Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture

The bus driver of China town tour charges $2.

00 for the tour, but as he gets on the bus and drives away there is a sign sitting on the sidewalk that states that the charge for the tour is $2.

30 including tax.

Well, finally the writers of the 'Boston Blackie' crime adventures that entertained the audience so fabulously for a whole decade DID seem to run out of new ideas or maybe this kind of crime movie just wasn't 'fashionable' anymore? The VERY long-running 'Charlie Chan' movie series ended the same year...

... and let me say that I really miss George E.

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.

***SPOILERS*** The last of the Boston Blackie series of films has Blackie get involved in a diamond smuggling ring in New York's, not Boston, Chinatown. That's when Blackie and his sidekick The Runt were implicated in the murder of Chinese laundromat owner Charlie Lu who was found murdered with Blackie's laundry slip found nearby by the police.

Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture marks the end of the 14 movie series starring Chester Morris. The film remains true to the BB formula.

The final chapter in the Boston Blackie saga starts off briskly and without surprises: Blackie drops off his laundry just moments before the laundry proprietor is discovered murdered; Inspector Farraday arrives on the scene to investigate and quickly deduces that Blackie is involved; Blackie chuckles along with Farraday but realizes he is going to have to find the real killer to clear himself. –That's all in the first five minutes, of course.

With this one Columbia closed down the Blackie series, the 14th in 8 years and a fairly satisfying conclusion. Times and tastes were changing and actors and technicians were spending more time working for TV, this type of b film series became popular TV series during the '50's.

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.

"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 ...