The acting in this movie is really good.

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.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

An old man named Diamond Ed Barnaby is released from prison and is reunited with his now-grown daughter. But the reunion is cut short when gangsters kidnap him and demand he reveal the location of some diamonds he stole years before. The daughter goes to Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) for help. Blackie figures out where the diamonds are but not before Barnaby is killed. When Blackie arrives to get the diamonds, Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) is waiting for him and convinced Blackie murdered the old man.Pretty good Boston Blackie picture. Not the best but entertaining. Nicely fits in a WW2 backdrop (city-wide blackout drill) as part of the story. Morris, Lane, and George E. Stone as Runt are all in good form. There's one scene that will ruffle some feathers today. Boston Blackie smears soot all over his face in order to pass as a black man and slip by Inspector Farraday's moronic sidekick, Sgt. Matthews.Oddly, one of the bad guys in this is played by Cy Kendall. Kendall played a criminal type named Jumbo Madigan who gave Blackie information in several other Boston Blackie films, including the ones before and after this picture. However, here he plays a similar but more evil character named Joe Herschel that is much more involved in the plot. I didn't even know they were different characters until one of Joe's goons called him by that name.

This entry in The Boston Blackie series finds Blackie's companion and factotum the Runt about to get married to statuesque Jan Buckingham. But the wedding can't seem to come off because an old prison pal of Chester Morris's gets out and starts looking for the swag he robbed before getting pinched.After Midnight With Boston Blackie has Morris, George E. Stone, and their playboy pal Lloyd Corrigan on the run again because the cops and a gang of crooks are tailing said prison pal Walter Baldwin to locate the hidden jewels. When the bad guys bump of Baldwin and grab his daughter Ann Savage, it's up to Morris to rescue Savage and locate and return the jewels before the police do. Because as always the cops suspect Morris of being the perpetrator.The police are once again represented by Richard Lane and Walter Sande and between them they seem to have less working brain cells than usual. A wartime blackout drill aids and abets Blackie in eluding cops and crooks.After watching several Boston Blackie features I can't believe any self respecting police force keeps Lane and Sande employed.

This low budget film with the usual cast of characters has Chester Morris, as Boston Blackie coming to the aid of an ex-con buddy who he got to know while serving in the State Penn. His buddy is being released and has some diamonds hidden my his previous business investments and is afraid his old gang will want the diamonds and kill him. Ann Savage, "Detore" is the ex-con's daughter and she wants to look after him and seeks Boston Blackie's help. Richard Lane, Inspector Farraday is still out to handcuff and arrest Blackie for breaking into a locker containing the diamonds. There is train rides and plenty of car chases and Boston Blackie even impersonates an African American in order to disguise himself from Cy Kendall the top gangster. If you like these sequels, you will love this film which runs very smoothly and is enjoyable.

This one was played slightly more serious, but still packed with some sparkling repartee especially between Blackie and Farraday. The plot actually intrudes on the comedy! However a running gag is supplied by the Runt in the process of getting married to a six foot stripper but being continually thwarted, until the very end ...I can even forgive some of the more Keystone moments: such as Blackie being escorted between Farraday and Matthews, simply backing off and making a run for it, Arthur immediately taking his place, and fooling the two dumb cops all the way to the station. A delicious moment was where F&M realise their police car has been stolen by Blackie and a baddie and everyone but them knew it.Good effort, nice production values, and better script make this a welcome entry.