Alias Boston Blackie (1942) User Reviews

Watchable, fast-paced

[Panamint · 7/10 · 23 July 2007]

Its just entertainment and was meant to be just that. I give it a solid "7" vote because is accomplishes what it sets out to do- it entertains you and will hold your attention. No lofty pretensions, no Oscar awards were expected here.

Sit back and watch, be entertained, its fast and cute in a well-edited, quick sort of way.

The cops are always hard-working, but a step behind Blackie. Richard Lane is good in the Insp. Farraday role, and Walter Sande is great as a thick-headed cop who is easy to outwit.

It should be noted that this film is very well edited, very professionally acted by an ensemble cast, and is a pro piece of work all around. Yet it doesn't take itself seriously at all. Therefore, it couldn't possibly put off anyone, and anyone can enjoy this film for what it is- light entertainment.

Chester Morris was very talented at delivering a strong, energetic lead actor presence while maintaining a sort of good-natured wink in his eye. Fine actor who you could watch all day, yet you would never really tire of his act.

A solid little action film in the Boston Blackie series

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 12 December 2009]

Chester Morris really found a home in his role as Boston Blackie, the former jewel thief who has turned over a new leaf but still has Inspector Faraday always believing him to be the perpetrator of every crime Blackie is within ten square miles of.

Usually, the first film in a series is the best and then it is often downhill from there. I didn't care a great deal for the plot of the first Boston Blackie film, but by this third one the series had really hit its stride. This time Boston Blackie is taking a theatrical troupe to entertain the convicts on Christmas Eve. One of the girls in the troupe is the sister of a wrongly convicted man (Larry Parks) who wants nothing more than to escape and wreak revenge on the two thieves that set him up for a fifteen year stretch in the big house. Of course, when the man escapes, Faraday believes Blackie is behind it all.

There's good action, a pretty good mystery, interesting characters, and of course Chester Morris at his dapper witty best as Boston Blackie along with his faithful sidekick The Runt (George E. Stone).

The one mystery that is never solved - and maybe I just missed it - is how Boston Blackie now makes a living. He seems to have plenty of money, dresses well, and lives in a well-furnished spacious apartment, yet no mention is ever made of his current occupation. No wonder Faraday is suspicious. But I digress. Great entertainment for lovers of the fast-paced crime films of the 40's.

Not very seasonal Christmas fare

[Spondonman · 7/10 · 30 May 2005]

A nice entry in the series (3/14) set at Christmas time, with a frenetic and tortuously multi-layered chase sequence in the middle.

Again, Blackie is implicated in a crime even though innocent, ultimately resulting in Farraday assuming his guilt. Framed Larry Parks as con has broken out on a murderous revenge mission, dragging his demure sister (Adele Mara) plus Blackie, Runt and of course cops Farraday and Matthews all into the vortex. Some witty lines and situations later we have a dead body in a hotel room to mull over - a corpse that is rather recklessly treated throughout! The dreamy looking sister proves of use to Blackie, crime-solving-wise, and is more than wallpaper in here. The character Jumbo Madigan makes his first lugubrious appearance as the know-it-all fence.

As with a lot of the Morris Blackies, I sometimes wish they could have been even only 5 minutes longer, it's all taken at such a breakneck speed that it can leave you as bit puzzled at times working it all out. But I love it!

Oddly, this one was remade, of sorts, just four years later!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 June 2007]

If you have watched several Boston Blackie films, then it is very possible you had a sense of Déjà Vu when you saw this film. That's because due to some VERY lazy script writers and a studio that apparently didn't care, the exact same script was rewritten as BOSTON BLACKIE AND THE LAW. Both films featured Blackie visiting a prison to do a magic show and both then had one of the prisoners escape while this was occurring and both featured the bone-headed detective blaming Blackie for this! I recently read a book about Harry Cohn (the head of Columbia Studios) and it said that he had his hand in every production and knew exactly what was happening in all of them--except for the B-movie unit, which he cared practically nothing about and never bothered with the details. Had he been involved, knowing how his employees often hated and feared him, they never would have tried doing a remake so quickly.

As this is the first (and best) version of this script, I recommend you see this one and skip BOSTON BLACKIE AND THE LAW unless you are a nut like me who likes to try to see every film from each detective series (even the bad ones).

Fast moving caper with Chester Morris in his signature role...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 23 January 2007]

These BOSTON BLACKIE movies are the kind that demand your attention never strays from the screen lest you are unable to follow the convoluted plot. They tell their tales in a brisk, no-nonsense way and seldom run ten minutes over an hour.

ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE has Blackie finding himself implicated in the escape of a convict from a prison magic show at a Christmas celebration. LARRY PARKS (before he played Jolson in THE JOLSON STORY) is among the supporting players as the escaped convict. ADELE MARA is his worried sister who knows he wants to break out in order to seek revenge on two pals who put him there.

Blackie has to evade the detective work of Inspector Farraday (RICHARD LANE) and track down the escaped convict who becomes implicated in two murders. Along the way, he's constantly outwitting the inspector with a bag of tricks that leave him being hotly pursued by the police.

It's an entertaining enough entry in the Boston Blackie series, but nothing special.

Trivia note: Watch for an uncredited LLOYD BRIDGES as driver of the bus headed for prison. He hasn't a word of dialog.

How is Blackie going to get out of this one?

[csteidler · 7/10 · 28 August 2011]

It's Christmas at the Boston Blackie household, which means that Blackie is trimming the tree and the Runt is telling him that Christmas trees are bad luck. Will a Christmas mystery ensue? Well, a mystery there is, but oddly little time is devoted to the season aside from that opening and then a bit at the end.

Blackie rounds up a gang of theatrical friends, including Adele Mara as Eve, and buses them out to the prison for a Christmas show for the inmates. Eve's brother Joe (Larry Parks) is an inmate who is hot for revenge on two hoods who lined him up for this prison stretch; during the show, Joe steals a costume/disguise from one of the entertainers and escapes with the troupe on their way out. It isn't long before one of said hoods turns up murdered, and our old friend Inspector Farraday seems to have Blackie dead to rights for aiding in the escape, the murder, or both.

Less comic relief than expected in this one, though the banter between Blackie and Farraday is, as always, crisp and catchy. Chester Morris and Richard Lane both look very confident in their third film in the roles.

Blackie Clowning Around

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 12 December 2009]

The accent is more on comedy than mystery in Alias Boston Blackie, as Chester Morris spends more time making fools of the local law enforcement than in actually solving the case. For the 67 minute running time of Alias Boston Blackie, Morris only spends about 10 minutes or so toward the end in actually apprehending the criminal.

Morris and his valet George Stone are taking a trip to prison with a revue show as a Christmas treat for the inmates, many of which Morris did some time with. In the revue is show girl Adele Mara who has a brother, Larry Parks, among the inmates.

What she doesn't know is that Parks is planning to use the show to crash out and settle with the two guys that framed him for a robbery. When he makes it, Blackie's watchful nemesis Inspector Richard Lane assumes as he always does that Morris had something to do with it.

So Morris has to clear himself and in doing so help Parks find his quarry. That's made even more complicated by one of the two showing up dead in a hotel room.

But before Boston Blackie can get to work he has to constantly avoid the police who seem to have graduated from the Keystone Academy. In fact Lane's partner Walter Sande is the second dumbest detective in the world, only exceeded by William Bendix in Who Done It. The way that Morris keeps constantly making a fool of Sande, you can almost feel sorry for the poor slob.

The pace is quick in Alias Boston Blackie with this definitely being one of the funnier of that mystery series.

