Charlie Chan!

DARK ALIBI-1946-Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is hired by June Hanley (Teala Loring, from BLACK MARKET BABIES the year before) to help clear her father of a robbery that has put him on death row. Most suspects reside in a local boarding house. The master detective assisted by son Tommy (Benson Fong) and chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland, who despite being the victim of some racist humor steals every scene he's in). 

Tommy and Birmingham even manage to get locked up in jail where BB meets his brother Ben (Ben Carter) and they do their “unfinished sentence” routine (Moreland and Carter had been a team in Vaudeville). A private detective helps out and forged fingerprints figure into the frame up. As usual some familiar character actors appear: Milton Parsons, Tim Ryan, John Eldredge, Russell Hicks. 

The same year director Phil Karlson made BEHIND THE MASK starring Kane Richmond as The Shadow. In 1955 he made the film noir crime drama THE PHENIX CITY STORY, did some TV then in the '60's made THE SILENCERS and THE WRECKING CREW, both starring Dean Martin as Matt Helm. Two of his last movies (he died in 1985) were the WILLARD sequel BEN and WALKING TALL.

I've read screenwriter George Callahan (who penned many CC movies) later wrote the screenplay for THIS ISLAND EARTH but that film credits George O'Callahan so it would be someone else. I could find very little about either of them....

  

DARK ALIBI was number 40 of fourty seven movies made with the clever (fake) Chinese detective created by Earl Derr Biggers. It was followed by SHADOWS OVER CHINATOWN.

Thanks for reading!