A Close Call for Boston Blackie (1946)

Very well executed

One of my all time favorites.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I've seen the Boston Blackie TV Series, but didn't know there were movies, as well. I finally got a chance to watch a number of the Film Series, and I find this one, the weakest plot of them, all, but one of the funniest in the bunch. In another of his unusual and fascinating capers, Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) gets entangled with a former girlfriend Gerry Payton (Lynn Merrick) when Blackie and his sidekick, the Runt (George E. Stone) rescue her during an attack in the street right in front of their building. They carry in the unconscious woman to the house. When they open the bedroom door we see the main twist that this series entry has to offer: a baby! The baby is very cute, and it's funny to see Blackie and Runt try to take out of it. It's somewhat comical that the baby sounds don't really match the baby. There is a sound edit that supposed to be a baby yawn, but its sounds like an adult male in one scene. The baby's mother Gerry ask the two to protect the baby from her recently paroled husband. The Runt takes the baby to her girlfriend Mamie (Claire Carleton). Blackie takes on the husband when he returns and disarmed him. Before he can question him, an assassin kill the husband, and blackmailing Blackie for murder and kidnapping. The chase is on, with Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) and Sergeant Matthews (Frank Sully) at their heels. This fast-paced, surprising mystery wraps up in a tidy 60 minutes, but don't feel embittered. It's full of witty writing, comedy, and action to pack it. There is barely any slow moments in the film. The problem with the film is that, its plot is very low grade and simple. It also follows the same similar plot line as the other movies. If you follow the film series, you'll easily guess, Blackie will be accused of the murder and the Inspector will do the accusing. There a lot of dumb moments in the film as well like Runt leaving a baby by himself in Mamie's house when he get milk from a milk woman with a deep voice while leaving a woman's dress. Once again, Sergeant Matthew and Inspector Farraday are idiots, and makes you wonder how on earth did they ever became cops. Why on earth, did Matthew agree to a wrestling match with Blackie? I love the scene with the Inspector talking to Runt over the phone. Mamie, maybe. I don't why director, Lew Landers hired Lynn Merrick twice to play a similar role in the film series. She just played a character pulling a similar deception on them in Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion! (1945). Honestly, Blackie does some dumb things to, like act like a dead man to escape, and put pajamas over his clothes to fool the cops. At least Blackie didn't feel it obligatory to don black-face in this outing just his typical old man disguise for 5th time, again. In a nice touch, Matthews turns up in the same disguise which is hilarious. The film series try to follows the far more successful Thin Man series starting William Powell in production, but fail to make their film series different to each other in each movie. It's so repeatable and predictable. Can Boston Blackie and his partner The Runt figure out the plot, clear Blackie's name, rescue the child and put the criminals into the hands of the incompetent police?

A Close Call For Boston Blackie is a title with a double meaning. Our hero is once again suspected of a crime he didn't do, in this case a murder right in his own apartment. But the really close call Chester Morris has is that he could have been married to dame who is part of a plot to slip him into a frame for said murder.This film rests on a wildly illogical premise than Lynn Merrick who had been kanoodling with Morris before marrying playboy Robert Scott. On the day after her husband was paroled from prison because he turned out to be one bad seed of a prominent family, he turns up with gun in hand looking for Blackie. He's later found shot to death in Blackie's apartment.Of course the idea that Boston Blackie would ever fall for a bad dame and worse almost marry her is wildly ludicrous since we know how street smart he is. But this dame borrows a baby from Charles Lane who is his real father and passes it off as her's and Scott's. The idea is to extort some money out of Scott's wealthy father.Followers of the series know that Blackie is a master of disguise and he puts on an old man's disguise as the baby's grandfather to help expose the scam. But I cannot believe that Merrick could not have seen she was also being scammed by a guy she was intimate with. That just won't play.The ever faithful George E. Stone is here as well as the dumb and dumber cops Richard Lane and Frank Sully. But A Close Call For Boston Blackie was way too impossible to swallow.

Blackie and the Runt rescue a woman (Lynn Merrick) who's been attacked in the street right in front of their building. They carry in the unconscious woman, who is quickly identified as Gerry Peyton, one of Blackie's old flames. Nothing much new so far, but when they open the bedroom door we see the main twist that this series entry has to offer: a baby! Rather quickly, the rest of the plot is set into motion—Gerry's husband, a gunshot from around the corner of a doorway, some doubts about the identity of the baby and the honesty of Gerry. (Honestly, it's funny that Blackie and the Runt aren't suspicious of Lynn Merrick right away, since she just played a character pulling a similar deception on them in Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion!) If you're familiar with the Boston Blackie series, you'll easily guess who is accused of the first murder and also who does the accusing. Yes, Inspector Farraday is—as always—shocked that Blackie has stooped to murder, but after all, Blackie did have a good motive and was caught with the body in his apartment. He must be guilty! Blackie and the Runt, Farraday and his sidekick Matthews are all in good form. The story's nothing special but it moves fast. Blackie once again disguises himself as an old man…and in a nice touch, Matthews turns up in the same disguise! (Blackie and Farraday had the same idea, it seems.)Easygoing fun that's all wrapped up in exactly an hour.

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.