This was my introductory film to the Boston Blackie franchise, and it stacks up favorably against other mystery series of the era. Blackie's (Chester Morris) former occupation as a safe cracker puts him in company with The Lone Wolf, and other similarities abound, such as inept detectives and a comedic sidekick. It's probably a good thing that Blackie isn't busy dodging the matrimonial advances of a zealous fiancée like Bulldog Drummond had to, though in this caper the female lead (Adele Mara) is in the thick of things as the sister of an escaped prisoner (Larry Parks) who leads Blackie and his cohorts on a merry chase.
It's a pretty frenetic affair that keeps you guessing with some effective visual sleight of hand, like the sequences involving the clown costume. I had to wonder though how Joe Trilby (Parks) could do all those acrobatic maneuvers as well as the guy he was impersonating when he made the prison break. Trilby's mission was to get the goods on the two hoods who framed him to put him in prison in the first place.
With it's emphasis on action, the flick gets a lot of mileage out of Blackie's sidekick Runt (George E. Stone), who falls asleep on his feet a lot and has a bit of trouble with the lockjaw gimmick. The one scene that really got my attention didn't even have a lot to do with the story per se, it was just a little weird seeing Lloyd Bridges as the bus driver on the way to the prison show!
It's a pretty frenetic affair that keeps you guessing with some effective visual sleight of hand, like the sequences involving the clown costume. I had to wonder though how Joe Trilby (Parks) could do all those acrobatic maneuvers as well as the guy he was impersonating when he made the prison break. Trilby's mission was to get the goods on the two hoods who framed him to put him in prison in the first place.
With it's emphasis on action, the flick gets a lot of mileage out of Blackie's sidekick Runt (George E. Stone), who falls asleep on his feet a lot and has a bit of trouble with the lockjaw gimmick. The one scene that really got my attention didn't even have a lot to do with the story per se, it was just a little weird seeing Lloyd Bridges as the bus driver on the way to the prison show!