"I've got a date with a guy that's gonna commit a murder."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 21 July 2007]

This was my introductory film to the Boston Blackie franchise, and it stacks up favorably against other mystery series of the era. Blackie's (Chester Morris) former occupation as a safe cracker puts him in company with The Lone Wolf, and other similarities abound, such as inept detectives and a comedic sidekick. It's probably a good thing that Blackie isn't busy dodging the matrimonial advances of a zealous fiancée like Bulldog Drummond had to, though in this caper the female lead (Adele Mara) is in the thick of things as the sister of an escaped prisoner (Larry Parks) who leads Blackie and his cohorts on a merry chase.

It's a pretty frenetic affair that keeps you guessing with some effective visual sleight of hand, like the sequences involving the clown costume. I had to wonder though how Joe Trilby (Parks) could do all those acrobatic maneuvers as well as the guy he was impersonating when he made the prison break. Trilby's mission was to get the goods on the two hoods who framed him to put him in prison in the first place.

With it's emphasis on action, the flick gets a lot of mileage out of Blackie's sidekick Runt (George E. Stone), who falls asleep on his feet a lot and has a bit of trouble with the lockjaw gimmick. The one scene that really got my attention didn't even have a lot to do with the story per se, it was just a little weird seeing Lloyd Bridges as the bus driver on the way to the prison show!

Christmas Blackie

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

Alias Boston Blackie (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Third film in Columbia's Boston Blackie series has Blackie (Chester Morris) tracking down a prison escapee who escaped during one of Blackie's shows. Lew Landers (The Raven) returns to direct this entry and like the previous film in the series, this one here moves at a very fast pace but for some reason most of the comedy is left out of this film. The mystery isn't all that compelling either, although the first half of the film works the best with the second half losing some of its fire. Morris is really good here as he seems to really have the role down to ease.

Merry Christmas, Boston Blackie

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 29 March 2014]

Well, it's Christmas time and Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) celebrates the only way he knows how -- by proving himself innocent of a crime he didn't commit! This time it starts with a magic show Blackie puts on for convicts, only to have one of them escape. Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) is present for the jailbreak and convinced Blackie helped with the escape. So, along with his sidekick Runt (George E. Stone), Blackie sets out to find the escaped prisoner and winds up trying to prove the man's innocence.

The third in Columbia's great Boston Blackie series of B detective flicks is a solidly entertaining entry. In addition to the primary trio of Blackie, Runt, and Farrady, this one has recurring characters Arthur (Lloyd Corrigan), Sgt. Matthews (Walter Sande), and Jumbo Madigan (Cy Kendall). The Boston Blackie series had a great bunch of regulars. This one also has fine support from Larry Parks, Paul Fix, and pretty Adele Mara. Lloyd Bridges has a bit part as a bus driver. Another fun and fast-paced Boston Blackie movie.

Action-Mystery

[Chazzzzz · 8/10 · 2 November 1999]

Boston Blackie movies are fun to watch. Even as a kid, I enjoyed them because of the action, coupled with intelligent stories and good acting. Chester Morris IS Boston Blackie, and in this one he has to track down an escaped prisoner... always leading from one situation to the next. Good stuff! An 8.

Christmas Greeting From Boston Blackie

[boblipton · 6/10 · 21 December 2022]

When Larry Parks uses a Christmas show at the penitentiary to cover his escape, show arranger Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) needs to prove his own innocence -- and to explain how neither he nor Parks had anything do with a murder.

It's a typically fast-paced episode in the Columbia series, with the usual cast of character actors: Adele Mara as Parks' sister, George E. Stone as Blackie's assistant, Richard Lane as the police inspector, and Lloyd Corrigan, Paul Fix, and Cy Kendall rounding out the cast.

Blackie was created by Jack Boyle after he had spent time for kiting checks. A fix-up novel from the short stories was a success in 1918, and there were eleven silent films from 1918 through 1927, with performers like Lionel Barrymore, Bert Lytell and Walter Long playing the safecracker. Columbia revived the series in 1941, starring Chester Morris. In them, Blackie is a reformed crook who keeps having to help out pals and prove his own innocence. He also starred in a summer replacement radio show in 1944. There was a TV show from ZIV in the 1950s, and a graphic novel in 2002.

