Trapped by Boston Blackie (1948)

The first film that Seymour Friedman directed, according to wikipedia. Blackie and his sidekick the runt agree to help at a dinner party for friend Doris (June Vincent). They will keep an eye out for thieves, and of course, all hell breaks loose while they are on scene. Chester Morris was Boston Blackie in numerous films prior to this, but would only play it one more time after this. For some reason, Blackie and runt dress up as Doris' parents, with Runt in drag. Over the river and and through the woods for this one... although its only 67 minutes. Something about stolen pearls at the dinner party, and the pearls keep changing locations. Gets confusing...pretty much everyone in the film gets accused of being the thief at some point, except for the cops. And as usual, the cops are a couple of goofballs, insulting each other. Not the best chapter in the Blackie series, but if its the only thing on, one might watch it. I guess they were running out of strong story lines by this time.

Back in Boston Blackie's days as a society burglar this is just the kind of caper that would have been something he pulled. For once Inspector Farraday's suspicions are not completely out of the realm of possibilities.After the head of a detective agency gets bumped off in a suspicious car accident Chester Morris and George E. Stone get hired by the widow to guard some valuable pearls at a society party. The two are disguised as Hindu fakirs, but the pearls are clipped in any event and when Richard Lane sees Morris and Stone, that's all he has to know.Once again Boston Blackie has to solve the case in order to clear himself. This is a good film, but the premise was really getting old by now.

This film starts off at a costume party where Boston Blackie,(Chester Morris) and his sidekick Runt, (George Slone) are attending in order to protect a very expensive necklace on one of their clients. This pearl necklace is stolen and Police Inspector Faraday, (Richard Lane) suspects Boston Blackie of stealing these pearls. There is the usual run around with all kinds of suspicious characters who claim to be innocent and still Inspector Faraday feels that Boston Blackie is responsible for this crime. Doris Bradley, (June Vincent) plays the role as a very pretty blonde who puts charm to her supporting role. This is one of the better Boston Blackie films.

Easily the darkest or most serious Blackie film, the penultimate in the series and Stone's last as the Runt. It has comedy as usual mixed in with the detective work, but this was post War and people seemingly didn't want to laugh so much at the movies, if at all. This descent is still ongoing, todays films aren't considered good unless brim full of violence, filth and cynicism - what will tomorrows bring?A string of pearls is stolen at a society fancy dress party and naturally suspicion falls on Blackie and the Runt both disguised as Indian fakirs. In turn the murky pasts of some of the guests and main characters are uncovered by Blackie as he strives yet again to clear his name. Farraday and Matthews come across lower key than before, but the Inspector's witticisms still past muster. Doesn't the ballet scene remind you of "Hellzapoppin"?! Eventually the jigsaw puzzle starts to take shape and pieces fall into place, but not before Blackie and Runt trot out the old man and woman disguise one more time - like old friends in themselves by now!A superior entry with a more satisfying climax than I expected, as a fan. On the other hand if you hate the genre but watch this anyway what do you expect?