Close Call for Boston Blackie, A (1946)
*** (out of 4)
Lew Landers (The Raven) directs this tenth entry in Columbia's popular series. This time out Blackie (Chester Morris) runs into a woman he formally loved who know is married with a kid. When her husband gets out of prison he's killed in Blackie's apartment and of course the police thing Blackie pulled the trigger so he must set out to prove his innocence as well as capture the real killers. This one here is a step up from the previous film because they changed the mode quite a bit. For starters, the plot is a lot more difficult to figure out and is a lot more challenging for the viewing. Another added bonus is that Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) and Sergeant Matthews (Frank Sully) play a bigger part of the mystery and they aren't just here for laughs, although they still have a lot of funny moments. Another added bonus is the baby itself, which leads to several cute scenes with Blackie, the police and The Runt. All the cast members are once again at full force with Morris being as delightful as ever.