This is based on the fifth book in the series of six written by Earl Derr Biggers. Most of the books were sources for the early films with Warner Oland in them but for years they had been writing original scripts for the films. And in fact the book Charlie Chan Carries On had already been filmed in 1931 with Warner Oland but that film is now considered to be a lost film. At the same time that was filmed, Fox also filmed a Spanish version titled Eran Trece and that version exists. This is a fine mystery with many suspects, a few murders and few clues to who the killer is. It pulls a nice twist at the end.
An old friend of Charlie's comes to him in Honolulu (amazing that he is home after his recent global travels to Paris and Panama) asking for help. This is Inspector Duff from Scotland Yard who had shown up in the Charlie Chan book Behind That Curtain. The Inspector knows that someone in a group of travelers is a murderer and he has been travelling with them for weeks but still doesn't know who the killer is. Charlie leaves his office for a minute and when he comes back the inspector has been strangled. Charlie says killing him in my office is a challenge. I will meet that challenge. Before he does, another murder of one of the tour group is killed. Chan says let's take a trip to San Francisco and I will solve this on the boat. Of course son Number 2 Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) tags along by stowing away and then is put to work as a crew member. He provides the laughs.
A good B cast - Lionel Atwill guides the tour and is always an immediate suspect in every film he is in. There is also Leo G Carroll who was later of course to be Mr. Waverly in the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I always like his British clipped accent. Don Beddoe has become a familiar face in these various crime series. The very pretty Marjorie Weaver is the romantic interest in the film. A very solid Chan outing.
Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940) – 7.0
Mediums and wax museums were a big deal in B films from this period. The fascination with mediums escapes me but wax museums are another thing. They are creepy by nature, especially horror wax museums filled with stranglers, poisoners and hatchet men. If I was stuck in one late at night with thunder and rain roaring outside and a murderer inside I would have my hair on end. A real murderer that is with a penchant for poisoned blow darts from Tonga. Which of course Charlie identifies immediately. There are not that many of these Chan films that I give a 7 rating to - like finding a gold nugget in your porridge - but this hits a lot of the right buttons for me. A satisfying mix of suspense, humor, aphorisms and Charlie doing his thing. A few murders and a lot of suspects trapped in a horror museum can't be too bad.
Charlie has come to San Francisco to testify against a murderer and his testimony is sending McBirney (Marc Lawrence) to the electric chair. After he threatens to get Chan, he escapes with the help of a henchman and heads for the wax museum where his old friend Dr. Cream (C. Henry Gordon) not only makes the wax dummies but is also an expert plastic surgeon. Both of these actors got stuck playing more bad guys than rocks in a graveyard but it was a living. They set up a way too elaborate scheme to kill Chan. He is invited to a radio show in which he will compete with another detective to solve an old murder case. His chair will act as an electric chair.
Lots of others are on hand of course - the wife of the man who was executed in the case they will be discussing, her lawyer - perhaps, a female reporter, two radio men, McBirney and his helper, Chan and of course Number two son Jimmy finagles his way in and bungles things up completely. One of them is also a killer with his face disguised. He wants to kill McBirney for being double-crossed. Nice gathering.
Little bits of humor are strewn like confetti on the floor. As McBirney is entering the museum a couple is coming out - "How dare you propose to me in the Chamber of Horrors" - "Isn't that what marriage is" - nice going guy - no sex tonight. And there is a dummy of Charlie that Jimmy keeps getting mixed up giving his pop a kick in the pants at one point. Aphorisms - Chan deciding to go on the radio show - "Will imitate woman and change mind". Probably got a good laugh back in 1940, not so much anymore. "Any powder that kills flea is good powder". "Mice only play when cat is supposed to be away" to the police. And after Jimmy imitates his father, "Please allow parent to make Confucius sayings". As a point of interest to me if no one else, the museum also has a replica of the Turk, an automated chess machine that beat all comers in the 1700s - but which held a person inside. 63 minutes.
