Watch Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood For Free

Such a frustrating disappointment

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

"Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood" (1942) was the fourth film in the "Boston Blackie" series and it was also the first movie directorial effort of the then very successful Broadway stage director, Michael Gordon.Owing partly to his expertise and partly to the fact that there was a war going on, Michael Gordon was soon in great demand in Hollywood (his later films included "Woman in Hiding", and "Portrait in Black") and he certainly stages some really great action footage here , utilizing some actual real life Los Angeles locations that were not far from Hollywood. Oddly, despite the film's actual title, no real outdoor locations in Hollywood itself were utilized. Of even more importance, although the film moves really fast, the plot is not particularly credible, but nonetheless, the solid acting by charismatic villains William Wright, Constance Worth and Forrest Tucker certainly help to put the story across most successfully.

A frenetic entry in the Boston Blackie series, this one gets downright farcical at times with the Runt (George E. Stone) masquerading as an Our Gang Alfalfa type character, and Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) donning the guise of a Professor to help a friend in California. The caper involves the missing Monterey diamond, followed by the sixty thousand dollars Blackie brings with him from Arthur Manleder's (Lloyd Corrigan) safe back home. The film utilizes all sorts of ruses and gimmicks that wouldn't even be attempted in a movie today because quite frankly, they wouldn't work, literally or figuratively. Like buying a plane ticket with cash! Can you do that today? I don't think so.But given the time, I'm sure this was a fun diversion, and probably the best way to view the film and the series today. It's also cool to see some Hollywood names before they made it, like the unrecognizably young Forrest Tucker as a henchman named Whipper and an uncredited Lloyd Bridges. The bumbling police detectives were of course a staple for the genre, and you'll find them constantly foiled at the hands of era detectives like Charlie Chan, Mr. Wong, the Lone Wolf and plenty of others. There might be better ways to spend an hour, but in a pinch, this one will do as well as most.

This has got to be one of the weaker entries in the "Boston Blackie" series with CHESTER MORRIS and GEORGE E. STONE on the lam from Inspector Farraday and his Keystone Cops who are hot on their trail because they think Blackie can lead them to a missing diamond.The gag with "The Runt" playing a boy genius is rather unfunny and totally implausible, but the film aims for light-hearted touches throughout, only occasionally succeeding. LLOYD CORRIGAN is Blackie's friend being held hostage by a band of crooks, including FORREST TUCKER in a minor role.RICHARD LANE is again Inspector Farraday, but it's the same old business of him getting thrown for a loop by Blackie's wild schemes to throw him off guard. Nothing new here and none of it is more than routine formula stuff. Furthermore, the title is misleading if you expect the story to take place anywhere near Sunset Blvd.Still, Chester Morris fans should get a kick out of his "Blackie" role.

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.