After Midnight with Boston Blackie

There's Boston Blackie again getting mixed up with other people's diamonds: an old pal from jail days, who's just been released himself, asks him to collect the very valuable diamonds he'd stolen and hidden in order to secure his daughter's future. But, of course, there are other crooks as well who want to get their hands on the jewels - and so, there are the familiar chases again, Blackie's caught once more by Inspector Faraday in front of an open safe; arrests, escapes, murders... And which day out of all does he (or rather, the gang that tries to track him and the diamonds down) pick for all those asphalt jungle adventures? His friend's, the Runt's wedding day! So you can just guess how many times the ceremony is delayed... until a VERY surprising ending!

Another very entertaining - and VERY inventive on the part of the authors! - Boston Blackie tale, with Chester Morris in GREAT shape: this time he even does a short black face comedy to get into the top gangster's house! And all this hokum mixes surprisingly well with some 'tougher' crime movie moments; a great treat not only for 'Boston Blackie' addicts!

Columbia Pictures had an unbeatable formula in the 40's - get stars who had passed out of the limelight but still had great talent and charisma and make them the leads in short B crime mystery films with lively scripts. They did this with Warner Baxter and the Crime Doctor series, with Warren William and the Lone Wolf series, and with Chester Morris and the Boston Blackie series. They also had a habit of naming the films in almost a random way. For example this film has nothing to do with the hour of midnight or what came before or after.

The basis of the story is an old friend of Boston Blackie -"Diamond Ed" - is getting out of jail and has some diamonds hidden away for his grown daughter that are apparently from the heist for which he was doing time. His old gang has been waiting for him to get out and wants the loot. Blackie is drawn into the whole situation by Ed's daughter, who wants Blackie to help Ed decide to go straight. Of course, things never go right for Blackie or else we wouldn't have a story and soon Blackie finds himself falsely accused of killing Diamond Ed to get to his loot. The incompetent and always mistrusting detective Farraday and his sidekick Matthews get their usual exercise jumping to conclusions and running in circles.

There are a few items of note in this particular Boston Blackie film. First, we finally get to hear Blackie's real name. Second, apparently Blackie's friend "The Runt" (George E. Stone) has it in him to court and marry a very tall and buxom amazon of a woman who's a burlesque dancer at a local club...or does he??? Finally, I may have missed something but it is not entirely apparent at the end that Blackie turns over Ed's diamonds to the police. You walk away at the end not knowing if Blackie gave the diamonds to the daughter and told her to keep them or not. For a production code era crime film this would be quite an event.

Action packed from beginning to end, and even using a WWII west coast blackout as a plot device, I highly recommend this fast little film.

The Runt is getting married—that is, if his and Blackie's wealthy friend Arthur can manage to keep the few principals involved in the wedding assembled in his house for more than thirty seconds. Blackie, however, is occupied helping an old friend's daughter sort out a mystery involving the missing father, some diamonds he had hidden and a gang of crooks who will stop at nothing to seize those diamonds. Of course, Inspector Farraday and his dumb assistant Matthews are on hand, slapping Blackie with any charge handy and letting Blackie slip away as needed to work on the actual solving of the case.

Cy Kendall is particularly oily as the head villain here, even though he had appeared in at least two previous series outings as an old underworld pal of Blackie's. Walter Sande as Detective Matthews is wonderfully hapless as comic foil and brunt of insults for both Farraday and Blackie. (Farraday making a point: "I have Matthews as a witness!" Blackie: "Well, I wouldn't brag about that.")

A handful of comments and events in the film allude to the war—particularly a scene set during a blackout when cops, bad guys and Blackie and friends are all chasing each other around in the dark. But for the most part, this is your standard escapist B mystery featuring familiar characters, plentiful comic relief and an easy-to-follow plot about diamonds and murder.

We never do find out if Blackie's "ulcer remedy" that he shares with Farraday is the real stuff, or just a trick. I suspect a trick, since one of the ingredients is ketchup.

An old man named Diamond Ed Barnaby is released from prison and is reunited with his now-grown daughter. But the reunion is cut short when gangsters kidnap him and demand he reveal the location of some diamonds he stole years before. The daughter goes to Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) for help. Blackie figures out where the diamonds are but not before Barnaby is killed. When Blackie arrives to get the diamonds, Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) is waiting for him and convinced Blackie murdered the old man.

Pretty good Boston Blackie picture. Not the best but entertaining. Nicely fits in a WW2 backdrop (city-wide blackout drill) as part of the story. Morris, Lane, and George E. Stone as Runt are all in good form. There's one scene that will ruffle some feathers today. Boston Blackie smears soot all over his face in order to pass as a black man and slip by Inspector Farraday's moronic sidekick, Sgt. Matthews.

Oddly, one of the bad guys in this is played by Cy Kendall. Kendall played a criminal type named Jumbo Madigan who gave Blackie information in several other Boston Blackie films, including the ones before and after this picture. However, here he plays a similar but more evil character named Joe Herschel that is much more involved in the plot. I didn't even know they were different characters until one of Joe's goons called him by that name.

"After Midnight with Boston Blackie" is another fun entry into the Boston Blackie series, starring Chester Morris and George E. Stone. An old man, Diamond Ed Barnaby (Walter Baldwin) is freed from prison and intends to give some stolen diamonds to his daughter (Betty Barnaby). However, his old gang wants them. His troubled daughter appeals to involved with the police and proves himself smarter. Meanwhile, The Runt's marriage to one Dixie Rose Blossom (Jan Buckingham) keeps being delayed, and friend Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan) has to keep the intended entertained, since the wedding is taking place at his apartment.

These Blackie films follow the same formula over and over - the dumb Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) and the clever Blackie interfering with a police case - which is a good thing because without Blackie, the case would never be solved.

Nevertheless, these films always manage to be entertaining, thanks in large art to Chester Morris and George E. Stone. Morris has a lot of charm and a lighthearted attitude as Blackie. He manages to keep some of these tired plots going. Hard to believe that the woman who played the sweet daughter Betty is the same woman who played the hard-boiled femme fatale in Detour.