Monday, April 3, 2023

OVERLOOKED FILM: BOSTON BLACKIE BOOKED ON SUSPICION (1945)

 Boston Blackie was created by writer Jack Boyle in 1914 while he was serving a term in San Quentin for armed robbery.  The character, who first appeared in stories in The American Magazine under the pen name "No. 6066," began his career as a jewel thief and safecracker.  Later stories appeared in The Red Book Magazine.  In 1918, they began to be adapted for motion pictures.   Eleven films were made from 1918 through 1927,  with eight different actors taking the Boston Blackie role; two of these films starred Lionel Barrymore.  In 1941 the franchise was revived by Columbia Pictures, with Chester Morris in the lead role.  In the Columbia series, Blackie was a reformed jewel theif who invariably would have to place detective to save either himself or another from a bum rap.  Morris starred in a total of fourteen Boston Blackie through 1949.  Morris also starred as Blackie in a summer replacement series for Amos 'n' Andy on NBC radio from June 23 to September 15, 1944; the program revived and syndicated through the Mutual Radio network on April 11, 1945, running to October 25, 1950 -- this time with Richard Kollmar as Blackie.  The Adventures of Boston Blackie made it to television from 1951 to 1953 in a half-hour syndicated series starring Kent Taylor.

Did Boston Blackie have a real name?  In one of the films, After Midnight with Boston Blackie (1943), the character is given the name Horatio Black.  To my kn owledge, that is the only time a full name was given.

In Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion, Blackie is implicated in a murder when he accidently sells a first edition Charles Dickens book at an auction.  Also featured in the movie are Lynn Merrick and Richard Lane, with support from Frank Sully, Steve Cochran, George E. Stone, and Lloyd Corrigan.  The film was directed by Arthur Dreifuss from Paul Yawiitz's adaptation of a story by Mslcolm Stuart Boylan.

Enjoy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VloL4mkfuM


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