Confessions of Boston Blackie (1941)

Amidst the auction of a full sized statue - worth some $50,000 - a man is killed! Unfortunately for our hero, who mistakenly returned fire in a room full of people, he is the number one target for "Insp. Farraday" (Richard Lane) and his nice-but-dim cohort "Matthews" (Walter Sande). The next hour sees the quick-tongued Chester Morris and "The Runt" (George E. Stone) trying to prove his innocence and apprehend the true culprits - and that involves a secret hideout, quite a conspiracy and an unique method of disposing of a corpse! Harriet Nelson provides the glamour but not a great deal more as "Diane" and the whole thing gradually reaches a degree of preposterousness that wouldn't pose a solving problem for a five year old child. There was never any jeopardy with these, but this one really does take the biscuit on the daftness front and I enjoyed it.