Meet Boston Blackie | |
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Directed by | Robert Florey |
Screenplay by | Jay Dratler |
Story by | Jay Dratler |
Based on | the character created by Jack Boyle |
Produced by | Ralph Cohn (uncredited) |
Starring | Chester Morris Rochelle Hudson Richard Lane Charles Wagenheim |
Cinematography | Franz F. Planer |
Edited by | James Sweeney |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 60 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Meet Boston Blackie is a 1941 American mystery crime film directed by Robert Florey starring Chester Morris, Rochelle Hudson, Richard Lane. Morris plays Boston Blackie, [1] a notorious, but honorable jewel thief. Although the character had been the hero of a number of silent films, this was the first talking picture. It proved popular enough for Columbia Pictures to produce a total of fourteen B movies, all starring Morris. [2] The next film in the sequence was Confessions of Boston Blackie .
Blackie's sidekick, a diminutive underworld type nicknamed The Runt, was slated for George E. Stone. Stone could not appear in the film, having contracted a virus, and he was replaced by Charles Wagenheim. Stone joined the series in the second film and stayed until 1948, when the series lapsed. (It was revived for one last film in 1949 with Morris, and sidekick Sid Tomack playing "Shorty.")
Returning to New York City from Europe, Boston Blackie tries unsuccessfully to strike up a conversation with attractive fellow ocean liner passenger Marilyn Howard. He later rescues her when she is accosted by a man. However, when he tries to follow her, he runs into his friendly nemesis, police Inspector Faraday, who wants to take him in on suspicion of stealing some pearls. Knowing that Blackie's word is good (and that handcuffs are useless against him), Faraday merely confiscates his landing card.
However, when Blackie discovers the body of the man who had bothered Marilyn Howard deposited in his suite, he has to break his word and debark to clear his name. He trails Howard to the Coney Island amusement park. She has been followed by two men and is struck by a poisoned dart. Before dying, she tells him enough to send him to the Mechanical Man, a midway performer whose act is pretending to be a robot or automaton. Soon after, the two killers show up to report to their boss, the Mechanical Man, forcing Blackie to flee once again.
He hijacks the car belonging to Cecilia Bradley and manages to lose his pursuers after a high-speed chase. Cecilia decides to help Blackie, despite his attempts to keep her out of his troubles. They learn from a radio news broadcast that Howard was a spy.
Blackie eventually discovers that an espionage ring led by the Mechanical Man is trying to take a stolen navy bombsight out of the country. Faraday and his men follow Blackie to the midway to arrest him and prove handy in apprehending the spies. As a reward, Faraday decides to forget about the evidence linking Blackie to the theft of the pearls.
John Chester Brooks Morris was an American stage, film, television, and radio actor. He had some prestigious film roles early in his career, and received an Academy Award nomination for Alibi (1929). Chester Morris is remembered for portraying Boston Blackie, a criminal-turned-detective, in the Boston Blackie film series of the 1940s.
Boston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle (1881–1928). Blackie, a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's stories, became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."
The Chance of a Lifetime is a 1943 crime drama starring Chester Morris, Erik Rolf and Jeanne Bates. It is one of 14 films made by Columbia Pictures involving detective Boston Blackie, a criminal-turned-crime solver. This was the sixth in the series and one of three that did not have his name in the title. The film is also William Castle's directorial debut. As with many of the films of the period, this was a flag waver to support America's efforts during World War II.
Richard Lane, sometimes known as Dick Lane, was an American actor and television announcer/presenter. In movies, he played assured, fast-talking slickers: usually press agents, policemen and detectives, sometimes swindlers and frauds. He is perhaps best known to movie fans as "Inspector Farraday" in the Boston Blackie mystery-comedies. Lane also played Faraday in the first radio version of Boston Blackie, which ran on NBC from June 23, 1944 to September 15, 1944. Lane was an early arrival on television, first as a news reporter and then as a sports announcer, broadcasting wrestling and roller derby shows on KTLA-TV, mainly from the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles.
George E. Stone was a Polish-born American character actor in films, radio, and television.
Three Godfathers is a 1936 American Western film directed by Richard Boleslawski and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan, and Irene Hervey. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by Peter B. Kyne. Three bank robbers find a newborn baby and his dying mother in the desert.
Walter Sande was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles.
Confessions of Boston Blackie is a 1941 American mystery crime film directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Chester Morris, Harriet Hilliard and Richard Lane. A woman consigns a family heirloom to a pair of unscrupulous art dealers in order to raise money to help her sick brother. This film is the second in the series of 14 Columbia Pictures Boston Blackie films, all starring Morris as the reformed crook. It was preceded by Meet Boston Blackie (1941) and followed by Alias Boston Blackie (1942).
Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood is a 1942 American crime film, fourth of the fourteen Boston Blackie films of the 1940s Columbia's series of B pictures based on Jack Boyle's pulp-fiction character.
Alias Boston Blackie (1942) is the third in a series of fourteen Columbia Pictures "B" movies starring Chester Morris as Boston Blackie. It was preceded by Meet Boston Blackie, Confessions of Boston Blackie and followed by Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood. Once again, Blackie is suspected of committing a crime, in this instance of helping a prisoner escape.
After Midnight with Boston Blackie is a 1943 crime film directed by Lew Landers. It is the fifth of a series of 14 Columbia Pictures films starring Chester Morris as Boston Blackie. When a recently paroled friend of Boston Blackie is killed, he finds himself once again the prime suspect of Police Inspector Farraday.
One Mysterious Night is a 1944 crime film, the seventh in a Columbia Pictures series of fourteen starring Chester Morris as reformed crook Boston Blackie. It was preceded by The Chance of a Lifetime and followed by Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion. Blackie is called upon to recover a stolen diamond.
Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion is the eighth of 14 Columbia Pictures B movies starring Chester Morris as reformed thief Boston Blackie.
Boston Blackie and the Law is the twelfth of fourteen Columbia Pictures films starring Chester Morris as reformed crook Boston Blackie.
A Close Call for Boston Blackie is a 1946 American crime film directed by Lew Landers. It is the tenth of fourteen Columbia Pictures films starring Chester Morris as Boston Blackie.
The Phantom Thief is a 1946 American mystery crime film directed by D. Ross Lederman and starring Chester Morris, Jeff Donnell and Richard Lane. It was produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures as part of the Boston Blackie series.
Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture is a 1949 mystery film directed by Seymour Friedman, starring Chester Morris. This was the last of Columbia's 14 Boston Blackie pictures (1941–49). Richard Lane, as long-suffering Inspector Farraday, was the only other character who appeared in all of the Boston Blackie films. George E. Stone, playing Blackie's sidekick The Runt, missed the first and the last films in the series due to illness. In Chinese Venture Stone was replaced by Sid Tomack as "Shorty."
Boston Blackie's Rendezvous is a 1945 American crime film directed by Arthur Dreifuss. The working title of this film was Surprise in the Night.
Trapped by Boston Blackie is a 1948 American crime drama directed by Seymour Friedman. It is the thirteenth of fourteen Columbia Pictures films starring Chester Morris as reformed crook Boston Blackie, and the final film with George E. Stone as "The Runt".
Adrian Michael Morris was an American actor of stage and film, and a younger brother of Chester Morris.