Chester Morris
Horatio 'Boston Blackie' Black
Similar Movies
Crime
Mystery
Blackie is implicated in a murder when he accidently sells a phony Charles Dickens first edition at an auction.
Top Billed Cast
| Release Date | 1945-05-10 |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 1h 6m |
| Directors | Arthur Dreifuss, George Meehan |
| Producer | Michael Kraike |
| Writers | Jack Boyle, Paul Yawitz, Ben Markson |
Is there no end to the suspicions of "Insp. Farraday" (Richard Lane)? If he could, he'd probably have "Blackie" (Chester Morris) down for the Lincoln assassination! Anyway this time around, it's a valuable Charles Dickens first edition that sells at auction for a whopping great $62,000. It turns out, though, that this is a fake folio - and naturally, our deductive genius concludes that it must be our erstwhile thief. As usual, "Blackie" and his long-suffering factotum "Runt" (George E. Stone), alongside his wealthy but rather bumbling friend "Manleder" (Lloyd Corrigan) have to get to the bottom of a scenario where a criminal network doesn't just stop at forgery, and the outwardly butter-wouldn't-melt " bookseller "Constance" (Lynn Merrick) is maybe not just as sweet as she seems. It's quickly paced, if predictable, and en route we have some fun in a dumb-waiter, some slapstick fisticuffs and a few red herrings before a denouement that is hardly a shock to anyone. One of the better films from this series, I think.
— CinemaSerf