mark.waltz It's only an hour, so it's a painless distraction, and at least, there are some nice outdoor shots for once rather than the claustrophobic photography of many of the other entries. After nine years and twelve films, it goes out with a bit of a whimper, but will be back for TV, the continuing place for many a famous movie detective. This entry is just another variation of older plots, with Chester Morris once again in the wrong place at the wrong time and once again the main suspect in murder. Obviously on those nine years and twelve films, inspector Richard Lane hasn't learned a darn thing. Maylia is a pretty, but bland, heroine. Two years would go by before Boston Blackie made his small screen debut, with Kent Taylor taking over. Seeing Morris and George E. Stone in Asian disguise isn't as offensive looking as an earlier really bad minstrel show look, but it's a close second.

blanche-2 "Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture" is the last in the Boston Blackie series, filmed in 1949. Thanks to Blackie, Chester Morris had to return to the theater, as he was quoted as saying, "After ... these films, a producer wouldn't put me in an 'A' movie even if I paid for the privilege." Without the good-looking, amusing Morris as Blackie, the series would not have worked as well as it did. The stories were usually very formulaic, and you really had to love the Runt in order for him not to become annoying. (The Runt here is Sid Tomack and not George E. Stone.) This story is actually kind of interesting - Blackie gets involved with a diamond smuggling ring in Chinatown after the owner of a laundry is found dead right after Blackie dropped off his laundry! Of course, as usual, he has to clear his name or be arrested by Inspector Farraday.The fun part about this film is the underground Chinese tours for tourists showing gambling, dancing slave girls, etc. - all fake, with the performers dropping their acts as soon as the tour guide moves on.Sorry to see Blackie go, but it became a TV show in the '50s starring Kent Taylor, a very different type from the amiable Morris.

Michael_Elliott Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture (1949) * 1/2 (out of 4) The final film in Columbia's Boston Blackie series once again features Chester Morris in the role of the former thief always having to work himself out of trouble. This time out he gets caught up in the murder of a Chinese man so he has to investigate, which leads to Chinatown and an illegal gambling plot. This was the final in the series and it's also the weakest as the film really doesn't contain any excitement or laughs, which were two things even the weaker films had. Even Morris comes off very tired looking in this film and Richard Lane too seems bored. Sid Tomack takes over the role of The Runt and is horrid in doing so. He's very obnoxious and doesn't contain any of the charm or wit of George E. Stone.

MartinHafer As usual, Blackie and Runt (oddly, NOT played by George E. Stone in this film) are at the wrong place at the wrong time and are accused of murder. However, as the film progressed, it was obvious that some deeper conspiracy was afoot. Stupidly, this conspiracy became unbelievably complicated--far more than common sense would dictate and you're left wondering why the thieves went to so much trouble. After all, after stealing diamonds and re-cutting them, why have all the complicated business involving the tour guide, the theater and the lady?! Also, the stunt doubles towards the end for the fight scene were just awful--making it pretty obvious that they were NOT the star fighting with a criminal.While this movie is far from great, considering that it is much more original than many of the previous films in the series, it's a pretty good movie. Up until then, Chester Morris had played the title character in more than a dozen films in less than a decade and the scripts had become very repetitive and formulaic. Unfortunately, it still has Inspector Farraday AGAIN blaming Blackie for a crime--even though Blackie ALWAYS finds the real criminals by the end of EVERY film. But, apart from that, the film's change in locale (to Chinatown) is a welcome relief--thank goodness for SOME originality! What you think about this and other Blackie films probably does depend on how many you've seen. If you've only seen a few, this one is probably one of the lesser efforts but after seeing more than a couple, this is quite different.By the way, in a very small scene you have a police lab scientist talking to Farraday about an analysis he did on a package of tea leaves. This lab man was very funny--too bad he was only briefly in the film, as he was sarcastic and offered a nice respite from the usual material.