Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion (1945)

Blackie is implicated in a murder when he accidently sells a phony Charles Dickens first edition at an auction.

Director:

Arthur Dreifuss

Writers:

Malcolm Stuart Boylan (story), Jack Boyle (character),

Stars:

Chester Morris, Lynn Merrick, Richard Lane

Cast

Credited cast:
Chester Morris	...	Horatio 'Boston Blackie' Black
Lynn Merrick	...	Constance Gloria Mannard
Richard Lane	...	Insp. John Farraday
Frank Sully	...	Sergeant Matthews
Steve Cochran	...	Jack Higgins
George E. Stone	...	The Runt
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Arthur Manleder
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dudley Dickerson	...	Train Porter (scenes deleted)

Storyline

Blackie is implicated in a murder when he accidently sells a phony Charles Dickens first edition at an auction.

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Plot Keywords:

auction | murder | sergeant | forgery | rare book store | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

Booked on Suspicion

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

66 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by Boston Blackie's Rendezvous (1945)

User Reviews

Blackie's disguises fool his closest friends, but not the viewer

It's murder, this time, of which Boston Blackie is suspected—though, not surprisingly, Inspector Farraday never does get Blackie to the station to actually book him. Caught practically red-handed on a murder scene, Blackie has to resort to the old hiding-under-the-camera-hood gag, pretending he's the police photographer and backing slowly out of the room while the cops stand by watching. (Note to self to do some research: Did they still use those tripod cameras with the hood over the photographer's head in 1945?)

The story involves a counterfeit first edition of Dickens' Pickwick Papers, with Blackie in disguise early on as an elderly whiskered book dealer. Chester Morris is his usual breezy Blackie self, with Richard Lane as Farraday as determined as ever to pin something on Blackie. Lynn Merrick and Steve Cochran seem more unstable and thus more frightening than many of Blackie's villains; they both give performances that are somewhat more serious than the good-natured bantering of Morris and Lane and the other regulars.

Favorite scene: Farraday brushing off a gang of reporters by shouting, "I'm not Superman, I'm just a human being!" –and the reporters rushing out sarcastically shouting it as a scoop: "Oh-ho, he's not Superman!"