Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938)

Before I start I wanted to direct you to my thoughts about a white actor playing an Asian character. Here is the link. It has been a couple of years now that I’ve been covering these movies and while I understand and agree with many of the issues I still think they have value and shouldn’t be dismissed. But I don’t need to rehash things again. Check out the link if you are interested. Now onto the review.

Since this is set in Hawaii we get to see Charlie at home with his large family. The action starts off at a chaotic breakfast. Jimmy is asking his father to teach him to be a detective while his younger brother Tommy cracks wise at him. Charlie’s son in law enters to let them know that his wife is in labor with Chan’s first grandchild. They all head to the hospital but the phone rings and Tommy answers. There is a freighter in the harbor where a murder has taken place. Tommy convinces Jimmy this is his chance so off they go.

Eventually Charlie finds out about the crime and ends up on the ship where he finds his boys making a mess of things. Taking charge, he interviews suspects, finds out about a large pile of cash, meets up with a sketchy detective from California, finds a hold filled with exotic animals, and sure enough is there when another body drops. Who is the killer? What happened to the money? Why is there a lion roaming around? These are all questions that will be answered before the end credits roll.

Charlie Chan in Honolulu is notable for a couple of things. First off this is the first movie with Sidney Toler in the role as he was replacing Warner Oland who had gotten sick and would soon pass away. I may have already mentioned this but he is my favorite actor to play the character and is great in his first outing. There was also a change in his son with Victor Sen Yung playing son Jimmy taking over from Keye Luke’s Lee. It is also interesting that the attempts at humor are present here but without Mantan Mooreland they lean heavily into Jimmy and Tommy. Honestly this doesn’t work all that well and I can see why they eventually changed things up.

The strength of the movie is in the story. We don’t get the clues so the audience can’t play along and try to solve the crime which is a bummer. But the pacing is good moving along briskly setting up the characters quickly and then getting to the murders. Yeah, there is another killing which is fun because they set up on character to look guilty only for them to end up a victim. There is also a fun subplot that I won’t spoil as it serves as a bit of a red herring but itself is satisfying. There is a lot going on in the movie’s sixty seven minute long runtime which makes it a fun watch. As you would expect Charlie sets a clever plan to trap the criminal and wraps things up in a neat bow. Oh, and it was a boy… his grandchild that is.

These Chan movies are the gold standard for quick, inexpensive, and fun mystery flicks with some comedy mixed in. As much as I liked Warner Oland in the role his last few movies were a bit off as you could see his illness was sapping his energy. With Toler in the role things pick up and he also brings more of a mischievous vibe to the role. He is the smartest man in the room and knows this despite how much others might underestimate him. This one is worth a watch for sure.

 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)

Back to another classic Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce movie where they star as Holmes and Watson. The action kicks of in Switzerland where a disguised Holmes is trying to smuggle a scientist and his new bombsite back to England before the Nazis can take them both to Germany. Yep, this is another one set during World War II. The scientist, Dr. Tobel, is successfully brought back to London, but the Germans haven’t given up yet. The good doctor also seems to be up to no good as he sneaks out of 221 B. Baker Street to visit a beautiful woman named Charlotte.

When he disappears she gives Holmes a strange cipher/code involving a bunch of dancing men. This is how they connect this movie to the classic story The Dancing Men. There are some clues to decipher that eventually lead our hero to his arch enemy Moriarty, who is working with the spies to recover Tobel and his bombsite for Berlin. Though that doesn’t work out too well as the movie ends with British bombers headed there with the sights installed and ready to drop their payloads.

I do really like these movies, but this is yet another that leans more into the adventure and has almost no mystery. In fact the only thing that needs to be solved is the code of the dancing men, which the audience has zero chance of guessing at as we are given no clues. There is no mystery to the identity of the… well I guess the bad guys. I mean there isn’t any killing until the very end where the bad guys get what is coming to them. This is less a Sherlock Holmes mystery and more so just an opportunity to beat up and out smart the Nazis. Don’t get me wrong as they do that very well and this movie is a great example of wartime Hollywood’s efforts. There just isn’t any mystery to solve here.

What we do get is a car chase, an escape by airplane, some creeping around dark streets, and some bad guys doing bad things. Holmes doesn’t solve his issues with fisticuffs, which most of the detective movies from the forties have the protagonist doing, but instead outsmarts his opponents at every step of the way. Here is where having Moriarty as the main antagonist is a bad idea. Holmesian lore has him as an intellectual equal to the great consulting detective so seeing him fall for obvious manipulation is a bit too far for me.

Rathbone and Bruce are good as always. Though I feel as if Bruce’s Dr. Watson isn’t given much to do and goes MIA for much of the movie. Lionel Atwill is back as Moriarty and is solid as well, though again isn’t given much to sink his acting chops into. Honestly the writing here is a bit lacking and unlike other entries this feels tossed together in a rush without much thought. Look out for a very young Whit Bissel (Creature from the Black Lagoon, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein) in an early and uncredited role.

For a quickie formula flick it works just fine. Though had it been any longer than the sixty eight minutes I feel as if this would have been a drag. But it didn’t’ and isn’t. While far from the best of this version of Holmes and nowhere near as fun as other adaptations closer to the original stories Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon isn’t a horrible way to kill an hour. It is available online for free so is just a Google search away

 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

The Shanghai Cobra (1945)

Big surprise that I covered yet another Charlie Chan flick in this mystery movie marathon. But I do love these, and they fit the theme so what can I do? As always if you haven’t already read my thoughts on a white actor playing a Chinese character, please click this link. With that out of the way lets talk about The Shanghai Cobra. 

The movie kicks off with some folks lurking around a dark street in a rainstorm. Three of them, including Mr. Black, end up going into a diner to get a cup of coffee. The only woman in the group, Paula, is followed outside by Mr. Black who starts to talk to her before dropping dead on the street. When the police arrive they discover he is the most recent victim of the cobra killings. It seems that someone is using cobra venom to murder people and the police are stumped. Lucky for them they have access to Charlie Chan. Doubly so when he lets them know this is the same method used in a previous crime he investigated in Shanghai. The remainder of the movie is Chan interviewing suspects while protecting a valuable government resource kept in a nearby bank. When he figures out that all of the murder victims were connected to the bank, he starts to connect some dots. Eventually the murderer is exposed and all is well before the end credits roll. 

This might be one of the few later entries into the franchise that I really don’t like. I mean the movie isn’t horrible it is just that the tried and true formula isn’t followed successfully. The mystery is almost nonexistent as we know the mysterious killer is there for a bank heist. We even get to see the gang planning the robbery. So, the motives behind the murders are obvious. They try to give the story a last minute twist, but it is obvious that who we are supposed to think is the killer is in fact innocent. There isn’t much meat on the bone here if you are looking for a solid mystery to follow along with and try to solve. 

I’ve had this same observation with other Chan movies, but they normally can hang their hat on some fun comedy. Especially when Mantan Mooreland and Benson Fong are along for the ride. I was shocked at how little screentime is given to the pair in this one. When they are on screen it is just them creeping around in the dark, mostly in a sewer, with little to no gags. Moreland is normally always good for a few laughs but here none of his normal quips hit the mark. It almost feels like the director, Phil Karlson, didn’t know how to use the comedy. But then again, he did Dark Alibi which has some really good Mooreland moments in it. I was also shocked to see that he directed both Ben as well as Walking Tall towards the end of his career. Those are some good flicks! 

The Shanghai Cobra is at best mediocre with neither the mystery nor comedy elements working for me. I’d say this is for the completist only and should be skipped by casual fans. There are much better Chan movies to watch. 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

A Haunting in Venice (2023)

I’ve been loving these Kenneth Branagh adaptations of my favorite Belgian Detective. I’ve already covered Death on the Nile and need to get around to covering his first crack at Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express. Though this time around things are a bit different since A Haunting in Venice is a bit spookier with ghosts and a haunted house. Should be a good time. 

Set not long after the end of World War II we find the detective retired and living in Venice. He has a former police detective as a bodyguard who spends most of his time keeping potential clients away. After establishing his routine, we then see an old friend, author Ariadne Oliver, show up. She wants his help in disproving a medium who she hasn’t been able to debunk. This leads them to being invited to a Halloween party to be followed by a séance. The place is cursed and the current owner, Rowena Drake, lost her daughter to the supposed ghosts. She threw herself off of the balcony and into the canal below. 

After some spooky fun with children attending a Halloween party which allows us to meet all of the characters and establish their history with one another. The medium arrives, played by the always awesome Michelle Yeoh, and things get rolling. I suppose this isn’t too much of a spoiler, but Poirot quickly exposes her as a phony but not before something very weird happens. She speaks in the dead girl’s voice and says something that makes one of the other guests nervous. How do we know that? Well, she ends up dead, skewered on a statue in the Piazza’s courtyard. The rest of the movie is another murder, interviewing suspects, collecting clues, and trying to figure out what is going bump in the night. 

This is my second time watching this movie. My wife and I were able to catch it in the theater while on vacation a few months ago and right from the start I knew it was deserving of another watch. The story is solid and moves along quickly introducing characters and setting up the mystery right away. On this second viewing I was able to see the subtle clues that are provided to the audience to help them solve the case before Poirot does. I’ll not lie and say that I picked them up in the theater as I was surprised by the solution. I’ve even read the book this is based on, Hallowe’en Party, though to be fair this is a very loose adaptation. In fact, it is barely recognizable. But that isn’t a bad thing here as the story we do get is clever and keeps the audience guessing. 

Excellent Cast

If you haven’t figured it out yet from the title as well as the setting of the party but this movie leans into the spooky stuff. I was wondering how they were going to manage this as the character of Poirot is normally grounded in logic and reality so how does one introduce supernatural killers to that world without is seeming forced. I’ll not spoil it here. What I can say is that there is a logical explanation for everything that Poirot sees as well as a supernatural one. It is left up to the audience to decide and that was neatly done. 

The cast is wonderful. I’ve already mentioned Michelle Yeoh but there is also a surprising performance from Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver. She is excellent in the role, and I think that the writing and direction (from star Kenneth Branagh) leans into her skills and personality. Branagh is great again in his third outing portraying the mercurial character with just the right amount of anger bubbling under the surface with some sadness as well. He doesn’t suffer fools but will forgive quickly and we see both here. Though I still consider the great David Suchet my favorite in the role Branagh is growing on me. 

Murder on the Orient Express had some amazing visuals while Death on the Nile not so much. This time around the filmmakers outdo themselves. From a digital camera following Poirot around while he runs thru the halls trying to discover the cause for a loud disturbing noise to some excellently framed shows that are tilted at a slightly off-putting angles this is a visually interesting watch. The lighting as well as the setting of the old house in the middle of a thunderstorm makes for a creepy vibe. What is so clever though is that the story plays into both possible explanations for the supposed supernatural happenings. Are there ghosts or is there another more mundane explanation for the goings on? I love it when the production and screenplay work together like this. 

Not sure I can say much more without giving away spoilers. I loved A Haunting in Venice, so I don’t want to do that. This is a wonderful mystery that will engage the audience. Be warned this is the sort of movie that is going to make you pay attention if you want to get the full enjoyment out of it. So put down your phone and keep both your eyes as well as ears open. I highly recommend this one. 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

Dangerous Money (1946)

note: I always start off these reviews with a link to my thoughts on the issue of a white actor playing an Asian role. If you are interested in what I think about that please check this link out. 

I’m back with another old Charlie Chan flick. This time around the famous detective is traveling aboard a ship in the Pacific. He is approached by a treasury officer named Pearson. He is on the trail of some counterfeit money but has had his life threatened so asks Chan for some help. Before much can be done Pearson is murdered by a thrown knife. But who threw it and does it have anything to do with the investigation or is it a coincidence? 

From here we are introduced to the other nefarious characters traveling on the ship. The suspect pool is further muddied when they stop off at an island which leads to talk of stolen art, crooked dice games, and other such shenanigans. We even get a bit of blackmail mixed in for some added fun! In the end Chan figures out who done it and why. But not before more bodies are found and attempts are made on the detective’s life. 

This might be one of my least favorite of the later Chan movies. While the movie gets right to the point with an early murder and the counterfeit ring we get way too many suspects. This isn’t my first watch of this one (I’ve seen all these movies many times over the years) and even I got a bit overwhelmed with the sheer volume of suspects. Plus there are subplots piled upon subplots to further confuse the proceedings. The mystery gets lost in the mix and honestly that is one of the main reasons you sit down to watch a Charlie Chan flick. The other, at least by the time we get to this stage of the franchise, is the comedy. I have an issue with that as well. 

The always reliable Mantan Mooreland is replaced this time around with another Hollywood staple Willie Best playing Chattanooga Brown. I’ll admit that I’m a big fan of Mooreland and never liked Best all that much, though he was excellent in Ghostbreakers. I really do need to get around to covering that one for the site. His performance here isn’t terrible, but it lacks the chemistry that the former had with Victor Sen Yung has as Jimmy Chan. The pair end up with a lot of screentime as again Sidney Toler in the role of Chan was very ill and frail. While Mooreland and Yung can carry parts of the movie, I don’t think that the pairing of Best and Yung can. 

Now I don’t think that Dangerous Money is a terrible movie. I’ve seen much worse attempts at these murder mystery with a dash of comedy movies. Really check out some of my other reviews. But when it comes to this franchise, I’ve got some higher standards and judged against the other movies come before and after this one just doesn’t measure up. As much as it pains me to say unless you are a completist I’d recommend skipping this one. 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

The Monster of Blackwood Castle (1968)

If you haven’t figured it out yet I’m a huge fan of mystery movies. I mean you are here for my third annual review marathon so it should be obvious by now. That said I’ve never understood the appeal of these West German productions of Edgar Wallace novels. Something about them just doesn’t connect. That said I’ve been told that The Monster of Blackwood Castle is the best of the series, so I figured it was worth a shot.

The movie opens with a guy walking in the fog thru what looks like a marsh or perhaps a forest. There is some howling and then the groovy sixties chase music kicks in. He is cornered by a “beast” (actually just a Doberman) who attacks him. Later we see a man with an eye patch dumping the body in the water, which turns out to be the moat of Blackwood Castle. This is all witnessed by another man who doesn’t intervene but seems interested in what is happening. That is all before the main story even kicks in!

Jane arrives at Blackwood Castle to make her inheritance official. Her father had just passed so the whole place is hers know. Though the solicitor tries to get her to sell the place right away for a tidy sum. Then another man shows up and offers twice that tidy sum to buy the castle immediately. Sensing something might be up Jane refuses to sell and is immediately set upon by all sorts of shenanigans. Plastic skeletons, impromptu power outages, snakes slithering between the sheets. Someone really wants her to sell the place! More people come to town and many more die to the “monster”, which is again just a Doberman, before the big mystery is revealed.

This next bit is a spoiler so be warned. Her dead father was the leader of a gang that stole a pile of gems and jewelry. He is dead, the other members of the gang is looking for it, and someone is killing them off. Toss in a couple more twists that I’m not going to share here and you have yourself a movie.

So, what did I think? Well first off someone has read A. Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles as this movie clearly took some inspiration from that novel. The setting of the spooky estate, the nearby moors aka. marsh, and of course the canine killer all are lifted directly from that. The pacing isn’t great. It kicks off with a murder but then bogs down as characters are introduced and then killed off without a great deal of explanation as to what is going on. There is zero chance of following along or figuring out what the hell is going on. That was annoying and I found myself bored with what I was watching.

There are also a couple gags that didn’t work. Did I forget to mention that there are attempts at comedy? This is one of those flicks that tries to mix genres and fails to successfully pull it off. The lead investigator, Sir John of Scotland Yard, eventually shows up and bumbles around before accidentally stumbling onto what is happening due to the efforts of his helpful assistant Miss Finley. Before Sir John the movie isn’t serious but also doesn’t try to be slapstick. We also get the comic relief from the local Innkeeper who was formerly lady of the castle before selling it. Again, none of these attempts at humor worked for me and didn’t feel like they fit with the rest of the flick.

If this is the best of the Edgar Wallace adaptations, then I’m thinking that these movies just aren’t for me. I know that they have a rabid fanbase and if you are one of those folks then more power to you. I like a lot of stuff that other people hate on, so I get it. Sadly, I can’t recommend anyone waste their time on The Monster of Blackwood Castle.

 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

The Trap (1946)

note: If you want to hear my thoughts on casting a white actor in an Asian role you can follow this link.

I’m back with another Charlie Chan movie review. This time it is set in his hometown of Honolulu but was shot in California so don’t expect any exotic locations. Here we see a car full of showgirls being driven to the beach by their producer and crew. They are taking a small vacation to relax and get ready for the next season. Right away we see that Marcia, one of the girls, is a real pain. By that I mean she manipulates the others to get whatever she wants by threatening to expose their secrets.

