Murder Mystery

THE HIDDEN HAND-1942-A rich woman Lorinda Channing (Cecil Cunningham) helps her crazy serial killer brother John (Milton Parsons) break out of jail so she can use him in a scheme to test her relatives' faith. Two uncaring nephews (and their snooty wives) are invited to her house as is her secretary Mary (Elizabeth Cunningham) (who's been made her sole heir), her doctor (Frank Wilcox) and his bitchy nurse (Marian Hill). Mary is engaged to Lorinda's lawyer Peter Thorne (Craig Stevens). Lorinda wants to fake her death with the help of her doctor and a drug but he lets her die. Only she doesn't die and comes back to life and she and bro John start killing. 

Despite the premise this is actually a comedy mystery with secret panels, clutching hands, real eyes behind a painting and too much “scared tatics” from Willie Best who refers to a razor he carries as “my persuader”. 

Director Ben Stoloff started his career in 1920 with a short called PLAY BALL WITH BABE RUTH. I guess it's only fitting that his last work was directing 26 episodes of TV's HOME RUN DERBY! THE HIDDEN HAND is based on a 1934 play “Invitation To Murder” by Rufus King.

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Charlie Again!

DANGEROUS MONEY1946--Charlie Chan investigates the smuggling of counterfeit “hot” money after a treasury agent (Tris Coffin) is killed. There's many suspects plus annoying comedy bits Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) and chauffeur Chattanooga (Willie Best in his last Chan movie). The main suspects are loud mouth cotton seller Burke (Dick Elliot), knife thrower Kirk (John Harmon), American trader Tao Erickson (Rick Vallin), Brace, the ship's purser (Joseph Allen) and his girlfriend Rona (Gloria Allen), a professor (Emmett Vogan) and The Whipples, upper class twits on an ocean liner bound for Samoa. The killer uses a knife gun. 

This low budget Monogram mystery based on the character created by Earl Derr Biggers (in 1925) was the 39^th story in a series of 47 Chan movies began back in the mid-thirties by Universal Pictures. Star Toler was instrumental in getting Monogram to produce a new Chan series when it was dropped by Fox in 1942. Though still fun, they are noticably lower budget. 

Director Terry O. Morse was also an editor and had directed Karloff in BRITISH INTELLIGENCE in 1940. Later he worked on the US shot scenes in GODZILLA-KING OF MONSTERS. 

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