Sidney Toler
Charlie Chan
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On a cruise ship from Honolulu to San Francisco, the famous Chinese detective encounters four more murders while trying to figure out the murder of a Scotland Yard friend.
Top Billed Cast
| Release Date | 1940-05-02 |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 1h 17m |
| Directors | Eugene Forde, Virgil Miller |
| Producer | John Stone |
| Writers | Earl Derr Biggers, Robertson White, Lester Ziffren |
When his British pal "Insp. Shaw" is killed, our eponymous sleuth must join the passengers on a cruise to find the culprit not just of this, but of another murder too! It has a sort of "Murder on the Orient Express" feeling to it, this, as the fellow travellers are introduced to us, and to "Mr. Chan" (Sydney Toler) and we very quickly ascertain that they are a pretty disparate bunch any of whom might, just, be responsible. It helps the mystery that the there is no obvious character - neither by virtue of their role or their billing - to give it away. It's down to some shrewd detective work from "Chan", aided by his rather hapless, but well meaning No 2 son "Jimmy" (a lively effort from Victor Sen Yung) to work it out. Lionel Atwill, Leo G. Carroll, Charles Middleton and an engagingly ditzy Cora Witherspoon ("Susie") all help keep us guessing until quite an exciting denouement with plenty of red herrings and cleverly staged machinations to trap our strangler. The Confucian-style expressions grate after a while, they are just too contrived - but there is lots going on here to kill 75 minutes well.
— CinemaSerf