NekoHomey
Purely Joyful Movie!
CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Kirandeep Yoder
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
Hitchcoc
Despite there being plot deficiencies all over the place, this is still fun. Once again, Charlie is called in because of goings on in the defense department. There is a murder early and the circumstances are confusing. It turns out there is some sort of central figure pulling strings as a group of gangsters carry out the instructions of this man. He communicates with a teletype machine so they don't recognize his voice. Anyway, it's the usual group of suspects, this time the cast of a radio show. We are also give a look at that new medium, television. Mantan Moreland and his vaudeville partner do their wonderful sketch where they finish each other's sentences. Tommy Chan is such a windbag and gets the full treatment from his father, although he does find some serious evidence. I liked this one quite a bit.
Cristi_Ciopron
A mystery movie crafted with gusto, there's something of Brando in Toler's role, MGM teases us a bit with electric gadgets and a monster mask, there is a heartfelt interest in the technology (teletype, elevator, early TV, radar, 'death capsules' for the ingenious poisoning, also moments of radio and early TV broadcasting, the weather simulation tunnel) in this merry espionage story with a grim body count (two spies, two comedians), Toler's role foretells Brando (also in the quiet but sharp humor), Birmingham Brown is very funny, and the _janitress seems intriguing and nice, possibly handsome; but Birmingham Brown is the most likable character. The script was neat: a set of suspects, the puzzle plot doesn't get lost in humorous banter, the storyline is dynamic and the sets, appealing; though the denouement has the randomness known from these mystery movies they made 75 yrs ago.
utgard14
Monogram Charlie Chan film with a plot that is a mix of a generic espionage mystery with murder at a radio station. It seems like maybe they took the plots to a couple of previous B murder mysteries (not even Charlie Chan ones) and combined them. Once again, Charlie gets help from comic relief sidekicks Benson Fong and Mantan Moreland. Fong plays Tommy Chan and he's as boring as ever. Charlie's a jerk to him throughout the movie and I honestly couldn't blame him. Tommy was clearly Charlie's least favorite son.Mantan Moreland plays Birmingham Brown, who is a little more restrained here than his earlier Chan films. Also appearing a couple of times is Moreland's old vaudeville partner Ben Carter. The two do an amusing bit that was probably from their vaudeville days. It's basically a conversation between the two where neither ever finishes a sentence because the other seems to know automatically what he's going to say. It's funnier on screen than it reads here. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Abbott & Costello's vaudeville routines. I have not been a fan of Mantan Moreland's character in the Charlie Chan series. However, if he had been more like he is in his scenes with Carter, I think I would have liked him more. Instead, he's usually just doing his bug-eyed "I'm afraid of spooks" garbage, complete with lots of double takes and talking to himself.I also liked seeing pretty Janet Shaw. Something about her I always found appealing. There's an actor character called Horace Karlos, played by Leonard Mudie, who is supposed to be a parody of Boris Karloff. That's fun for fans. Altogether, it's not the greatest Charlie Chan or even a particularly strong one. But it's watchable with some enjoyable parts. Considering this was made during the dreadful Monogram years we should be thankful it isn't worse.
Michael O'Keefe
Methodical Charlie Chan feature. Little suspense. No intrigue. But, I still find it cool to watch. Chan is called on to investigate the murder of a suspect in a plot to steal top secret information concerning the Government's planned use of radar. The investigation takes Chan to a radio station, where he has a studio full of suspects and knows one of them is a killer. But who...the station manager(I. Stanford Jolley), a soap opera owner(Virginia Brissac)or maybe one of two actresses(Janet Shaw and Victoria Faust). Helpful or not, Charlie has the help of one of his sons(Benson Fong)and his comical chauffeur(Mantan Moreland). Right away we know that Chan's first major clue is a shoe print. But, there are others of course...this is a Charlie Chan mystery isn't it?
