I taped this off Turner Classic Movies on September 2, 2017. It is the eleventh in a series of fourteen Boston Blackie movies starring Chester Morris. It’s not one of Blackie’s best, but it’s a decent installment all things considered.
This time out, Blackie’s sidekick, The Runt (George E. Stone) gets in hot water when he tries to help a childhood friend. Together, they unwittingly steal a valuable necklace and soon, the cops are hot on their trail. The pair turn to Boston Blackie for help, and before long, they wind up on the doorstep of a phony spiritualist, who invites them to a front row seat to his show. Naturally, when the lights go out, The Runt’s buddy winds up dead. The blowhard Detective Farraday (Richard Lane) arrives on the scene and as usual, wants to throw the book at Boston Blackie. It’s then up to Blackie to escape Farraday’s clutches and get to the bottom of the mystery.
Although the overall quality of The Phantom Thief is a bit inconsistent, the séance scenes are a lot of fun, which helps make this entry feel like an old Monogram movie and/or Old Dark House murder mystery. One sequence features hovering horns, a bedsheet ghost, and a disembodied hand flying about. The bit where The Runt comes face to face with a floating skeleton is pretty funny too. I just wish journeyman director D. Ross Lederman (who also directed the next Boston Blackie film, Boston Blackie and the Law) had leaned into the horror aspects a little more.
Other than that, there’s nothing else here to really separate The Phantom Thief from the other films in the Boston Blackie series. The mystery itself isn’t particularly involving, and despite the hour-long running time, the pacing is a bit sluggish in the second half. There are some amusing moments sprinkled about (like Blackie’s penchant for disguises), and Morris’ charm carries the movie a long way. I don’t think it would be enough to convert newbies to the world of Boston Blackie, but it’s a serviceable sequel, nonetheless.
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