Boston Blackie, smartest cookie in the pokie.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 25 April 2017]

I give credit to the wink wink from the screenwriters of this series to the audience indicating that they wanted the characters to feel as if they were part of a movie plot. Every now and then, one of them indicates that if this was a movie, they'd say something like what they were about to say. Between series regulars Chester Morris (as Blackie), Lloyd Corrigan, Richard Lane and George E. Stone, all these characters have little aside wink winks, indicating that they know that they are clichés, and the more they spoof it, the funnier it gets. This time, Morris is aiding pretty Adele Mara whose brother (Larry Parks) claims he's in prison on trumped up charges. But disguised as a clown and escaping, he knocks Blackie out, causing more issues between Blackie and Lane, not that there wasn't already enough.

Adding the comedy as they introduced in the previous entry, Corrigan and Stone are contrasts in their schtick, but are an amusing team of sidekicks. Lane and his sidekick (Walter Sande) aren't carbon copy dumb cops, but I would find their ability to solve a crossword puzzle, let alone a murder, iffy at best. The script is still as clever as the previous two, if not as tight. But it's apparent that they are going out of their way to mix intelligence both in the adventure and with the humor, being far from standard B mystery fare. Lloyd Bridges has a blink, blink (and you'll miss him) walk-on, but something tells me that he'll be back in a larger part, a la Parks here who passed the screen-test and went onto bigger things. B movie veteran Lew Landers directs this at a light but brisk speed, and while this was a charm prior to the third try, it's still quite a lot of fun.

Alias Boston Blackie

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 11 January 2024]

"Blackie" (Chester Morris) starts off this crime drama - on a bus driven by Lloyd Bridges - by doing a little bit of compering at a prison where the Christmas entertainment revolves around a magic booth! Of course, one of the prisoners escapes and, of course, "Insp. Faraday" (Richard Lane) and his hapless helper "Sgt. Matthews" (Walter Sande) conclude that it's all part of a cunning wheeze by "Blackie" to get "Joe" (Larry Parks) out of jail. What we quickly discover, though, is that our sleuth is completely innocent and that he has doubts about the voracity of the conviction that sent the young man up in the first place. Now, with the help of his pal "Manleder" (Lloyd Corrigan) and the ever reliable "Runt" (George E. Stone) - who has a bit more of a part in the one - he sets off trying to apprehend the real culprit of an heinous murder before "Faraday" messes it all up. Morris is on good form, it's a fairly evenly and quickly paced drama and there's just the merest hint of mystery as we head to the denouement. Not so much humour here, but still at the better end of these "Boston Blackie" mysteries.

The Escaped Christmas Convict Caper

[profh-1 · 7/10 · 12 February 2023]

A man framed as an accomplice by two crooks escapes prison during a Christmas show put on by ex-convict Boston Blackie-- and NATURALLY, Inspector Farraday (who was there when it happened!) accuses Blackie of being behind it all. But rather than simply inform the cops as to what went on, Blackie decides to help the escapee avoid increasing his prison term, tries to prevent a murder, and then determines to nail the real criminal. Along the way, Blackie, The Runt and the convict's sister are involved in one cat-and-mouse game with the cops after another.

My favorite bit in the whole film was when Blackie escapes from Police HQ. When it happened, I said to myself, "I saw that coming." THEN I found out what he was REALLY doing-- which I hadn't seen coming! I couldn't stop laughing for a whole minute. This installment really managed to mix mystery, high-speed action, intense crime drama and flat-out COMEDY in equal doses, and was a major step up from the previous film.

I think one of the things I appreciated the most about this one was that Farraday (and even Matthews) did NOT come across as complete idiots (nor did any other police in the film), which, to me, makes Blackie's antics stand out even more. It's easy to look smart when you're surrounded by morons-- when you're not, you wind up looking EVEN smarter!

