Chan In The Desert

CASTLE IN THE DESERT-1942-After a murder at Manderley castle, a mysterious place in the desert with no electricity or telephone, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is contacted by a letter from Lucy Manderley (Lenita Lane) to investigate. A guest was poisoned and since she is a descendant of the infamous Lucretia Borgia  everyone thinks she did it. In the pest hole town he meets the locals who are all loonies. The stupid hotel owner (Oliver Blake) says Mrs. Manderley is a witch. When a castle car picks him up Charlie is joined by the snobbish Watson King (Henry Daniell). Once there he meets Mr. Manderley (Douglass Dumbrille), a historian with half a disfigured face he keeps covered, doing research on The Borgias. Manderley gets mad at his doctor Retling (Steve Geray) who says Manderley is perfectly fine. Still he does act rather nutty. Chan also meets Prof. Detheridge (Richard Derr) who once helped him on a case. Also present are Mr & Mrs Hartford (Edmund MacDonald and Arleen Whelan).

When Chan meets Mrs. M she says she never called for his services and the letter he received is a joke. Charlie is ready to depart but the castle car breaks down. Jimmy comes out to the place with an old town psychic (Ethel Griffies).  Before that though a private investigator Fletcher (Milton Parsons) shows up to ask about the poisoned victim. After he's poisoned, everyone tries to convince Manderley that Lucy is an insane murderer. Of course Chan thinks otherwise and later proves that when it seems three murders have been committed it's actually only one! Jimmy spends some time in a suit of armor. 

Harry Lachman directed this one. Thanks for reading!

Next up: CHARLIE CHAN IN THE SECRET SERVICE

Chan Can Solve It!

CHARLIE CHAN IN RIO-1941-Detective Chan (Sidney Toler) and number 2 son Jimmy (Sen Yung) with the help of local police chief Souto (Harold Huber) plan to arrest singer Lola Dean for the murder of a man in Honolulu after tracking her to a club in Rio De Janeiro. Lola (Jacqueline Dalya) plans to elope with her fiance Carlos but first she visits a Hindu swami (Victor Jory) where she is kind of drugged and reveals that she did in fact kill a man in a jealous rage. I say kind of drugged as the swami only uses a herbal cigarette and a cup of coffee to achieve this. Anyway, her guests start to arrive when she returns to her place. When Chan arrives to make the arrest he finds Lola stabbed to death. Naturally all her party goers are suspects. They include jilted alcoholic (Mary Beth Hughes from I ACCUSE MY PARENTS), (future TV's Science Fiction Theater host Truman Bradley), the singer's secretary Grace (Cobina Wright), another disgruntled woman and a armchair detective. Jimmy actually has a fist fight with the butler who's trying to steal some jewels and comes  out on top! He even gets a love interest in the form of the singer's Asian maid Lili (Iris Wong). Fun outing but Jimmy is just a little to dumb at times... 

One of four Chan entries Harry Lachman directed. He also made OUR RELATIONS with Laurel and Hardy, DANTE'S INFERNO with Spencer Tracy and THE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLEN POE before retiring after 1942 to devote his life to being a full time artist.

Followed by CASTLE IN THE DESERT. Thanks for reading!

Charlie In The Big Apple

MURDER OVER NEW YORK-1940-On a plane en route to NYC for a police convention, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) meets his old friend Inspector Drake of Scotland Yard (Frederick Worlock). Drake is on the trial of a saboteur named Narda and his Hindu servant Ramullah (Lal Chand Mehra) who seem to have vanished so he’s been following Narda’s wife. Drake seems like a future victim especially after being invited to a party given by the smarmy and suspicious George Kirby (Ricardo Cortez). Then when Chan is met by Inspector Vance (Donald MacBride), No. 2 son Jimmy (Sen Yung) shows up! Sure enough, Drake is murdered in Kirby's study, killed by a odorless gas. There are many suspects of course including June Preston (Joan Valerie), an actress, chemist David Elliot (Robert Lowery) , Ralph Percy (Kane Richmond), a guy named Richard Jeffery (John Sutton), a pompous Englishman Herbert Fenton (Melville Cooper) and Patricia West (Mariorie Weaver)and Narda’s wife who turns out not to be a collaborator.

 An hysterical but politically incorrect scene involves a police lineup of local Hindi men where a phony mystic is played by Shemp Howard! They find Narda’s servant but he’s killed. His curio shop turns out to be a front for making poison gas! This method seems similar to the M. O. of the the kiiler in MR. WONG DETECTIVE (1938). Eventually Charlie gets all the suspects on a moving plane and reveals the real killer (Narda with plastic surgery). Jimmy is really a pest in this. Clarence Muse has one scene as stereotypical scared suspect. 

Director Harry Lachman directed DEAD MEN TELL the next year.

