The Chance of a Lifetime

It's another Boston Blackie movie with Chester Morris doing a good deed by getting some cons out of prison -- on parole to work at skilled trades in Lloyd Corrigan's war plant. But while Corrigan is playing Schindler, one of them, Erik Rolfe, uses the opportunity to collect the $60,000 in cash from the job that sent him upstate. His wife, Jeanne Bates, wants him to turn it over to the police, so that all of these men can go straight. However, the two crooks who were in on the job with him, want their cuts. In the struggle, Rolfe grabs one of their guns and that man is dead. The other, Douglas Fowley, flees. Morris shows up at this point and sends Rolfe to the job. He and George E. Stone are taking the corpse to his apartment, when Morris' frenemy, Inspector Richard Lane shows up, and Morris is on the hook for the murder and the money.

It's William Castle's first feature as director, and there's lots of gruesome Runyonesque situations. Morris keeps things moving along, as he did in all his movies. He had been Oscar-nominated in 1930, and spent a long stretch at MGM, but he was aging out of the juvenile roles. In this period he was under contract with Columbia, whence this movie came, and appearing in Pine-Thomas Bs over at Paramount. For my taste, he's always worth watching, but the quality of his vehicles continued to decline. Although he continued to work on the big and little screens, it was more as a major supporting player than a star, through his death in 1970 at the age of 69.

A prison work release program Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) is pushing is endangered by one of the prisoners being implicated in a murder. So what does Blackie do? He takes the blame for the murder, of course. I realize this sounds beyond idiotic but keep in mind that the formula of literally every Boston Blackie movie is that Blackie is the prime suspect in whatever murder occurs in that film. By the end of every film, he manages to catch the real killer and prove his innocence to dogged Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane). So, in a way, it makes perfect sense that Blackie would take the blame since his track record is pretty good with the threat of a murder arrest hanging over his head.

Seriously, though, the plot to this one is pretty far-fetched and tough to swallow. But somehow it's still enjoyable thanks to the solid cast of regulars that the Boston Blackie series had. Yes, the series was extremely formulaic and this works against it, especially when you view the films back-to-back. But if you just happen to catch this one on TV one day, without any critical context, it will surely entertain you. Not the best of the series but still fun. There's a character named Dooley who throws just about the wildest overhand punch I've ever seen. That alone is worth checking it out.

"Your logic is simply hypnotic" says a "dumb copper" to Boston Blackie in The Chance of a Lifetime. I can't help but feel the logic of William Castle's directing follows in turn. Castle certainly developed his stylistic system and method of directing across his career, but this early entry characterizes his lack more than anything else (a lack he wold make up for in time). Diegetic space is constructed through shot scale cut-ins for an otherwise static camera. Later, Castle would develop his system with more mobile framing and angular contrapuntal direction (Ohmart in the Emergo scene in Haunted Hill is captured in a multiple of angular shots). In The Chance, the camera is positioned with frontality as the dominant. When groups of characters are framed, they huddle symmetrically staged in front of the camera lens creating balanced tableaux. The staging and blocking does not have the oblique quality prominent in later Castle films. The story itself involves Blackie's proposed plan to the state's Governor to parole ex-cons in order to aid in munitions manufacturing for the war. Recidivism and risk assessment are the name of the game as Blackie gets tangled up in the loose ends of an old crime of one of the paroled cons. There is good suspense and characterization but at times the acting is stilted while the dialogue is a little on-the-nose. As is characteristic of Castle "B" status films, plot contrivances abound. An earlier reviewer seemed to express that the contrivances are an asset or perhaps aid, while I cannot agree. The "cigarette gag" and "secret panel" gag have the lameness that makes narrative progress move forward with an awkward gait. The buffoonery of the police was an issue with the critics upon release as far as it concerns the status quo. For me, the portrayal of the police as stooges gets tired and leads to the story dragging somewhat (others may disagree). The ending involves confessions under extreme duress and although neat, are also an element of convenience at service for the production and not the audience. The flaws in directing would be repeated several times by Castle as he worked slowly to develop a more sound stylistic system.

Inspector Farraday seems nastier than usual in this Boston Blackie picture. Sure, Blackie is used to Farraday hounding him constantly, but now Farraday is out to pounce on Blackie's new convict reclamation project. The project is for the war effort, of course: Blackie has lined up jobs for ten early parolees at a tool and die works, and the convicts are talented welders and craftsmen, their skills much in demand in 1943. Farraday is having none of it, and lurks on the edges of the project, looking for the slightest slip-up. Come on, Inspector, show a little patriotism!

The mystery plot here is solid and the action is fast-moving, though overall the film is perhaps not quite as sharp or quick-hitting as some in the Blackie series. Still, there's disguises (Blackie and the Runt as cleaning ladies, one of whom needs a shave); tight squeezes (Blackie and the Runt on a dumbwaiter); and poor detective Matthews taking insults (Farraday to his officers: "You cover the fire escape, you take the service entrance, and I'll go in the front way alone." Matthews: "Alone! Hey, chief, I'll be with you." Farraday: "It's the same thing.").

Some hilarious newspaper headlines chronicle Farraday's attempts to capture and hold Blackie and a wad of $60,000 that everyone is concerned with.

Good entertainment for us Blackie fans. Chester Morris, as always, is smooth and steady.

This time, "Boston" (Chester Morris) comes up with a proposal to the Governor that would allow some trusted prisoners to come and work in a factory to assist with the war effort. He agrees that they can live at his apartment but before long is embroiled in a plan to prove that "Dooley" (Erik Rolf) was set up for a murder he didn't commit. Unusually, "Insp. Faraday" (Richard Lane) is in on the plot to use "Blackie" as bait for the real criminal - well, him and $60,000 - and using some sleight of hand and his gang of well-meaning convicts lays a trap for... This doesn't hang about, is tightly cast with series regulars and with a more solid story than many of the other outings for an on form Morris, it passes an hour with a few red herrings and a precarious window-dangled confession at the end.