planktonrules Review of Boston Blackie and the Law

Boston Blackie and the Law (1946)

Very good, though much of the film was lifted directly from an earlier Boston Blackie film

[6/10 · 6 April 2007]

Had the entire first portion of the film NOT been copied almost directly from a previous Boston Blackie film (ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE), I am sure I would have scored this film higher. This is because it DID have a very good plot and was far more interesting than several of the previous Blackie films (which were starting to get pretty formulaic and stale). But I just can't forgive a movie for being so repetitive--how could Harry Cohn (the head of Columbia Pictures) have allowed a rehash of another film in this same series they had just filmed a few years earlier? From what I have read, Mr. Cohn was super-involved in all his A-productions and this was a B-detective film, so it is very likely this one got past him. SOMEONE should have complained, though, as apart from changing the gender of the escaped convict and making the presentation at the prison a magic show and not a circus, it is essentially the same film for the first 10 to 15 minutes! Too bad--it STILL was pretty good and offered some decent twists and turns.