Meet Boston Blackie 1941

Returning to New York City from Europe, Boston Blackie, Chester Morris, tries unsuccessfully to strike up a conversation with attractive fellow ocean liner passenger Marilyn Howard, Constance Worth. He later rescues her when she is accosted by a man, and the two share a tense moment of relief before he tries to follow her and runs into his friendly nemesis, police Inspector Faraday, Richard Lane, who wants to take him in on suspicion of stealing some pearls. Knowing that Blackie’s word is good (and that handcuffs are useless against him), Faraday merely confiscates his landing card and sends him on his way.

But the plot thickens when Blackie discovers the body of the man who had bothered Marilyn depositied in his suite, forcing him to break his word and debark to clear his name. He tails Marilyn to the Coney Island amusement park, only to learn she has been followed by two men and struck by a poisoned dart. Before dying, she hands Blackie enough information to lead him to the Mechanical Man, a midway performer whose act pretends to be a robot or automaton. Soon after, the two killers report to their boss, the Mechanical Man, forcing Blackie to flee once again.

In a high-stakes turn, Blackie hijacks the car belonging to Cecilia Bradley, Rochelle Hudson, and manages to shake off his pursuers after a frantic chase. Cecilia decides to help Blackie, even as he tries to keep her out of trouble. A radio news broadcast reveals that Marilyn Howard was, in fact, a spy, adding another layer to the tangled web Blackie navigates.

Blackie uncovers that an espionage ring led by the Mechanical Man is aiming to smuggle a stolen navy bombsight out of the country. Faraday and his men close in, following Blackie to the midway and aiding in the arrest of the spies. In the end, Faraday chooses to overlook the evidence tying Blackie to the pearl theft, offering him a kind of reluctant mercy as the case resolves.