Murder Over New York (1940) – 6.0
War is approaching and saboteurs are afoot. But so is Charlie Chan. And Son #2. What chance do the bad guys have. As usual Charlie is minding his own business on the way to a Police Convention in New York City, but trouble comes his way. On the plane he runs into an old friend from Scotland Yard now in British Intelligence - the film's way of saying who are the good guys and who are the bad guys without actually saying so and annoying the American Firsters. He tells Charlie that he is on the track of a master saboteur named Navo. But he doesn't know where he is and he has likely taken on a new identity and a new face. Charlie asks to join in the hunt.
And as these things generally go, the friend is murdered before Charlie can talk to him privately. At a small dinner party by a gas. Charlie asks his son "You are chemistry student. What do you think it is?" One sniff and Jimmy says it is Tetragene, new on the market and deadly with one smell. Smart kid. The school is teaching the students new deadly gasses. Especially amazing in that in a past Chan film he was studying law. So they have a room full of people - one is a killer - and they are all as suspicious as a pair of frilly panties in a married man's pocket.
Later Jimmy is attacked by an Indian looking man and the police captain (Donald MacBride) barks out "Round up every Hindu in New York!". Clearly things have changed. They round up about 30 of them and he says "How many of these Ali Babas are there?". Not only racist but also getting their ethnicity wrong. No wonder he always needs Charlie's help. One of them was Shemp Howard who I proudly recognized in beard and brown-face trying to be a fake fakir. This is a decent one with a few murders and attempted murders and no idea who is the killer till Charlie lays a trap. A crew of B actors accompany Charlie on this one - Marjorie Reynolds, Ricardo Cortez, Kane Richmond, Melville Cooper and John Sutton. All familiar faces if you watch enough of these low budget films. Hooray for them. Without their willing to be in them, the films would not be around today.
Charlie Chan in Dead Men Tell (1941) – 6.0
This Charlie Chan film veers between a fairly decent murder mystery with a solid amount of suspense and too much slapstick humor involving Number 2 Son Jimmy Chan. I normally appreciate the hijinks of the son played by Victor Sen Yung but they go overboard here. Literally. Most of the film takes place on a small claustrophobic ship tied up at harbor and Jimmy manages to end up in the water four times. That is about two times too many. Besides that he gets knocked out once and almost another time. He is so annoying with his constant accusations and interruptions that I wanted to conk him too. And on top of that they have a parrot that never stops talking. This is all distracting from the mystery which brings on board a group of potential killers and victims and a couple murders. The narrative is well filmed with lots of close-ups of terrified people and darkened rooms. But even with all the falling in the water it just crosses the 60 minute finish line.
A treasure hunt has been organized by an elderly lady who found a treasure map that was made by an ancient pirate ancestor. She has hired a ship and invited people to join the hunt and defray the costs. But before they even leave the dock the first person is murdered. Charlie (Sidney Toler) is on hand because Son Number 2 has stowed aboard and where Charlie goes, so does murder. The old lady has divided the map into four pieces and sent three of them to other passengers - giving the film other potential victims. Good set-up, good cinematography and a cast that I am only vaguely familiar with. Other than George Reeves that is who has a large role here. But it is the neurotic afraid of his own shadow played by Milton Parsons who steals the film with his creepy face peering from everywhere. At one point he has Jimmy walk the plank blindfolded and when he falls into the water he later says "I have always wanted to do that. It made me feel so good". And regarding Jimmy, I knew exactly how he felt. Though these are still being produced by Fox, it is pretty obvious they are no longer throwing many resources at it. Basically two interior sets and a bunch of B actors.
Charlie Chan in Rio (1941) – 7.0
Everybody needs to go to Rio sometime. The sweet samba notes float down Copacabana like a drug. But so does murder and Charlie and his Number 2 son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) are in Rio to arrest a murderer and bring her back to Honolulu. Why he brings his son along is a mystery. It must be take your son to work day. Victor must have been popular with the movie going audience and though listed seventh in the credits takes center stage in this one. They are here to arrest Lola, the nightclub singer (we get two musical numbers) for killing a man a few years in the past. It turns out to be a sweet and sour night for her. First she gets engaged to the son of a wealthy man and later she is murdered in her home.
