If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The first must-see film of the year.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Back in Boston Blackie's days as a society burglar this is just the kind of caper that would have been something he pulled. For once Inspector Farraday's suspicions are not completely out of the realm of possibilities.After the head of a detective agency gets bumped off in a suspicious car accident Chester Morris and George E. Stone get hired by the widow to guard some valuable pearls at a society party. The two are disguised as Hindu fakirs, but the pearls are clipped in any event and when Richard Lane sees Morris and Stone, that's all he has to know.Once again Boston Blackie has to solve the case in order to clear himself. This is a good film, but the premise was really getting old by now.

Blackie and his sidekick, The Runt, are up to their usual tricks again, this time assuming various disguises in TRAPPED BY BOSTON BLACKIE, one of the better entries in the series. GEORGE E. STONE as The Runt has less whining and less forced comic moments than usual and even CHESTER MORRIS is less of a wise guy although he still has some overly cute moments with wisecracks.The story concerns stolen pearls and opens at a costume party where Blackie and The Runt are assigned by a wealthy woman to keep watch over her pearls. From there on, it becomes a straightforward Blackie adventure peppered with a musical segment and the usual run-ins with the police and Inspector Farraday (RICHARD LANE) and his bumbling assistant. Farraday, too, has been toned down for this entry and is less sarcastic than usual. JUNE VINCENT provides some eye candy as a blonde beauty.There are no real surprises but the ending wraps things up neatly with the usual explanations offered by Farraday.Summing up: Better than usual Blackie.

The plot for this film was extremely similar to another Columbia Pictures detective series film, THE LONE WOLF STRIKES. Considering how many Lone Wolf and Boston Blackie films the studio made, it's not particularly surprising that some of the story ideas got recycled and reworked. Both films involved an ex-jewel thief (the leads of both series) going to a society party where an expensive pearl necklace was stolen. And, since I'd seen both films only a few weeks apart, it sure felt like a case of Déjà Vu! Despite these similarities, this film is pretty good on its own and I especially liked it when Blackie and Runt dressed as husband and wife. Runt really looked convincing as a middle-aged woman. Considering that unlike the Lone Wolf, the Saint and the Falcon, Blackie never chased women in the films, this might explain a lot! Despite some very funny moments, the rest of the film is very formulaic--once again the idiot inspector and his super-moronic sidekick suspect Blackie--even though in all the other films dozen or so films they also suspected him but in the end he turned out to be working for law and order. Because of this, I really can't score the film any higher than a 7.

Easily the darkest or most serious Blackie film, the penultimate in the series and Stone's last as the Runt. It has comedy as usual mixed in with the detective work, but this was post War and people seemingly didn't want to laugh so much at the movies, if at all. This descent is still ongoing, todays films aren't considered good unless brim full of violence, filth and cynicism - what will tomorrows bring?A string of pearls is stolen at a society fancy dress party and naturally suspicion falls on Blackie and the Runt both disguised as Indian fakirs. In turn the murky pasts of some of the guests and main characters are uncovered by Blackie as he strives yet again to clear his name. Farraday and Matthews come across lower key than before, but the Inspector's witticisms still past muster. Doesn't the ballet scene remind you of "Hellzapoppin"?! Eventually the jigsaw puzzle starts to take shape and pieces fall into place, but not before Blackie and Runt trot out the old man and woman disguise one more time - like old friends in themselves by now!A superior entry with a more satisfying climax than I expected, as a fan. On the other hand if you hate the genre but watch this anyway what do you expect?