THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME

Chester Morris and George E. Stone as Boston and "Runt"

THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME (1943). Director: William Castle.

"You've seen too many bad movies, Boston." -- Nails Blanton.

Ex-con and adventurer Boston Blackie (Chester Morris of Red-Headed Woman) importunes the prison board to release several men -- none of whom are what he terms "habitual criminals" -- so they can aid the war effort. Twelve of these test cases get jobs in a factory owned by Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan) and move in to Boston's apparently spacious apartment. Unfortunately, one of these men, Dooley Watson (Erik Rolf), is allowed to see his wife and child and uses the opportunity to try to get some money he stole years before. Also covetous of the money is Nails Blanton (Douglas Fowley of Behind Locked Doors), leading to a gun battle and Boston being accused of murder. Naturally Boston escapes from Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) -- there's a good scene when he and his sidekick, the Runt (George E. Stone). descend in a dumb waiter as part of their getaway -- and later the two dress in drag to take the place of two inebriated scrub women (one of whom is Maude Eburne) to get at a safe in police HQ. An unusual feature of the flick is that aside from Dooley Watson's wife (Jeanne Bates of The Phantom) and Nail's briefly-seen, unnamed moll, there are no women in the film for Boston to dally with. Corpulent Cy Kendall, also briefly-seen, shows up as a character appropriately named Jumbo. The Chance of a Lifetime has an interesting premise but the film itself is tedious. As everything is spelled out for you in TV episode fashion, this has no surprises and hence little suspense.

Verdict: Sometimes the Boston Blackie movies work; sometime not. **.

ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT

Richard Lane as Inspector Farraday

ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT (1944). Director: Budd Boetticher.

When the famous Blue Star of the Nile diamond is stolen, Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) becomes a suspect. In an unexpected development considering their past relationship, Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) deputizes Boston because he thinks he can solve the crime. He even says " From now on, no matter what happens, I'll never misjudge you again." Unfortunately, this is the only unusual or interesting thing that happens in the movie, which is saved primarily by the acting. Morris [Pursuit]  makes an excellent Blackie, and does a few impersonations, and the supporting cast includes Janis Carter [Slightly French] as reporter Dorothy Anderson; Mark Roberts (aka Robert E. Scott) as store employee George Daley; an utterly unrecognizable Dorothy Malone (in her brunette phase) as George's sister, Eileen; and William Wright, who would later play the Lone Wolf in one picture, as bad guy Paul Martens. The best performances seem to come from bit players: (Ms.) Early Cantrell as a switchboard operator; Anne Loos as a newsstand clerk; and Minerva Urecal [Gobs and Gals] as a clerk at a women's hotel. There's a quick laugh involving a Murphy bed in which Boston and the Runt (George E. Stone) are secreted. Like many of these programmers, this one has no real suspense or surprises.

Verdict: Not nearly "mysterious" enough. **.

AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH BOSTON BLACKIE

Al Hill (?) and Chester Morris

AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH BOSTON BLACKIE (1943). Director: Lew Landers.

"Diamond" Ed Barnaby (Walter Baldwin) gets out a jail and reunites with his grown daughter, Betty (Ann Savage of What a Woman), and tells her he has some diamonds set aside for her future. He tries to leave town for his own protection but is murdered before he can do so. Betty comes to Ed's old friend Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) for help, which he is eager to provide. Boston tries to find the diamonds, discover who murdered Ed, protect his daughter, and stay out of the way of Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) and his associate Mathews (Walter Sande), who still think Boston is some kind of hoodlum despite many evidences to the contrary. Cy Kendall is competent but typically uninteresting as an obese crime lord. Dick Elliott [Up in the Air] and Lloyd Corrigan are also in the cast. A sub-plot has Boston's pal, the Runt (George E. Stone) engaged to a bubble dancer, Dixie Rose Blossom (Jan Buckingham), whose wedding keeps being interrupted.

Verdict: A standard, mildly entertaining BB adventure. **1/2 out of 4.

ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE

Chester Morris and Richard Lane

ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE (1942). Director: Lew Landers.

Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) is at a prison putting on a Christmas show for inmates when he encounters Eve (Adele Mara of Back from Eternity), the desperate sister of convict Joe Trilby (Larry Parks.)  Joe insists that he was framed by two men, and contrives a way to escape from prison so he can get his revenge upon them. Boston, in the meantime, tries to catch up with Joe to prevent him from committing murder, even as Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) tries to catch up with both of them. Boston holds a gun on a cop, locks him in a closet, impersonates a police officer, and so on, but somehow when everything is neatly resolved Farraday never presses charges on Boston, a man he's never trusted and always wants to arrest. Morris is fine, but the best performances come from Larry Parks [The Boogie Man Will Get You] and Paul Fix [The Bad Seed] as the cabbie, Cavarone. Cy Kendall gives one of his better performances in this.

Verdict: Ok BB entry. **1/2.

CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU

 [Victor] Sen Yung and Sidney Toler

CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU (1938). Director: H. Bruce Humberstone.

"What a wonderful gift for science your brain would make, Mr. Chan." -- Dr. Cardigan

"I prefer to keep it for myself." -- Charlie Chan

Back home in Honolulu with his very large family, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is awaiting the birth of his first grandchild. His oldest son, Lee, has gone to New York to study art [!] and his love of mystery-solving has been passed on to brother Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung), not to mention little Tommy (Layne Tom Jr). When a murder occurs on a freighter with passengers, these two set off to solve it while Papa is at the hospital; eventually Charlie takes over. Suspects and other characters include secretary Judy Hayes (Phyllis Brooks of The Shanghai Gesture), a witness to the crime; seaman Randolph (John King), who has special feelings for Judy; Carol Wayne (Claire Dodd of Babbitt), who is busy keeping secrets; animal trainer, Hogan (Eddie Collins) who is transporting beasts to the San Francisco Zoo and has a pet lion named Oscar; Dr. Cardigan (George Zucco), who in a weird development keeps a "living brain" in his cabin; Joe Arnold (Richard Lane), a cop who is escorting the prisoner Johnny McCoy (Marc Lawrence); Inspector Rawlins (Paul Harvey), who is Chan's somewhat befuddled boss; and Captain Johnson (Robert Barrat), who only wants everyone to get off of his ship so he can finally set sail with his cargo. Sidney Toler took over the role of Charlie Chan after Warner Oland's death, and he is excellent, if more grandfatherly, which is appropriate as Chan becomes a grandfather in this film [Phlip Ahn plays his son-in-law Wing Foo]. Sen Yung is a memorable addition to the Charlie Chan cast, and has a lot to do in the movie. Charlie Chan films had always had comedy relief, but in this film there is so much humor that it has to be considered a comedy-mystery, and it is very, very funny at times. A notable sequence has Chan testing Cardigan's deafness by throwing a coin on the ground behind him, which Cardigan turns to pick up. "When money talks," says Chan, "few are deaf." Zucco is especially good in this, but the whole cast is on top of things. Cardigan brings up the notion that the retina of the eye retains the image of the last thing the dead person saw a la Four Flies on Grey Velvet, but Chan debunks this theory immediately. ["All I see are reflections of self."] The movie boasts consistently amusing dialogue and has a generous amount of suspense as well.

Verdict: A very auspicious debut for Toler and Sen Yung. ***.

MEET BOSTON BLACKIE

MEET BOSTON BLACKIE (1941). Director: Robert Florey.

When Boston Blackie (Chester Morris of The She-Creature) comes to the rescue of a lady, Marilyn Howard (Constance Worth), being bothered by a man on a cruise ship, the man is later found dead in Blackie's cabin. A worse fate befalls the lady herself in the Tunnel of Love, where spies and low lives are operating on the midway and especially around the freak show where a "mechanical" man (James Seay) provides a clue. Fleeing from Inspector Faraday (Richard Lane), Blackie commandeers the car of Cecelia Bradley (Rochelle Hudson of Strait-Jacket), and the two -- along with Blackie's associate, Runt (Charles Wagenheim) -- attempt to get to the bottom of things. Morris makes a swell Blackie, Hudson is perky if undistinguished, and the movie is an inauspicious debut to what would turn out to be a long-running series. Florey directed much better pictures, such as The Beast with Five Fingers.

Verdict: A lot of mostly uninteresting running around. *1/2.