Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture

With this one Columbia closed down the Blackie series, the 14th in 8 years and a fairly satisfying conclusion. Times and tastes were changing and actors and technicians were spending more time working for TV, this type of b film series became popular TV series during the '50's. Chester Morris moved onto doing more TV and stage stuff - and Richard Lane already was a successful TV wrestling commentator! I can almost hear him now - his high speed buzz-saw of a voice must have been perfect for the job!

Blackie and Runt (Sid Tomack for the once) get accused of murdering Chinese laundry shop boss, tracking down the real killers with Inspector Farraday and Sgt. Matthews on their heels leads them into a web of ingenious diamond smugglers. This involves a diamond-cutting Nazi refugee held against his will but who seems to put up a good fight when confronted with Blackie, a night club owner who might be good or bad, a redhead who seems to walk all over Chinatown with hot diamonds in tow, and plenty of tea. As usual the 57 minutes are taken at warp speed, meaning that even though I've already seen it a couple of times I'll still have to see it again to finally settle who murdered who. Favourite bits: The "sleazy" tour of Chinatown that is by turns cringe-worthy and hilarious and Farraday's continuous witty estimations of Matthews' intelligence.

All in all I think the BB's are an enjoyable and unjustly overlooked series with some films of course better than others, but with the last being as good as the first makes me wish they'd gone on churning them out just a few more years!

For the Boston Blackie series finale once again Blackie and the Runt are in wrong place, wrong time. They can't even check on the laundry without getting mixed up in some kind of escapade where fatalities occur.

Chester Morris and Sid Tomack who plays the Runt in the farewell film leave a Chinese laundry where the laundryman is later murdered. Tomack is a good comic actor who occasionally essayed serious parts, most notably in the Humphrey Bogart classic Knock On Any Door. But he doesn't have that runt like quality that George E. Stone did.

A little investigation and Blackie discovers a gem smuggling operation that is worked out of a tea shop owned by Philip Ahn with a Chinatown tour bus used as the shuttle. As usual while avoiding the ever suspicious Inspector Richard Lane and his faithful stooge Frank Sully, Blackie gets the goods.

This was not a bad film, but the series was clearly getting stale. How many variations of Blackie and the Runt caught up in a situation not of their own making and be accused of homicide and him clearing himself can there be? Blackie would later appear on television briefly with Kent Taylor starring.

Anyway Boston Blackie had a good run while it lasted.

... and let me say that I really miss George E. Stone as "The Runt" in this last Boston Blackie entry. Stone as The Runt was not that helpful in solving any of the crimes in the Boston Blackie series, but he had a naive charm and fierce loyalty to Blackie that made him a joy to have around. Sid Tomack's Runt is more like a gentleman's gentleman to Boston Blackie, an Alfred to his Batman. He's just not fun to watch.

The mystery is among the least compelling of the series too. The Chinese proprietor of laundry (eye roll) is found dead behind the counter at his business, and because Blackie is outside and has laundry at the establishment, Farraday accuses him? This seems a bit contrived versus where there were some entries where Blackie really DID look guilty. So Blackie sets out to solve the mystery as to who is the killer and what is the motive. The whole thing was rather dull involving jewel thieves hiding their wares in tea, and by the end of the film I needed some tea to stay awake.

Now the good. Chester Morris always satisfies as the suave cool reformed thief Boston Blackie. And there is a bit about a tour of "Chinatown" that does poke fun of the stereotypes people held at the time concerning Asian people. A tour guide promises to show a gullible tour group "the seamy side" of Chinatown. He shows them a "Chinese gambling den" (it is really just some Asian guys playing poker like anybody else might do) and "Chinese slave girls working their way to freedom" (again staged - as soon as the tour group leaves the women start talking about their college classes), and supposedly a "tong war" breaking out. Just one thing - didn't anybody in the group think of calling the police about the allegedly enslaved girls?

This one is really a take it or leave it proposition. Without Chester Morris in the lead, I would definitely have left it.

The final chapter in the Boston Blackie saga starts off briskly and without surprises: Blackie drops off his laundry just moments before the laundry proprietor is discovered murdered; Inspector Farraday arrives on the scene to investigate and quickly deduces that Blackie is involved; Blackie chuckles along with Farraday but realizes he is going to have to find the real killer to clear himself. –That's all in the first five minutes, of course. The rest of the action includes stolen jewels, phony Chinatown underworld tours, and a couple of large piles of tea. It's all quite enjoyable…not the best in the series, but an adequate if unspectacular finale.

Chester Morris is as steady as ever as Blackie--smart, smooth and snappy. Richard Lane's Inspector Farraday is still (Wile E. Coyote-like) confident in the face of all previous experience that he will sooner or later make something stick to Blackie. The only real sign that the series was ending was the absence of George E. Stone as the Runt; Sid Tomack is passable in the role but not really a replacement.

The film's most shocking moment comes when Frank Sully's Detective Matthews has perhaps his first bright idea in fourteen films—noting that the gunshots just heard from inside the movie theater could not have been part of the movie playing, because it's a movie about Robin Hood! (And here he points out the movie poster for The Prince of Thieves; also coming soon to that theater, I noticed, was The Mating of Millie—nice advertising for a couple of 1949 Columbia features that I suppose I will have to put on my long list….)

One great moment: The Chinese "gamblers" dropping their act and resuming their real game when the door closes on the peeking tourists—"All right, fellas," one says, "let's pick up the bridge game where we left off."

It would have been a huge surprise if Blackie and the Runt had not disguised themselves as Chinese in at least one scene….Overall, it's a fair mystery with a few unique moments: a solid finish to the series.

It doesn't seem to matter just how many times "Blackie" (Chester Morris) helps the police, they alway jump to the conclusion that he's the guilty party whenever there is a body! This time, he leaves a laundry only for the owner to be found dead. "Insp. Farraday" (Richard Lane) and his nice but dim "Sgt. Matthews" (Frank Sully) is on the case and with the blame looming, it falls to our erstwhile crook and his pal "The Runt" (newcomer Sid Tomack) to explore the underground antics of the Chinese community and find out if it's a dodgy gambling racket, or maybe some seamy private dancing, or perhaps the Tongs really are chasing around the basements wielding axes with menace. The intrigue grows more mysterious as "Mei Ling" (Maylia) enters the fray and for just shy of an hour we have an entertaining little crime thriller. It's quite well paced with some light comedy and precisely no jeopardy. Passes the time fine, though.