Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture (1949)

Director:

Seymour Friedman

Writers:

Jack Boyle (characters)
Maurice Tombragel (story)

Release Date:

2 March 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

BLACKIE CATHES A RED-HEAD RED-HANDED! (original poster)

Plot:

Blackie is seen leaving a Chinese laundry where the proprietor has been murdered, and must track down the real killer in Chinatown. |

Plot Keywords:

Laundry | Chinese Laundry | Chinese | Chinatown | Killer

Cast

Chester Morris	...	Horatio 'Boston Blackie' Black
Maylia	...	Mei Ling
Richard Lane	...	Inspector William R. Farraday
Don McGuire	...	Les, the Bus Guide
Joan Woodbury	...	Red, the Bar-Girl
Sid Tomack	...	The Runt
Frank Sully	...	Detective Sergeant Matthews
Charles Arnt	...	Pop Gerard
Luis Van Rooten	...	Bill Craddock (as Louis Van Rooten)
Philip Ahn	...	Wong Chung Shee

Also Known As:

Chinese Venture (UK)

Runtime:

59 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #13340)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

References The Mating of Millie (1948)

Unfortunately time to wrap it up, boys

With this one Columbia closed down the Blackie series, the 14th in 8 years and a fairly satisfying conclusion. Times and tastes were changing and actors and technicians were spending more time working for TV, this type of b film series became popular TV series during the '50's. Chester Morris moved onto doing more TV and stage stuff - and Richard Lane already was a successful TV wrestling commentator! I can almost hear him now - his high speed buzz-saw of a voice must have been perfect for the job!

Blackie and Runt (Sid Tomack for the once) get accused of murdering Chinese laundry shop boss, tracking down the real killers with Inspector Farraday and Sgt. Matthews on their heels leads them into a web of ingenious diamond smugglers. This involves a diamond-cutting Nazi refugee held against his will but who seems to put up a good fight when confronted with Blackie, a night club owner who might be good or bad, a redhead who seems to walk all over Chinatown with hot diamonds in tow, and plenty of tea. As usual the 57 minutes are taken at warp speed, meaning that even though I've already seen it a couple of times I'll still have to see it again to finally settle who murdered who. Favourite bits: The "sleazy" tour of Chinatown that is by turns cringe-worthy and hilarious and Farraday's continuous witty estimations of Matthews' intelligence.

All in all I think the BB's are an enjoyable and unjustly overlooked series with some films of course better than others, but with the last being as good as the first makes me wish they'd gone on churning them out just a few more years!