Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942)

Overrated

Let's be realistic.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Starting down south where they grow oranges but ending up on the way there to the other coast where they also grow oranges. So while Florida is the initial destination, Californy is the place that Boston Blackie ends up, involved again with sidekicks Lloyd Corrigan and George E. Stone, as usual followed around by his friendly foil, lieutenant Richard Lane and his increasingly dumber sidekick Walter Sande. All it takes is putting Morris to outwit these two idiots, and there's no game even to begin other than against the bad guys, lead by William Wright. This entry has Morris and Stone heading out to California to deliver money to Corrigan to get him out of a jam, only to find more trouble. Corrigan's got involved with slick con-artists, a plot line that could take place in any city, let alone the L.A. district of Hollywood. A beautiful con artist (Constance Worth) gets Corrigan involved in a scam he's too naive to get out of on his own, and all he needs is Blackie, not sidekick Stone or the annoying Lane, outlasting his usefulness. Forrest Ticker is pretty unrecognizable as one of the racketeers out to fleece Corrigan. While the dialog is pretty smart and the film moves fast, the plot on this one is mostly just ludicrous.

***SPOILERS*** Boston Blackie, Chester Morris, and his pint-size partner "The Runt", George E. Stone, get themselves involved in the case of the stolen $60,000.00 Monteray Diamond that got Blackie's good friend millionaire Arthur Manleder, Lloyd Corrigan, in deep trouble. This involves some kind of cockamamie scam by gangster Slick Barton, William Wright, to blackmail Manleder into making it look like he stole it in order to have it cut into a dozen pieces! And from what I can make out appreciate its value even though it's Slick who'll end up getting rich off it.All throughout the movie Blackie's nemesis the bumbling Inspector Farraday, Richard Lane, ends up falling on his face as well as being attacked a thousands of army ants in him trying to get the goods on Blackie in framing him for the stealing of the Monteray Diamond which he in fact recovered, by safe cracking, for its owner Arthur Manleder. There's also pretty blond Gloria Lane, Constance "Worth a Look" Worth, and hoodlum and Slick's strongman "Whipper, Forrest Tucker, who just loves to "Whip" it out to round out the cast.***SPOILERS*** Heart drooping elevator scene with Blackie slugging it out with Slick who ends up being knocked unconscious by him not once but twice-Within five minutes- by a fired up Blackie before the movie ends. It's the up and down sequence in the movie that makes those of us watching sea sick in following g it but as we saw it was Slick who ended up getting the far worst of it. Chester Morris seems to be really getting into his Boston Blackie character with his on target cracking jokes as well as not as much as getting his hair or clothes mussed up during the entire movie. He also does a good imitation of an head shrink-er or Austrian Sigmund Freud like psycho analyst, together with an Austrian accent, as well.

Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942) *** (out of 4) Forth film in Columbia's series finds Blackie (Chester Morris) trying to get $60,000 to California so that a friend can pay off a mob holding him hostage. As usual, Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) thinks Blackie has stolen a priceless diamond and is hot on his trail. Unlike the previous film, this one here thankfully gets the laughs back on target and delivers a pretty good entry that fans of detective films should really enjoy. Once again Morris is very comfortable in his role and by now it seems like he could play it with his eyes closed. The supporting players are all good but again, the main highlight are all the laughs that this entry has. There's a wonderful segment at the end with Blackie and the bad guy fighting in an elevator shaft that has a dash of slapstick, which is really funny. There isn't much of a mystery going on but the 68-minute running time flies by. Forrest Tucker has a small role and if you look fast you can see Lloyd Bridges. Also of note, the word Hollywood is never even mentioned in the film.

One of the more consistently funny entries in this series (4/14) has Blackie & Runt in NY helping out Arthur who is being shaken down by a gang of rogues in California. Farraday & Matthews go along for the (plane) ride along with hundreds of ants (that Blackie planted on them) they're busy scratching at for most of the picture.*** Some nice comic routines amidst the actual crime story, maybe in the last 5 minutes it wore a bit thin. But you have to see the hotel room scene where the baddie Slick ties up 5 of them hands to ankles and kneeling, including his henchmen, and lams with a parting "Happy Hobble"! Farraday bursts in then with a "Aren't you boys a little old to be playing marbles?" It's deliciously ridiculous, and was a routine they tried again with variations in later entries. ***For that, and the fact it does pleasantly fill an hour, one of my favourite Blackies.