Boston Blackie and the Law(1946)

Name: Boston Blackie and the Law
Director: D. Ross Lederman
Released: 1946-12-12
Rating: 6
Cast: Chester Morris, Trudy Marshall, Constance Dowling, Richard Lane, George E. Stone

12/12/1946 (US)Crime, Mystery1h 9m

6.0

"A WOMAN WHO WORKED AT MURDER!"

Overview

Blackie performs in a magic show at a women's prison, which gives an inmate an opportunity to escape.

D. Ross Lederman

Director

Harry Essex

Screenplay

Jack Boyle

Characters

Top Billed Cast

Chester Morris

Horatio 'Boston Blackie' Black

Trudy Marshall

Irene

Constance Dowling

Dinah Moran

Richard Lane

Inspector Farraday

George E. Stone

The Runt

Frank Sully

Sgt. Matthews

Warren Ashe

John Lampau, alias John Jani

Selmer Jackson

Warden Lund

Wanda Perry

Secretary (uncredited)

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Part of the Boston Blackie Collection

Jack Boyle's stories first appeared in the early 20th Century. "The Price of Principle" was a short story in the July 1914 issue of The American Magazine. Boyle's character also turned up in Cosmopolitan. In 1917, Redbook published the novelette "Boston Blackie’s Mary," and the magazine brought the character back with "The Heart of the Lily" (February, 1921). Boyle's stories were collected in the book Boston Blackie (1919), which was reprinted in 1979 by Gregg Press. Boyle died in 1928. [edit]Films The earliest film adaptations were silent, dating from 1918 to 1927. Columbia Pictures revived the property in 1941 with Meet Boston Blackie, a fast, 58-minute "B" feature starring Chester Morris. Although the running time was brief, Columbia gave the picture good production values and an imaginative director (Robert Florey). The film was successful, and a series followed.

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A review by CinemaSerf

6.0

Written on December 9, 2023

The first twenty minutes or so of this are quite entertaining. Who knew that "Blackie" (Chester Morris) was a dab hand at magic tricks? Well he takes his cabinet to a women's prison where he asks inmate "Dinah" (Constance Dowling) to have a go. Next thing, sirens are going off and there's no trace. "Insp. Farraday" (Richard Lane) and sidekick "Matthews" (Frank Sully) drag him in for questioning and we have some playful mischief around this magical device before, well it's soon not much use for anything but bonfire fodder. Meantime, there's a standard who robbed who and wants their share revenge drama bubbling away that sees the scheming "Irene" (Trudy Marshall) playing a shrewd game to secure the loot. It's quite quickly paced and there's some fun to be had - usually at the expense of the police and some singeing of $1,000 bills - before the ending that isn't quite what you might have been expecting. This is quite an amiable outing for "Blackie" with some comedy, spatting and sleight of hand to keep in interesting.