The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

... so while it would have been neat to see Blackie and crew in Hollywood circa 1942, the title perhaps misled viewers in 2018. At least, the aforementioned definition of the term is what I learned as a kid; I guess the action taking place in LA was close enough to Hollywood. There were nice outdoor shots of the city from top of buildings and maybe experts on the area could point out where the elevator scene took place. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride of Blackie as a psychologist type traveling on a plane with Runt in disguise as his little genius nephew, fun idea! As for the ants, right away the suspense began as they boarded the plane on an ant farm held by little Runt ... LOL

Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942) *** (out of 4) Forth film in Columbia's series finds Blackie (Chester Morris) trying to get $60,000 to California so that a friend can pay off a mob holding him hostage. As usual, Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) thinks Blackie has stolen a priceless diamond and is hot on his trail. Unlike the previous film, this one here thankfully gets the laughs back on target and delivers a pretty good entry that fans of detective films should really enjoy. Once again Morris is very comfortable in his role and by now it seems like he could play it with his eyes closed. The supporting players are all good but again, the main highlight are all the laughs that this entry has. There's a wonderful segment at the end with Blackie and the bad guy fighting in an elevator shaft that has a dash of slapstick, which is really funny. There isn't much of a mystery going on but the 68-minute running time flies by. Forrest Tucker has a small role and if you look fast you can see Lloyd Bridges. Also of note, the word Hollywood is never even mentioned in the film.

Turner Classic Movies just recently showed most of the Boston Blackie films starring Chester Morris and while they are pretty good B-detective films, they are also very, very formulaic--even for the genre. I practically saw all of these movies and noticed that the same stupid inspector and his subhuman sidekick are accusing Blackie of committing the crimes in question. And, each time, Bost Blackie solves the crime for them--making their idiocy apparent again and again and again. You'd think that these bumblers would be fired and that any cop with a functioning cortex would realize the best thing to do it just sit back and let Blackie solve the crime! Plus, in the process, the Inspector almost always gets himself captured or is tricked by Blackie. At first, this is all pretty funny, but by the time this film came out, the formula was wearing a bit thin. They could have easily kept most of the formula but also had the cops not always been so stupid--this would have greatly improved the films.About the only new thing about this film is that now in addition to the idiotic cops, Blackie has a rich friend who is introduced to the series and he manages to be even dumber than the police!! While it would have been easy for even a two year-old to figure out what was happening, this Neanderthal was clueless--making the film itself seem pretty lame in spots. Still, the snappy dialog and able support by Blackie's buddy, Runt, is pretty good and make this film an amiable time-passer--just don't expect anything particularly new or interesting except for appearances by very young actors Forrest Tucker and Lloyd Bridges.

One of the more consistently funny entries in this series (4/14) has Blackie & Runt in NY helping out Arthur who is being shaken down by a gang of rogues in California. Farraday & Matthews go along for the (plane) ride along with hundreds of ants (that Blackie planted on them) they're busy scratching at for most of the picture.*** Some nice comic routines amidst the actual crime story, maybe in the last 5 minutes it wore a bit thin. But you have to see the hotel room scene where the baddie Slick ties up 5 of them hands to ankles and kneeling, including his henchmen, and lams with a parting "Happy Hobble"! Farraday bursts in then with a "Aren't you boys a little old to be playing marbles?" It's deliciously ridiculous, and was a routine they tried again with variations in later entries. ***For that, and the fact it does pleasantly fill an hour, one of my favourite Blackies.