CONFESSIONS OF BOSTON BLACKIE

Joan Woodbury and Chester Morris

CONFESSIONS OF BOSTON BLACKIE (1941). Director: Edward Dmytryk.

"You have a little Gestapo in you."

Ex-thief Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) is again accused of murder when a shot rings out at an art auction, a man falls dead, and a young lady, Diane (Harriet Hilliard of Gals Incorporated), winds up in the hospital. As Blackie does his best to elude Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane), he discovers another problem in the form of ferocious Mona (the big-faced Joan Woodbury of The Time Travelers), who insists she's married to Boston and wants a big pay-off. Then there's a missing corpse, and a tense finale when Boston and others are trapped in an underground vault. The Boston Blackie series took a major leap forward with this second entry, with is superior to the first [Meet Boston Blackie] on nearly every level, with an excellent cast giving their all, and quite a few funny lines. In a brief bit Ralph Dunn makes an impression as Police Officer McCarthy, and there's another bit by a feisty old nurse who is, alas, uncredited; Lloyd Corrigan is also notable as the art lover Manleder. Morris hits just the right note as Boston -- as does George E. Stone as "the runt" -- and Woodbury looks as tall and tough as an Amazon.

Verdict: This one is fun. ***.

GALS, INCORPORATED

Leon Errol in a pensive mood

GALS, INCORPORATED (aka Gals, Inc./1943). Director: Leslie Goodwins.

The club "Gals, Incorporated" and the ladies who toil there are basically supported by zipper heir Cornelius Rensington III (Leon Errol) -- "he loves the girls and the girls love his money" -- but the arrangement is jeopardized when his sister Jennifer (Minna Phillips) arrives in town threatening to cut him off unless he gets married. Without money, Cornelius will have to go to work! He pretends to be married to singer Molly (Grace McDonald), but another complication arrives in the form of Bill (David Bacon), Corny''s son and a marine who falls for Molly even as man-hunting Gwen (Harriet Hilliard) tries to get Bill to the altar. This should be a cute picture, but the material is sub-standard, there aren't nearly enough good lines or physical gags, and with the exception of Errol the cast is pretty third-rate. Hilliard [Harriet of Ozzie and Harriet fame] isn't well-cast as a femme fatale; McDonald and Bacon are merely bland; and loose-limbed Betty Kean seems to be trying to be a poor woman's Joan Davis and failing miserably. This is one of the few films in which you can see Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers, although their numbers are mediocre. The best number, performed by another female vocalist, is "Brazil." Bacon made only a few films, including the cliffhanger serial The Masked Marvel. Errol had better roles in Mexican Spitfire at Sea (also directed by Goodwins) and The Invisible Man's Revenge, among many others.

Verdict: Not quite an hour but it seems much longer. **.