Blackie performs in a magic show at a women's prison, which gives an inmate an opportunity to escape.Blackie performs in a magic show at a women's prison, which gives an inmate an opportunity to escape.Blackie performs in a magic show at a women's prison, which gives an inmate an opportunity to escape.
Jessie Arnold
- Prisoner
- (uncredited)
Eugene Borden
- Mephistopheles the Great
- (uncredited)
Kernan Cripps
- Detective Callahan
- (uncredited)
Eddie Dunn
- Patrolman Peterson
- (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn
- Bank Guard
- (uncredited)
Eddie Fetherston
- Reporter Jackson
- (uncredited)
Fred Fox
- Stage Doorman
- (uncredited)
Fred Graff
- Clerk
- (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton
- Prison Guard Operating Siren
- (uncredited)
Lew Harvey
- Stagehand
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn his book "The Detective in Hollywood" Jon Tuska cites director Edward Dmytryk as reminiscing that actor Chester Morris loved doing magician's card tricks on set during the Boston Blackie pictures.
- GoofsAfter Boston Blackie and his magic box are taken to Inspector Farraday's office, Blackie insults the inspector by describing his hat as cheap. The inspector throws his white hat towards a coat tree that has several coats and a black hat already hanging on it. Blackie then hides from Sergeant Matthews in the box, and slips away from police headquarters. While Matthews dismantles the box with a fire ax, Farraday re-enters the room but the coat tree now has no hats and only one coat hanging on it.
- Quotes
Insp. John Farraday: What have you got in that quonset hut?
- ConnectionsFollowed by Trapped by Boston Blackie (1948)
Featured review
Entertaining Blackie magic, including ventriloquism
Chester Morris is almost the whole show here—he's on screen as Boston Blackie throughout nearly the entire picture. Morris is given his best opportunity yet to show off his skills as a magician, both as Blackie performing tricks himself, and disguised as the bearded and turbaned Jani, a professional magician who is mixed up with a pair of women and a missing stack of $1000 bills.
Of course, Inspector Farraday and Detective Matthews (the reliable Richard Lane and Frank Sully) are on Blackie's trail; faithful sidekick the Runt (George E. Stone) has grown a mustache for this picture and does his best to follow Blackie's orders and generally assist in misleading the detectives as required. Trudy Marshall and Constance Dowling are the two women who, it's quickly obvious, do not care to make friends.
The first 15 minutes of the picture are almost entirely goofing around—Blackie is captured by Farraday, who leaves Matthews to guard him alone (how is that likely to work out?), and Blackie toys with Matthews and the disappearing-person box from his magic act for a good long stretch before finally escaping as he should have done right away. It's amusing but wears a bit thin.
Once out on his own, however, Blackie quickly gets to work tracking down the prison inmate who escaped during his magic show to make trouble; the plot does pick up steam and develops into a quite satisfying mystery that's suspenseful and surprising, with Blackie staying (generally speaking) one step ahead of Farraday.
Funniest scene: Matthews explaining to Farraday how he would go about tracking down a wanted person. (Look in the phone book!)
Solid entertainment, especially for Boston Blackie fans.
Of course, Inspector Farraday and Detective Matthews (the reliable Richard Lane and Frank Sully) are on Blackie's trail; faithful sidekick the Runt (George E. Stone) has grown a mustache for this picture and does his best to follow Blackie's orders and generally assist in misleading the detectives as required. Trudy Marshall and Constance Dowling are the two women who, it's quickly obvious, do not care to make friends.
The first 15 minutes of the picture are almost entirely goofing around—Blackie is captured by Farraday, who leaves Matthews to guard him alone (how is that likely to work out?), and Blackie toys with Matthews and the disappearing-person box from his magic act for a good long stretch before finally escaping as he should have done right away. It's amusing but wears a bit thin.
Once out on his own, however, Blackie quickly gets to work tracking down the prison inmate who escaped during his magic show to make trouble; the plot does pick up steam and develops into a quite satisfying mystery that's suspenseful and surprising, with Blackie staying (generally speaking) one step ahead of Farraday.
Funniest scene: Matthews explaining to Farraday how he would go about tracking down a wanted person. (Look in the phone book!)
Solid entertainment, especially for Boston Blackie fans.
helpful•30
- csteidler
- Oct 5, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Quicker Than the Eye
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 9 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was Boston Blackie and the Law (1946) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer