Returning from Europe too early following a pearl theft, notorious-yet-charming Boston Blackie is acosted by his "friendly" nemesis Inspector Farraday, who wants to take his downtown for questioning. However, a murder gets in the way, and Blackie has to flee to clear his name of a crime he's never been known for. Before things are over, he runs into a whole ring of foreign spies, unintentionally kidnaps a woman to escape certain death, locks a pair of cops in a high-rise elevator, winds up wanted for two murders, slowly figures out a complex series of codes and just barely manages to hand the spies over to the police before he's arrested by a cop so single-minded and thick-headed all he can think of is sending Blackie to the electric chair. Fun stuff, EHH?
Following a 14-YEAR break, Columbia decided to revive the BOSTON BLACKIE series, with what modern audiences would probably call a "reboot". Unlike too many such series, this one features a pretty stable main cast, with Chester Morris & Richard Lane playing Blackie & Farrady 14 films in a row, while George E. Stone played his sidekick "The Runt" in 12 films (starting with the 2nd installment). Sadly, that kind of consistency was also to a degree a downside to the films, as in each and every movie, Blackie would be accused of some crime, and have to spent the stories trying to clear his name by nailing the real culprits-- and then being accused AGAIN in the following film. I know a lot of police departments these days go out of their way NOT to hire intelligent applicants who can think for themselves, but Richard Lane's Farraday almost manages to make Thurston Hall's Inspector Crane in the LONE WOLF series seem brilliant by comparison. THE SAINT's Inspector Fernack or Inspector Teal were NEVER this stupid! (Well, except sometimes on the Roger Moore tv series.)
I understand that, for some unspecified reason, the Morris BLACKIE films were completely out of circulation for decades, which explains why I grew up and never saw a single one of them, until TCM brought them out of obscurity in January 2007. I taped every one of them I could back then, and am re-watching them now, as part of a much-bigger 1930s-1940s marathon I'm doing with my collection. MEET BOSTON BLACKIE was my 1st exposure to the character, and while there were some good follow-ups, this one may still be my favorite. Among other things, its "formula" hadn't run itself into the ground thru repitition yet, the plot was rather different from most that followed and at times was difficult to guess, and around half the film was NON-STOP high-speed action of the likes one usually didn't see in "B"-movie series.
One very odd thing I might as well point out ahead of time here... a running plot thread in this one is the idea that Farraday has never gotten Blackie's fingerprints, and therefore, presumably, he's never been in prison. Yet a few films later, Blackie is referred to as an EX-CON, totally contradicting this! I'd like to see someone "explain" that.
MEET BOSTON BLACKIE was actually the 12th BLACKIE film made, but the first during the sound era. At the moment, it seems only ONE of the silents is currently in circulation-- the 11th, THE RETURN OF BOSTON BLACKIE (1927), with Raymond Anthony Glenn (alias "Bob Custer") in the lead role. That film seems to have suffered over the years, as at some point it was cut from 77 to 57 minutes. I've seen the shorter version, from Grapevine Video, which has a lot of damage to the print, but a VERY nice organ score. The story, in which Blackie is released from prison and then finds some former associates trying to coerce him back into crime (and failing that, frame him for their crimes) is actually a lot of fun, and, funny enough, like "MEET...", also takes place partly on an amusement pier. The film is also more or less "stolen" by his canine friend, "Strongheart The Dog", who apparently predated Rin Tin Tin as a movie dog hero. I highly reccomend people search this out, and I only wish the other 10 films would turn up one of these days.
Following a 14-YEAR break, Columbia decided to revive the BOSTON BLACKIE series, with what modern audiences would probably call a "reboot". Unlike too many such series, this one features a pretty stable main cast, with Chester Morris & Richard Lane playing Blackie & Farrady 14 films in a row, while George E. Stone played his sidekick "The Runt" in 12 films (starting with the 2nd installment). Sadly, that kind of consistency was also to a degree a downside to the films, as in each and every movie, Blackie would be accused of some crime, and have to spent the stories trying to clear his name by nailing the real culprits-- and then being accused AGAIN in the following film. I know a lot of police departments these days go out of their way NOT to hire intelligent applicants who can think for themselves, but Richard Lane's Farraday almost manages to make Thurston Hall's Inspector Crane in the LONE WOLF series seem brilliant by comparison. THE SAINT's Inspector Fernack or Inspector Teal were NEVER this stupid! (Well, except sometimes on the Roger Moore tv series.)
I understand that, for some unspecified reason, the Morris BLACKIE films were completely out of circulation for decades, which explains why I grew up and never saw a single one of them, until TCM brought them out of obscurity in January 2007. I taped every one of them I could back then, and am re-watching them now, as part of a much-bigger 1930s-1940s marathon I'm doing with my collection. MEET BOSTON BLACKIE was my 1st exposure to the character, and while there were some good follow-ups, this one may still be my favorite. Among other things, its "formula" hadn't run itself into the ground thru repitition yet, the plot was rather different from most that followed and at times was difficult to guess, and around half the film was NON-STOP high-speed action of the likes one usually didn't see in "B"-movie series.
One very odd thing I might as well point out ahead of time here... a running plot thread in this one is the idea that Farraday has never gotten Blackie's fingerprints, and therefore, presumably, he's never been in prison. Yet a few films later, Blackie is referred to as an EX-CON, totally contradicting this! I'd like to see someone "explain" that.
MEET BOSTON BLACKIE was actually the 12th BLACKIE film made, but the first during the sound era. At the moment, it seems only ONE of the silents is currently in circulation-- the 11th, THE RETURN OF BOSTON BLACKIE (1927), with Raymond Anthony Glenn (alias "Bob Custer") in the lead role. That film seems to have suffered over the years, as at some point it was cut from 77 to 57 minutes. I've seen the shorter version, from Grapevine Video, which has a lot of damage to the print, but a VERY nice organ score. The story, in which Blackie is released from prison and then finds some former associates trying to coerce him back into crime (and failing that, frame him for their crimes) is actually a lot of fun, and, funny enough, like "MEET...", also takes place partly on an amusement pier. The film is also more or less "stolen" by his canine friend, "Strongheart The Dog", who apparently predated Rin Tin Tin as a movie dog hero. I highly reccomend people search this out, and I only wish the other 10 films would turn up one of these days.