Too much of everything

Absolutely brilliant

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There are a ton of books pulled off the shelves of used book stores and thrift shops to be used as props in this intellectual entry of the "Boston Blackie" series. It's all about the theft of a first edition of Charles Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers" and a murder that follows. Blackie's in disguise for a great auction sequence, one of the best, along with 1941's "All Through the Night" and Hitchcock's "North by Northwest". Blackie is in cahoots with Richard Lane's inspector, losing the buffoonish quality of earlier episodes when they were more foes. George E. Stone and Lloyd Corrigan are once again featured, with Lynn Merrick an excellent femme fatale. Some clever use of shadows and very tight editing make this one of the better later entries in the series. This entry doesn't throw its intelligence in the viewer's face, but grabs them, pulls them in like a great novel, and keeps them involved. Is it any wonder that later screenwriters, directors and technicians point to the B films of the 1940's as to why they got into the film industry?

Suspicion is something that Chester Morris as Boston Blackie lives with as a given. Inspector Richard Lane books him on suspicion of murder when he accidentally sells a forged first edition of the Pickwick Papers. Charles Dickens who zealously fought for his copyrighted material his whole life would not have been pleased.But Dickens might have been pleased at the way Boston Blackie works himself out of this frame. He would have been pleased at the way Morris disguised himself as a rare book dealer who actually has been ill and bedridden while all kinds of bad things are going on in his shop.The villains are a husband and wife pair of crooks Lynn Merrick and Steve Cochran. Cochran who played slick villains in his prime gets a good showcase in Boston Blackie Booked On Suspicion. But the film really belongs to Lynn Merrick. She's one cool piece of work if there ever was one and a worthy antagonist for Morris.Merrick is who you will remember if you see Boston Blackie Booked On Suspicion and you should see it.

Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion (1945) *** (out of 4) Eighth film in Columbia's Boston Blackie series is one of the better films. This time out Blackie (Chester Morris) gets involved in a first edition book, which turns out to be a fake and soon a man is dead and Blackie is the main suspect. This 66-minute film flies by and manages to be quite good even though these story lines are starting to repeat themselves with minor issues. Morris is once again very energetic and fun to watch in the role. The supporting cast of George E. Stone, Richard Lane and Frank Sully adds a lot to the movie as does the femme fatale played by Lynn Merrick.

For a relief from the real world which seems full of suicidal terrorist savages, I turned to this one out of the Boston Blackie series. A simple plot: Counterfeit Pickwick Papers bought for $62,000 at auction, Blackie goes into overdrive after the thieves especially because, as usual, Inspector Farraday believes he's at the bottom of it all. With a few neat twists and turns and plenty of wisecracking it reaches a logical and satisfying conclusion - unless in error you thought you were watching Fellini - and in fact fits together like a done jigsaw puzzle. No big surprises then, but I'll have to leave you to guess whether Blackie gets his...person or not - no spoilers!Good bits: Trussed up Blackie + cigar untying himself in hoodlum's den; Steve Cochran alternating as usual between a Tough Cookie and a Poodle; the scenes inside the hotel's dumb waiter. At this point my daughter insists Steve was gorgeously handsome and a Man! Bad bits: Too many forced laughs by the main characters, it was pleasant enough without that.