BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

kvnsmith Disappointing, to say the least. Most of the Columbia films, while not by any stretch great art, are passable enough B-entertainment, with good production values, fairly logical plots and some decent characters. This one has got to be one of the weakest of them all, though. It suffers not just from a sloppy, coincidence-laden plot that makes no sense at all, but also a narratively dubious, cringe-worthy bit where Blackie and Runt don black-face to avoid capture by the cops. Even in 1945, such broad, ethnic-based "humor" would have seemed, if not quite outdated, at least hopelessly old-fashioned. And while I can see Lt. Faraday's obsession with nailing Blackie for some crime (any crime!) being a fun running gag in these films, it's still an awful stretch for audiences to believe he honestly sees Blackie as a crazed killer.

bkoganbing The one constant thread in the Boston Blackie series is Richard Lane's obsession with nailing Chester Morris for some big crime. And of course Morris has to go to work to nail the real crooks to prove his innocence.But Inspector Farraday's obsession with Boston Blackie is a bit much in Boston Blackie's Rendezvous. Whatever else he is society crook Blackie is no homicidal maniac and Farraday should know that. Still the writers here think he's a strangler.This all begins when Blackie's playboy friend Arthur Manleder calls late at night on Blackie and the Runt to find his nephew Jimmy Cook who has escaped from an asylum for the hopelessly insane. Cook is played with sardonic brilliance by Steve Cochran in one of his early films. Cook breaks in on Blackie after Manleder leaves and nearly kills him, but does rob him of one of his suits for a disguise.Then he goes after an obsession of his, taxi dancer Nina Foch. Quite frankly if Farraday wasn't so obsessed with Blackie the film might have been over in 15 minutes.Arthur Manleder is played in this film by Harry Hayden taking over from Lloyd Corrigan. The Manleder character was dropped from future Boston Blackie films. And Iris Adrian is at her brassy best as Foch's roommate and general protector.Boston Blackie's Rendezvous is good for the presence of Steve Cochran and Nina Foch and bad for Richard Lane's obsession taken to truly silly lengths.

calvinnme This one is almost the stuff of noir with some black comedy mixed in.The film opens with Blackie's wealthy friend, Arthur Manleder, paying him a visit one night. Arthur is seeking Blackie's help in discreetly returning his insane nephew to the asylum from which he escaped. Blackie agrees to help. What Blackie doesn't know is that the insane nephew, Jimmy Cook (Steve Cochran) has crawled into his apartment through an open window and heard everything. Jimmy knocks Blackie unconscious after Arthur leaves, changes into Blackie's clothes and leaves.Here's where the black comedy and noirish elements begin. Jimmy is running around town masquerading as Blackie and strangling girls although his actual objective is to meet just one girl in particular - Nina Foch as Sally Brown, with whom he's been corresponding via letters. In one case Jimmy leaves Blackie's monogrammed hat at a murder scene, in another he dumps a body in Blackie's apartment. Of course Inspector Farraday believes Blackie did it, and so, as usual, Blackie must work around the police to catch Jimmy before he can murder any more women.This is an unusual entry because in almost every other Boston Blackie film a robbery of some kind was at the root of the crime wave. This one is different because the murders of a madman are involved with no theft behind any of the killings. You can see why Farraday would doubt Blackie where theft was concerned - it was once his trade - but it would quite be a stretch to believe Blackie would become the murderer of random women and that The Runt, Blackie's rather timid pal, would just go along for the ride! As for Steve Cochran, he is pitch perfect as the killer with those dark eyes and expression that goes from hopeless romantic to crazed maniac in the blink of an eye.Highly recommended as an entertaining and unusually complex entry in the Boston Blackie series. Just expect things to be a little more on the heavy and tense side than usual for the series. What does the lighten the mood in this one, probably unintentionally? An autographed picture of Boston Blackie prominently displayed in his own apartment turned what should have been a tense moment in the film into a laugh out loud one, at least for me. Enjoy.

Spondonman Rendezvous was a harder entry in the Blackie series (9/14), dealing with a cunning escaped lunatic who strangles women as easy as breathing. The loony was played by wide eyed and breathless tough cookie Steve Cochran, who managed to pin a murder onto Blackie and Runt, who have Farraday and Matthews after them as usual.Some neat detective moments trying to track down the woman he was really after. The worst thing about the film to me is the pointless murder of the hotel chambermaid - we knew he was a bad hat to be avoided anyway without that - and afterwards her body was the subject of a short comedy routine! Harder, like I said.But as to be expected, lots of witty repartee between the main protagonists make it another good b picture to watch in the best Boston Blackie mould.