We slurped up ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT (1944) last night, an installment in the old Boston Blackie series. The lead, performed by Chester Morris, has an adequate charisma and patter; his partner, “The Runt”, is rather less well used. The police are adequate but not marvelous, as are the various supporting roles.
The plot is rather light and fluffy; when one character bites the dust, it carefully never lets us see his sister, as this would require adding a bit of gravity to an otherwise cotton candy like movie, and we all know what happens when cotton candy is asked to support anything more than helium.
And the dialogue never quite achieves the patter of, say, THE THIN MAN. Workmanlike, it rumbles and stutters along with hardly an ear for the ebb and flow one might look for.
So. An adequate, sometimes slightly, every so slightly intriguing movie. Good for a rainy, tired afternoon.
