|
|
| A
CLOSE CALL FOR BOSTON BLACKIE
(director: Lew Landers; screenwriters: Malcolm Stuart Boylan/characters
by Jack Boyle/Ben Markson/story by Paul Yawitz;
cinematographer: Burnett
Guffey; editor: Jerome Thoms; cast: Chester
Morris (Boston Blackie/Cyrus Peyton), Lynn Merrick (Gerry Peyton),
Richard Lane (Inspector
Farraday), Frank Sully (Sgt. Matthews), George
E. Stone (The Runt), Claire Carlton (Mamie), Erik Rolfe
(Smiley), Charles Lane (Hagen), Robert Scott (John
Peyton), Emmett Vogen (Coroner), Doris Houck (Josie), Russell
Hicks (Harcourt), Kathryn
Card (Landlady); Runtime: 60; MPAA Rating: NR;
producer: John Stone; Columbia Pictures; 1946) "Another entertaining episode of the popular Boston Blackie crime series." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz Lew Landers ("The Raven"/"The Return of the Vampire"/"Crime, Inc.") directs another entertaining episode of the popular Boston Blackie crime series. Boston Blackie's (Chester Morris) former showbiz girlfriend, Gerry Peyton (Lynn Merrick), drops off a toddler in Boston Blackie's apartment and the reformed thief turned sleuth must clear his name when Gerry's paroled disinherited husband John Peyton (Robert Scott) is fatally shot there. Inspector Farraday (Richard
Lane) suspects
Blackie, as femme fatale Gerry partners with hardened
killer Smiley (Erik Rolfe) to frame Blackie and work a scam that has her
lying about motherhood, using the baby of Hagen
(Charles Lane), to extort money from Cyrus Peyton
(also Chester Morris), her wealthy father-in-law. Blackie is helped by loyal
friend The Runt (George E. Stone) and his feisty
waitress girlfriend Mamie (Claire Carlton), Inspector Farraday is
helped by his moronic partner Sgt. Matthews (Frank
Sully). The film is more
concerned with comedy than plot line and serves as a
moral lesson for Blackie to not get involved with
shady women. REVIEWED ON 5/21/2012 GRADE: B- Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |