Dead Men Tell 1941

Aboard a treasure ship Chan battles his most elusive adversary... the ghost of a pirate 100 years dead!

6.4 / 10   14 vote(s)
NR
Mystery Thriller Crime Comedy

When the elderly woman sponsoring a treasure hunt is murdered on board her docked ship, Charlie Chan must deal with a treasure map in four pieces, the ghost of a hanged pirate, a talking parrot, a recalcitrant sea captain and several suspicious passengers - and a second murder.

Release Date 1941-03-28
Runtime 1h 1m
Director Harry Lachman
Producer
Writers Earl Derr Biggers, John Larkin

Definately one of Sidney Toler's livelier outings as our super sleuth. This one sees him and best sidekick - No 2. son "Jimmy" (Victor Sen Yung) embroiled in some treasure hunting aboard a ship (that doesn't actually go anywhere). "Patience Nodbury" (Ethel Griffies) is the distant descendant of the infamous pirate "Black Hook" and she has a map! Someone is trying to pinch that from her, so she cunningly divides it into four sections and shares it amongst her fellow passengers. Just in time, too - for the apparition of a "Long John Silver" peg-legged character causes the old girl to keel over and the race is now on to find the missing pieces of the map and the murderous culprit before anyone else gets sent to Davy Jones' locker. This is fun to watch: plenty of action, daft distractions, hopeless cops and a well paced script make sure we whistle through the hour. Oh, and there's a "Captain Flint' flapping about, too!

CinemaSerf