In addition to returning regulars Chester Morris, George E Stone, Richard Lane, Walter Sande and Lloyd Corrigan, this one also saw the debut of Cy Kendall as "Jumbo Madigan", a fence who has his ears to everything going on in the underworld. I usually see Kendall playing some form of criminal or corrupt official, and have seen him in CRIME SCHOOL, YOUNG DR. KILDARE, THE ANGELS WASH THEIR FACES, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939), THE GREEN HORNET, THE SAINT TAKES OVER, TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE, THE CHINESE CAT, SECRET AGENT X-9, and LADY IN THE LAKE. Oddly enough, he'd return as Jumbo in 2 more films, but appear in another playing someone else, while other actors would replace him as Jumbo. (That's Hollywood film series for you.)

I also recognized Lester Dorr as the hotel manager (I mostly remember him from THE SAINT IN NEW YORK); Lloyd Bridges as a bus driver; and Paul Fix as a cab driver who winds up more involved than he pretends. With a long resume, I'll probably always remember him as "Dr. Piper" in the 2nd STAR TREK pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (he was the ship's doctor in between John Hoyt & DeForest Kelley).

One mystery I can't figure out is that in this film, Blackie is clearly portrayed as having spent time in prison. Yet, this totally contradicts what we're told in MEET BOSTON BLACKIE 2 films earlier. Since Blackie in the books and the silent films was always in and out of prison, I have to conclude that MEET BOSTON BLACKIE is the film that violates "continuity". He certainly DIDN'T do several years in jail between Morris' 1st film and this one!

During the Police HQ sequence, mention is made of "concentration camps" and "Gestapo". That 2 films in a row they did this in this series!

I really need to get the Onesmedia BOSTON BLACKIE FILMS box-set; my copy recorded off TCM back in January 2007 was nearly-perfect, until the last 60 seconds when the tape somehow got MANGLED. Oh well, one series at a time!

Boston Blackie back in jail...

[binapiraeus · 8/10 · 8 February 2014]

Since he's got so many old memories from there (...), Blackie helps arranging a Christmas variety show for the inmates of a prison; only to get himself in trouble again: one of them has been convicted wrongly and grabs the opportunity to escape - and although he's in fact a decent guy, the two years he spent in jail have hardened him so much that he's ridden by the obsession now to take revenge on the two crooks who double-crossed him. Blackie tries to keep him from doing something stupid - and ends up once again in a room with a corpse as the murder suspect...

Although this case is presented in a somewhat more serious way than the previous ones, there's still PLENTY of room for mad car chases, vanishing corpses, disguise games - and of course hilariously funny dialogs. Here's an example: the room where Blackie is found with the body is on the 13th floor of a hotel; and Inspector Faraday suggests that Blackie might make one of his famous escapes: "Here's a window, why don't you try it?" - "No, not on the 13th floor..." - "What's the matter, are you superstitious?"

In other words, another GREAT example of the series' so well-tried and popular recipe; and it doesn't matter at all that basically it's the same stuff every time - because it's always in a new, exciting, entertaining disguise; that's simply Boston Blackie's unique style...

Solid and fast moving, perfect for one evening's screentime ...

[pronker · 8/10 · 30 May 2018]

... Blackie has a good heart, an unnamed profession now that he's not a thief anymore, and more supporting and supportive characters than about any other B movie detective. Runt in particular deserves credit for the rapport he has with his boss; Farraday exudes equal parts suspicion and camaraderie with Blackie, while Matthews is sweetly dumb as a post. The plot involves a vaudeville troupe rollicking upstate to entertain at Sing Sing on a bus driven by Lloyd Bridges, stolidly looking ahead to his stellar future while changing the bus's gears in character. Adele Mara is pretty and competent in her actionful part of clearing her brother's name.

It was particularly noticeable that 1942's Alias Boston Blackie proved one of the reasons to appreciate B movies, in that their short production time allowed many topical subjects. In this film, the lines "what is this, a concentration camp?" and Run calling a stickler for rules cop "Gestapo!" remind viewers when this movie takes place.