VividSimon Simply Perfect

ShangLuda Admirable film.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

classicsoncall This is quite the entertaining picture, but boy oh boy, you really have to stretch the credibility factor to make it through the entire story. The main one for me, and there were many, was the way Cecilia Bradley (Rochelle Hudson) accepted her fate when Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) hijacked her auto and literally kidnapped her onto a train car. You would think a panic attack might be in order, wouldn't you? Yet Miss Bradley appears pretty much nonplussed, and even sticks around to take part in Blackie's frenetic dealings with Police Inspector Faraday (Richard Lane).What was pretty clever though were the three verbal clues left for Blackie by the dying Marilyn Howard (Constance Worth) - 'mechanical man, Skyland sign, and 2 1/2'. Making their way through a carnival freak show, Blackie and Ms. Bradley manage to put the pieces together in a way that lead them to bad guys sending messages to an off shore ship using lights and Morse Code. I had the same thought as another reviewer for this picture - just how common was Morse Code for so many characters in the story to be using or understanding it? Personally, I don't know how those who use it can keep up with the rapid pace of the clicks sending the message.I try to catch these Boston Blackie flicks whenever they make the rounds on Turner Classics, usually one at a time, so of necessity manage to see them out of original film release order. Of the ones I've seen, they're fairly representative of the era's detective type films which include Charlie Chan, Bulldog Drummond and Mr. Wong. The series borrows a gimmick from another detective franchise of the era, in as much as Boston Blackie's former career involved being a jewel thief, just like The Lone Wolf.

utgard14 Returning to America from Europe via ocean liner, notorious jewel thief Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) gets mixed up with a murder, a spy ring, and someone called The Mechanical Man. The first of Columbia's Boston Blackie series of B detective movies. I say detective because, despite Blackie being a jewel thief, he spends every movie solving crimes and helping people out. Usually he's the one accused of the crime and in order to prove his innocence, he must figure out the real culprits. Richard Lane plays Inspector Faraday, the cop forever on Blackie's trail who likes him despite their being on opposite sides of the law. Charles Wagenheim plays Blackie's sidekick Runt. George E. Stone would play the role later and was much better-suited for the part than Wagenheim. Rochelle Hudson and Constance Worth provide the pretty in this first film. The Blackie series always had lovely actresses. Fun start to a great series.

Spondonman This was a good start to the Chester Morris Boston Blackie series of yarns at Columbia, the next 13 more or less maintained this frantic pitch of action and badinage. On the print I've got it looked like one of Blackie's magic tricks had been cut out in the first minute, not auguring well for the completeness of the rest of the film, but if there were cuts, they were expertly executed.Blackie about to be pulled in by Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) for robbery gets mixed up with murders and spies and dames. On the way through the cast have a splendid assortment of patter eg dame to Blackie "Who are you?" - "At the moment a fugitive from an autopsy", or Blackie to Farraday "You'll be pounding the beat so far out of town you'll have to send smoke signals to report in", keeping just the right balance in what was, after all, a comedy-thriller. Rochelle Hudson as Cecilia looked extremely decorative, especially when she took that hat off! What were we supposed to be thinking she was thinking at the end of the film?!Minor points: I preferred George E. Stone as the Runt to come, but all the cast were excellent, and the film could have done with 5 or 10 minutes more, but all the same basically I'm glad at what we've got. Not for serious people - if you like the genre as I do I recommend you watch the entire series, if you don't like the genre why not watch the entire series just to waste your time.

TVrepairman-2 This is the first Boston Blackie with Chester Morris playing the lead role. I saw several of this series films years ago on public tv and it would be nice to see more on tv with films like these. If you are an old mystery/crime/funny movie buff then you will enjoy it.