This is for the most part a remake of The Black Camel (1931) set in a different location - and that was based on the novel by Earl Derr Biggers of the same name. This has a fine mix of mystery and comedy and runs the hundred yard dash in 60-minutes. Her body is discovered by her maid Lili played by Iris Wong who was such a delight in Charlie Chan in Reno and is here as well. When Jimmy sees her he goes after her like a heat seeking missile. I wish the two of them were in all the films but this was to be her last Chan film. She moved to Honolulu in 1950 and worked for Pan Am.
At one point Charlie and Jimmy start speaking Cantonese and someone asks her what they are saying to which she replies "Don't look at me. I don't speak Chinese. I was brought up in an orphanage in San Francisco". There was another moment like this that stood out - one of the female suspects demands that she be allowed to leave because she is an American citizen. Charlie says "So am I, so we should get along fine". Charlie has a few of his wise sayings but knocks them all out right at the beginning rat-a-tat-tat. "Sweet wine often turns nice woman sour", "Number two son behaves about hot music like corn over hot fire. He pops" and "Biggest mistakes in history made by people who didn't think" referring to his son. Not his best perhaps.
So they have a dead woman in her bedroom and a full plate of suspects. Harold Huber plays the Brazilian detective - his fourth appearance in a Chan film as a detective - in Paris in City of Darkness, Monte Carlo and Broadway - all with different accents. He is actually fairly smart this time around. Among the suspects is Victor Jory as a Hindu medium and Mary Beth Hughes as the sweet wine woman. She is one of my favorite cozy cheesecake B actresses - a lower lip that looks like trouble. She was great fun in three of the Michael Shayne films. When Jimmy isn't making goo-goo eyes at Lili he is putting his nose into everything and has a good fist fight. Good one with Sidney Toler on his game.
Charlie Chan in Castle in the Desert (1942) – 6.0
This is Fox's last Charlie Chan film. In total they made 28 Charlie Chan films - one pre-Warner Oland, 16 with Oland and 11 with Sidney Toler, but WWII was on and they lost interest in the series which earlier on had made them very nice profits. There is a two year gap between Castle in the Desert and the next Charlie Chan film, Charlie Chan in the Secret Service with Monogram Pictures. This is a tight fast moving Chan film but the lack of budget is apparent as had been the last few ones with basically one location being used. Still it takes on some characteristics of a gothic horror film with a big house, many guests and a murderer on the loose. Throw in medieval poisons, a torture room, a man hiding half of his scarred face and various people it seems in suits of armor running about.
Charlie is in San Francisco when he receives a note asking for his help and to go to a castle in the Mohave Desert. It is in the middle of nowhere with only a small ragtag town 30 miles away. In the town Charlie is asked if he is a Chop Suey salesman and when he tells them he has to get to the castle, he is asked if he is the new cook or houseboy. I think the intent was to spear stereotypes. The castle is this magnificent eye catching structure filled with medieval furnishings - all I assume taken from other films. It turns into a classic murder situation when the car breaks down and no way to fix it. A large group of people are stuck and a killer is among them. Jimmy shows up of course to help Pop and ends up in a suit of armor. He tells Charlie that he is safe from the cross-bow arrows flying around. But not cigarettes still smoking tossed inside. At the end of Charlie Chan in Rio, Jimmy was drafted into the war effort and here he is on leave. Only one reference to the war in the film - when Charlie sees the torture room and says same is still going on in Europe. A couple actors who keep popping up in the Chan films are on hand - Douglass Dumbrille, Milton Parsons and Steven Geray.
This was to be Victor Sen Yung's last appearance as Son Number 2 for four years. At Monogram they brought on Son Number 3 with Benson Fong and he was to be in six Chan films till they brought Victor Sen Yung back to finish up the series even past Sidney Toland. At times he can be frantically annoying in these but he will be missed. It is too bad no one thought to make a series of Chan Sons mysteries with Keye Luke, Victor Sen Yung and Benson Fong setting up a detective agency in Chinatown. That would have been very cool but impossible in those days.
