Meet Boston Blackie (1941)
At the Rialto
B.C.
Published: February 26, 1941
Since Columbia is formally introducing a new series character in "Meet Boston Blackie," propriety would normally compel a polite acknowledgment, at least, of the current attraction at the Rialto. But there is something about this Boston Blackie which makes us distrust him from the start. In the first place, he is played by Chester Morris, whose spotted career is too notorious for any dependence upon him. In the second place, he is just like any one of a dozen previous cinematic sleuths whose intentions are always honorable, though forever open to doubt. And, in the third place, he is showing absolutely nothing in this his first excursion to warrant any high expectation of originality in his deductive powers.
In brief, you can tag Boston Blackie as another third-rate thriller hero and his first picture as a routine murder mystery set in an amusement park. So long, Mr. Blackie; don't bother to look us up next time you're in New York.
MEET BOSTON BLACKIE, story and screen play by Jay Dratler; based on the character created by Jack Boyle; directed by Robert Florey, produced by Ralph Cohn for Columbia Pictures.
Boston Blackie . . . . . Chester Morris
Cecilia Bradley . . . . . Rochelle Hudson
Inspector Faraday . . . . . Richard Lane
The Runt . . . . . Charles Wagenheim
Marilyn Howard . . . . . Constance Worth
Monk . . . . . Jeck O'Malley
Georgie . . . . . George Magrill
Mechanical Man . . . . . Michael Rand
