Chan The Man

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE WAX MUSEUM-1940-Gangster Steve McBirney (Marc Lawrence) is convicted of murder  thanks to the work of famous Chinese detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler). McBirney manages to get a gun and “shoot his way out”. He and his buddy hide in a wax museum run by Dr. Cream (C. Henry Gordon) and his female assistant Lily (Joan Valerie). He wants Cream to give him a new face (Cream used to be a surgeon). Later while Charlie confers with police inspector O’Matthews (Joe King), son Jimmy (Sen Yung) comes by. With him are Dr. Cream and reporter Mary Boland (Marguerite Chapman) who want Chan to be on a radio show where he and the pompous Dr. Von Brom (Michael Visaroff) will  try to determine if an innocent man Joe Rock was executed for a crime he didn't commit. It’s really just a trap set by Cream and McBirney to kill Chan. They gather for the broadcast but  unbeknownst to the rest, Joe’s widow is there too. McBirney and his friend convince the crazy caretaker to help electrocute Chan but Von Brom insists on sitting in Chan’s chair and seems to be electrocuted but Charlie deduces that he was shot with a poisoned dart and it is the work of Butcher Deegan, a criminal thought to be dead! 

This is a nice little whodunit with a cool wax museum backdrop but Jimmy's dumb antics (he faints twice) get a little annoying. Funny, unexpected final scene though. Director Lynn Shores was a little bit of a mystery man. He directed several short subjects and an early talkie THE JAZZ AGE (1929) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and also THE SHADOW STRIKES (1937) but not too much else. He died in 1949.

Next installment: MURDER OVER NEW YORK

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