This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Just when I thought that the "Boston Blackie" series couldn't get any better comes along this episode with a genuinely spooky performance by future film noir anti hero Steve Cochran. Known as "the man who sailed to Tahiti with an all girl crew" (and didn't return), Cochran had a brief leading man career and quite the off screen life, apparently. He's obvious damaged goods from the moment he's seen on screen, overhearing estranged uncle Harry Hayden describe him to Chester Morris's Boston Blackie. Sweet Nina Foch (in a wig straight out of a Val Lewton film) and brassy Iris Adrian add the feminine touch, although Adrian seems to be trying to swallow her own head as she talks. Sociopath Cochran sets off on a reign of terror with Boston Blackie accused of his crimes. There's no mystery, obviously, but in being presented as a thriller with horror elements (comedy inserted thanks to sidekick George E. Stone and cynical detective Richard Lane), and ending up with a film that is beautifully played out. Forgive the one sequence of Morris and Stone in horrible blackface, acting absolutely absurd. No indication of why Cochran is the way he is other than contemptuous relationships with his family is given, but in life, sometimes the eggs are just bad and no amount of psychology can explain it.

This one is almost the stuff of noir with some black comedy mixed in.The film opens with Blackie's wealthy friend, Arthur Manleder, paying him a visit one night. Arthur is seeking Blackie's help in discreetly returning his insane nephew to the asylum from which he escaped. Blackie agrees to help. What Blackie doesn't know is that the insane nephew, Jimmy Cook (Steve Cochran) has crawled into his apartment through an open window and heard everything. Jimmy knocks Blackie unconscious after Arthur leaves, changes into Blackie's clothes and leaves.Here's where the black comedy and noirish elements begin. Jimmy is running around town masquerading as Blackie and strangling girls although his actual objective is to meet just one girl in particular - Nina Foch as Sally Brown, with whom he's been corresponding via letters. In one case Jimmy leaves Blackie's monogrammed hat at a murder scene, in another he dumps a body in Blackie's apartment. Of course Inspector Farraday believes Blackie did it, and so, as usual, Blackie must work around the police to catch Jimmy before he can murder any more women.This is an unusual entry because in almost every other Boston Blackie film a robbery of some kind was at the root of the crime wave. This one is different because the murders of a madman are involved with no theft behind any of the killings. You can see why Farraday would doubt Blackie where theft was concerned - it was once his trade - but it would quite be a stretch to believe Blackie would become the murderer of random women and that The Runt, Blackie's rather timid pal, would just go along for the ride! As for Steve Cochran, he is pitch perfect as the killer with those dark eyes and expression that goes from hopeless romantic to crazed maniac in the blink of an eye.Highly recommended as an entertaining and unusually complex entry in the Boston Blackie series. Just expect things to be a little more on the heavy and tense side than usual for the series. What does the lighten the mood in this one, probably unintentionally? An autographed picture of Boston Blackie prominently displayed in his own apartment turned what should have been a tense moment in the film into a laugh out loud one, at least for me. Enjoy.

Boston Blackie's friend Arthur needs help: his insane nephew Jimmy has escaped from the asylum and who knows what he may do! Agreeing to help track down Jimmy, Blackie is soon mixed up in—yes, a murder, and yes, Blackie's old friendly nemesis Inspector Farraday is right there to pin the crime on Blackie.Steve Cochran is appropriately creepy as the lunatic, and through many uncomfortable moments he peeks around corners and lurks in hallways while other characters obliviously look in the wrong places and for the wrong person. Even Blackie misses him narrowly a couple of times while we in the audience want to shout out at him—"Hey! Blackie! No, not there, he's going out the back!" It's a tense mystery; for one thing, the gratuitous and random nature of the two murders make for a less "comfortable" viewing experience than a more typical who-done-it where you may not know the killer's identity but you do know that he or she has a "logical" reason for killing and therefore a more exclusive hit list. Of course, there's comic relief here and there, but the humor this time around frequently falls flat—the Runt's scaredy-cat antics, for example, come across as mostly idiotic rather than hilarious or even pleasantly silly.Nina Foch is good in a role where she spends most of her time on screen trying to size up whether she's talking to a friend or a stalker. Chester Morris and Richard Lane are steady as always as Blackie and Farraday.Still plenty of charm and confidence provided by Morris, and so Blackie fans like me won't want to miss this one; but I have to say it's not the series' finest hour.

Chester Morris, (Boston Blackie) has the task of trying to hunt down an insane person who escapes from a mental institution and starts looking for a girl named Sally Brown,(Nina Foch) who works in a dance hall. This escaped killer has a big crush on Sally Brown and even keeps a diary on his daily thoughts about this girl. Steve Cochran,(James Cook) plays the role of the mental patient who as soon as he gets headaches, snaps into a killing urge and manages to kill another girl. Inspector Farraday,(Richard Lane) for some reason thinks that Boston Blackie has lost his mind and is doing all this killing and he stops looking for the real killer. George E. Stone,(The Runt) appears once again as Boston Blackie's sidekick and gives a great supporting role. This film is very entertaining and enjoyable to watch.