Evengyny
Thanks for the memories!
Clarissa Mora
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Married Baby
Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
blanche-2
Much as I like Chester Morris and the Boston Blackie series, when you see these films in close proximity to one another, the formula becomes a little bit of a bore.Blackie (Morris) and The Runt (George E. Stone) are given the assignment of guarding a woman who is wearing her very expensive pearls at a party. Guess what. They're stolen and Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) and company blame Blackie. So he has to clear himself by finding them.There were some cute scenes in this film, the best when Blackie with a mustache goes to a dance school to take lessons. He's hilarious, talking about from the time he was so high - no, this high, he's wanted to dance. "I'm a bird in a cage," he says. "Dancing will release me." June Vincent is a beautiful blonde who gives the film some real class - she really should have had a better career in films. She never moved up from the Bs. She moved into television in the '50s and did very well.I never understand how Farraday can't see right through all those disguises, but I guess you have to go along with the illusion of film.Morris gives the film a light, relaxed touch, and thank goodness because he keeps these movies going. This particular film is okay, worth seeing for Blackie trying to infiltrate his way into the dance studio and for seeing them pose as husband and wife - a riot.This was George E. Stone's last appearance as The Runt.
csteidler
Blackie and the Runt fill in as party security as a favor to the widow of their recently killed friend. Not surprisingly, a valuable necklace is stolen; it's not the first time that helping a friend has gotten them into trouble. Also not surprisingly, Inspector Farraday is on the case—and pins the job on Blackie the moment he sees through the Runt's swami disguise. (They were doing the job undercover and in costume.)From there on, Trapped by Boston Blackie is unpredictable if not surprising—the plot involves a ballet instructor, his student, a secretary, the necklace's owner, and said owner's niece and husband. Lots of characters to keep straight! Indeed, it takes Blackie (with Farraday in pursuit, naturally) the length of the picture to sort them all out, restore order along with the necklace, and once again prove his own innocence to the inspector.Sidekicks Runt and Sergeant Matthews are along as always; neither is quite so dumb as usual in this entry, although Farraday is driven to deliver his trademark exasperated shout ("Matthews!") more than once.Plenty of disguises for Blackie and the Runt in this one—their turn as an elderly couple has to be one of their best ever, with the Runt quite hilariously convincing as "Mother." (Blackie even teases "her" about walking past the police wearing a borrowed wrap: "You think the boys are gonna notice an old hag like you? Now get your bonnet." To which the Runt snaps, "Well, I like that!" in perfect insulted-mature-lady style.) The plot here is thicker than some films in the Boston Blackie series; the humor is (mostly) less physical and lower key. –That said, however, it's still a Blackie picture: light and enjoyable, a fast-moving 67 minutes that will relax and amuse more than confuse or confound. Blackie fans will want to catch it at least once.
MartinHafer
The plot for this film was extremely similar to another Columbia Pictures detective series film, THE LONE WOLF STRIKES. Considering how many Lone Wolf and Boston Blackie films the studio made, it's not particularly surprising that some of the story ideas got recycled and reworked. Both films involved an ex-jewel thief (the leads of both series) going to a society party where an expensive pearl necklace was stolen. And, since I'd seen both films only a few weeks apart, it sure felt like a case of Déjà Vu! Despite these similarities, this film is pretty good on its own and I especially liked it when Blackie and Runt dressed as husband and wife. Runt really looked convincing as a middle-aged woman. Considering that unlike the Lone Wolf, the Saint and the Falcon, Blackie never chased women in the films, this might explain a lot! Despite some very funny moments, the rest of the film is very formulaic--once again the idiot inspector and his super-moronic sidekick suspect Blackie--even though in all the other films dozen or so films they also suspected him but in the end he turned out to be working for law and order. Because of this, I really can't score the film any higher than a 7.
Spondonman
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?