Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture

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.

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!

... 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.

Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture marks the end of the 14 movie series starring Chester Morris. The film remains true to the BB formula. The falsely accused Blackie & Runt being wrongfully suspected of a murder they didn't commit. Blackie must clear himself by solving the crime for Inspector Faraday and his dopey assistant Mathews.

Morris is one of my favorite actors, but this movie like all the other Boston Blackie movies tends to get very predictable and very boring. The well dressed Blackie lives with the Runt in a luxury apartment yet has no visible means of support. I also never understood why the handsome Chester Morris was never provided with a love interest in any of the BB films. What does this reformed ex-convict do for a living and why doesn't he have a girlfriend?

In one of the scenes Blackie and Runt disguise themselves as Chinese. It's so obvious that they are both wearing masks yet they slip right by Faraday and Mathews. In another scene a diamond cutter being held captive is forced to cooperate with the jewel thieves yet when given a gun and told to keep an eye on Blackie and Runt he remains loyal to the gang only to get shot in the back by it's leader.

Sid Tomack replaced George E Stone in the role of the Runt. I never cared for George E Stone's portrayal of the Runt. I didn't find him very funny and he was all too whiny. Tomack offered relief from the childish whiny portrayal of George E Stone. It's unfortunate that Sid Tomack only played the part once.

The lovely Joan Woodbury is featured as a villainous shill in this movie, but her part is too small and her talent is wasted. I believe Chester Morris should have starred in the Dick Tracy series. If you study his profile I think you'll agree that he looks just like him. As Tracy he would have had Tess Trueheart as a love interest too.

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.