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2015/07/chan-returns.html

Mr. Wong: https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2017/07/mr-wong.html

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Big Top Chan

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE CIRCUS-1936-This entry begins with Charlie (Warner Oland) and his wife (Annie Mar) and 12 children visiting the circus and talking to 2 little people, Col. Tim (George Brasno) and Lady Tiny (Olive Brasno) both dancers. One of the owners Kinney (Paul Stanton) approaches Chan and says he’s received some threatening letters. Chan agrees to meet him later during the show. We also learn Kinney's partner John Gaines (Francis Ford) owes him a lot of money and if he can't pay he’ll lose his half of the circus. He also has a problem with Cesar the gorilla (Charles Gemora) who he whips and then fires its trainer. Later with the help of Col. Tim and a giant (John Aasen) Chan discovers Kinney dead in a locked room inside his wagon. Then it’s found that the abused ape has escaped its cage! A phony mystic John Holt (J.Carrol Naish) helps subdue Cesar when he attacks Chan. No.1 son Lee (Keye Luke) and police chief Macy (Wade Boteler) try to figure things out (Lee also pursues a Asian contortionist). Lady Tiny visits the Chan Clan at their hotel to try and convince Charlie to help find Kinney's killer but he declines as he’s on vacation with his family. However Mrs. Chan and their kids convince him to help. Charlie and Jimmy join the circus to investigate. The first night a cobra slithers into the elder Chan's bed but Jimmy shoots it, It seems Kinney was engaged to the star trapeze artist Marie Norman but was married to Nellie (Drue Layton),who works in the costume dept. To trail her Lee  dresses as a woman with Tim as his cigar smoking baby! Later when Nellie proclaims that she will inherit half the circus trapeze artist Norman claims she can prove that Kinney and Nellie we're not legally married but first she has to perform. Bad decision. Someone fires a rifle cutting one of the ropes. She falls but doesn't die. Charlie sets a trap and discovers the real culprit. They can't make a monkey out of Charlie Chan!

 Director Harry Lachman made OUR RELATIONS with Laurel & Hardy the same year. He later made more in the Chan series. George and Olive Brasno were a real life brother/sister singing act who were very popular and successful in their day. 

Followed by CHARLIE CHAN AT THE RACE TRACK.

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Chan Returns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 DEAD MEN TELL-1941-Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates the mysterious goings-on on the ship planning a treasure hunt after the old woman heading it is scared to death by the “Ghost of Black Hook”. Everyone acts suspiciously. Even the Asian cook! George Reeves portrays an escape con and early victim. Future “Science Fiction Theater” host Truman Bradley is the captain with a talking parrot. Other suspects include a female psychiatrist (Lenita Lane) and her patient (Milton Parsons). Victor Sen Young is Jimmy, number 2 son, who helps a little but mostly gets in the way (and almost gets killed several times). “Trouble like first love, teach many lessons”.

 

This was the ninth of 22 appearances put in by the non-Asian Toler as the famed Chinese detective when the series was still at 20^th Century-Fox. Director Harry Lachman (THE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLEN POE) worked on many other Chan entries before retiring in 1943.

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Raven Mad?

 

 

THE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE-1942-Eddie Poe (John Sheppard; later known as Sheppard Strudwick) is taken in by The Allens after his mother dies. Mrs. Allen (Mary Howard) is a nice caring woman who loves him but Mr. Allan (Frank Conroy) is a jerk who thinks Edgar is wasting his time writing poems. At school he gambles, gets into debt and drinks a lot. He gets some encouragement from Thomas Jefferson (Gilbert Emery) but Mr. Allen hits the roof when he sees all of Eddie's debts. He also loses his love Elmira (Virginia Gilmore) to another man (but later it is reveal to be a deception devised by his old man). He joins the cavalry and later West Point (and gets thrown out) and goes to live with his aunt (Jane Darwell) in Baltimore where he meets his cousin Virginia (top billed Linda Darnell). He becomes a writer and wins a short story contest. He and Virginia get married and he lands a job as a magazine editor in Richmond but complications arrive when he meets Elmira at a party. He goes on a bender and gets fired for being drunk. The trio go to Philadelphia where he becomes a success and meets Charles Dickens. He works toward a getting a copyright law for writers, gets into an argument with his boss (Morris Ankrum), gets drunk and goes to NYC. Virginia gets sick. He tries hard to sell his new poem “The Raven” to the public and even gives a great reading of it to some printers but fails to sell it. Virginia dies and he goes back to Baltimore to die in poverty. A narrator explains that although it was not recognized in his own life time now “The gods laugh and Poe laughs with them”. Harry Morgan plays his friend Ebenezer.

This is a straight forward fairly accurate portrait of the now legendary poet/writer which provides a lot of sympathy for the main character. Director Harry Lachman had an interesting career although he quit making movies in 1942 the year LOVES was released (he also made DR. RENAULT'S SECRET the same year which featured Sheppard). He made many in the Charlie Chan series and OUR RELATIONS with Laurel & Hardy. It was written and produced by Bryan Foy (THE UNDYING MONSTER, PT 109).

 

 

 

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