

Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942)

Film Title: Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood
Released: November 5, 1942
Directed by: Michael Gordon
Written by: Paul Yawitz based on the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Richard Lane & Constance Worth

Plot: When his good friend Arthur Manleder needs help in California, Boston Blackie doesn't hesitate to jump on the first airplane. But Inspector Farraday doesn't trust Blackie one bit and follows him out west.

IMDb: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 3/5

Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood, Columbia Pictures' fourth Boston Blackie movie, changes up the scenery by transferring most of the action to California from New York. The gang's all here again: Chester Morris as Blackie, Richard Lane as police Inspector Farraday, George E. Stone as Blackie's sidekick the Runt, Walter Sande as Farraday's dim-witted assistant Detective Matthews, Lloyd Corrigan as lovable but gullible millionaire Arthur Manleder, and Cy Kendall as pawnbroker Jumbo Madigan. Just as he and Stone are preparing to go to Florida on vacation, Morris receives a telegram from Corrigan letting them know that he's in trouble. After some misadventures they head to California with Lane and Sande right behind them. This was the first film in the series that I was actually annoyed with, particularly the writing. Normally Farraday keeps an eye on Blackie to make sure that every action he performs is on the up and up, ready to nab him the moment he goes back to his life of crime. This time however, Farraday actually breaks into Blackie's apartment looking for evidence to use against him, obviously breaking the law in the process. This goes against everything that the character stands for and makes Farraday out to be the crook. Aside from this glaring bit of poor writing, the rest of the film is pretty fun, with Morris and Stone donning disguises and confronting gangsters in traditional Boston Blackie fashion. Co-starring Constance Worth (who had a small part in the series' first film, Meet Boston Blackie) and Forrest Tucker (who is probably best known as Sgt. O'Rourke on the 1960's sitcom F Troop). This marked the feature length directorial debut of Michael Gordon, who would go on to direct Cyrano de Bergerac with José Ferrer, who an Oscar for the titular role, and Pillow Talk, which won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Watch the opening sequence below (the burglar turns out to be Farraday).

Alias Boston Blackie (1942)

Film Title: Alias Boston Blackie
Released: April 2, 1942
Directed by: Lew Landers
Written by: Paul Yawitz based on the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Adele Mara & Richard Lane

Plot: Boston Blackie needs to track down a wrongly-convicted prison escapee before the revenge-minded convict or the police do something foolish!

IMDb: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 3/5

Alias Boston Blackie is the third film in the Columbia Pictures Boston Blackie series. Reprising their roles from previous film, Confessions of Boston Blackie, are Chester Morris as reformed jewel thief Boston Blackie, Richard Lane as his friendly nemesis police Inspector Farraday, George E. Stone as Blackie's sidekick the Runt, Walter Sande as Farraday's assistant Detective Matthews and Lloyd Corrigan as good-natured millionaire Arthur Manleder. Its Christmas Eve and Morris has decided to give the inmates at the prison did time in some holiday cheer in the form of a variety show. Lane and Sande hitch a ride on the bus with the performers so Lane can keep an eye on Morris at the prison. An inmate named Joe (Larry Parks) is the brother of a chorus girls in the troupe, Eve (Adele Mara). He uses the opportunity to escape, planning to take his revenge on the men that set him up and landed him in prison with a 15 year sentence. He ties up the clown in the act, donning his make-up and wardrobe, and leaves with the cast back to the city. When the escape is discovered, Lane believes Morris to be involved and Morris has to track down Parks before he kills his targets or before the cops get to him, as Morris has discovered Parks is innocent. So far I haven't been disappointed with this series and even three movies in the schtick hasn't grown old yet. I believe that this is due largely in part to the brief running times of the films, usually between 60 and 70 minutes each. There's not a lot fluff added to pad the movies and the result ends up feeling more like episodes of a fun, old time detective television series than feature films. Alias Boston Blackie marks the first appearance of Jumbo Madigan, a shady pawnbroker who aids Blackie in his adventures by providing him with information on various nefarious figures. Cy Kendall is Jumbo this time around, one of only two actors to play the part. Director Lew Landers, who began his career as Louis Friedlander, proved to be incredibly prolific and is credited with over 130 feature films (this film was already his 51st in a career started only eight years prior) and over 200 episodes of various television series, including Topper, The Adventures of Superman, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Maverick and Bat Masterson. Paul Fix co-stars as one of the hoods Parks is after and a very young Lloyd Bridges has a uncredited bit part as the bus driver in the beginning of the film. Watch Bridges in the opening sequence below or watch the whole movie here.

Confessions of Boston Blackie (1941)

Film Title: Confessions of Boston Blackie
Released: December 8, 1941
Directed by: Edward Dymtryk
Written by: Paul Yawitz based on a story by Jay Dratler & Paul Yawitz based the character created by Jack Boyle
Starring: Chester Morris, Harriet Hilliard & Richard Lane

Plot: When he's accused of murdering a man at an auction, Boston Blackie goes into action and uncovers a ruthless ring of art thieves.

IMDb: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 3/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Confessions of Boston Blackie is the second of Columbia Pictures Boston Blackie series and has Chester Morris and Richard Lane reprise their roles as reformed jewel thief Boston Blackie and his friendly nemesis, police Inspector Farraday. The movie opens revealing that a group of art counterfeiters are copying a valuable statue owned by Harriet Hilliard in an effort to steal the original. She is auctioning the family heirloom to raise money for her sick brother. Morris is invited to the auction by his millionaire friend Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan) and Lane is on hand with his partner, Detective Matthews (Walter Sande). When Hilliard investigates the fake statue at the auction and discovers its a replica, one of the thieves (Ralph Theodore) tries to shoot her, only grazing his intended target but killing one of his partners, the owner of the art house. Of course Lane immediately assumes Morris is guilty of the crime and takes him into custody. In the confusion, Theodore hides the body inside the hollow statue but much to his dismay, Corrigan buys the fake and has it transported it to his home. Morris manages to get free from his captors and eventually uncovers the truth of the matter with the help his sidekick, the Runt (George E. Stone), and Corrigan, ending with a gunfight between Morris, Lane, Sande and the crooks in their secret hideout. There is also a subplot involving Morris being blackmailed by Joan Woodbury. Keeping in tone with the action/comedy of its predecessor Meet Boston Blackie, Confessions is a lot fun and introduces more of the peripheral characters that appear regularly in the rest of the series. Corrigan is great as the easily flustered but good natured Manleder and Stone is the definitive Runt, playing him in every film of the series except the first and last. Sande has a bit part as a cop on the boardwalk in Meet but is given a bigger role here and plays it lovable but dim. Director Edward Dymtryk was nominated for an Oscar for his 1947 film Crossfire and Hilliard is known the world over as the Harriet of Ozzie and Harriet. Consistently named one of television's top moms from the golden age of television, she starred on the long running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet and is the mother of Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer Ricky Nelson. Watch the opening sequence for the movie below or the whole fun-filled adventure here.