A bit of blackmail never ends well in murder mystery movies. Though it is one of the other girls, Lois, who is found strangled while Marcia just goes missing. This leads to Charlie being called and getting involved in the case. Soon after Marcia is also found murdered which leads to some wandering around in the dark, accusations, clues, and other sorts of shenanigans. Eventually the killer and their motives are revealed.

This movie is based on one of what I think are only four actual Chan novels. When I read them I was shocked at how minor of a character he is in those stories. He is basically the inscrutable plot device that shows up to solve everything while the victims and suspects are the main characters. Obviously, this isn’t what happened when they became movies and since there are almost fifty of these damn things most of the scripts are original ideas. The only reason that I mention this is that in The Trap the character of Charlie Chan comes and goes but the movie spends most of the time on other characters. This was done for practical reasons as Sidney Toler, who played Chan, was terminally ill with cancer. This was his last outing as the character. He passed away the following year.

That said the movie still has a solid mystery with plenty of clues being given to the audience. The suspects are interviewed, folks creep around up to no good, and if you pay attention, you can figure it out. Though unlike many of the other entries into the franchise this mystery has a neat twist that most folks, including myself on first watch, never guessed. I figure that is because it was based on the novel by Earl Der Biggs, which is quite good. The Trap is a very cleaver murder mystery in both book and film.

There is also a healthy dose of son Jimmy and chauffer Birmingham Brown as the comic relief. Mantan Mooreland, who plays Birmingham, gets to do several gags including his classic knocking knees as well as a fun bit with a phone ringing. I understand that much like the casting of a white actor in the Chan role that Mooreland’s performance is frowned upon today, but he was an excellent comedian who deserves to be remembered and appreciated. The rest of the cast does a fine job for being assembled by a poverty row studio like Monogram. While not stars these were working actors with some decent skills.

This is another entertaining flick in the Charlie Chan filmography. I get that these old mystery movies are not for everyone, but I love them, and this is one of the best. Give it a chance. You might just find yourself a fan as well.

 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

The Ghost that Walks Alone (1944)

This movie opens with some folks recording a radio show. So many of these mystery/comedy flicks revolve around radio shows. I guess it was a common trope that kept getting used. Anyway there is a rather handsy actor who keeps grabbing the leading lady much to the dismay of her fiancé Eddie, who is the sound effects guy. There is a fight and Eddie gets fired but then rehired by the producer. Why? The producer’s wife makes him!

With this established we then move on to Eddie and his lady leaving for their wedding and honeymoon. The producer is threatened with having the show cancelled so he tries to get Eddie and his leading lady back for more rehearsals, but they blow him off. So, the entire crew shows up at the lodge where they are honeymooning to get some practice in. When the producer ends up dead Eddie is convinced by some of his wacky co-workers that he will be blamed so they had better solve the murder before reporting it to the police. Shenanigans ensue… sort of.

I was sort of looking forward to checking this one out. The actor that plays Eddie, Arthur Lake, is best known for portraying Dagwood from the Blondie series. I’ve always liked those movies and thought he was a funny guy so the idea of a movie starring him was going to be a blast. Here is where I noticed why Lake never was able to build on his success from that series though. In the Blondie movies he was a second banana, an important one, but again not the focus. That worked because he has a very limited schtick that now that I see is solo in The Ghost that Walks Alone gets rather annoying very quickly. His sad sack persona and his whiney line delivery gets tedious and since he is the star we never get a break from it.

The movie also doesn’t help with a supporting cast that comes off flat and forgettable. I’m not even sure that they tried to develop anything beyond one wacky old lady character who exists to be the red herring (she knows who the killer is) as well as be the punchline for the final joke seen on screen. His lady friend and wacky co-workers are barely given screentime and when they are on camera, I can sort of see why. Lake needed some help here as again he can’t carry the movie on his own, but he got no help here. The story is also paper thin with no mystery and very little beyond them stumbling around in the dark. Had the story been more engaging it would have made the movie at least watchable, but it isn’t.

There are reasons why some of these old movies have been forgotten. Sometimes they were just cranked out to fill screens and cash in on what was popular at the time. The Ghost that Walks Alone is one of those and isn’t worth spending the hour or so of you time on. In the unlikely event you are an Arthur Lake fan (how many of us are there?) I’d recommend hitting up a Blondie movie and skipping this one. If you are looking for a mystery/comedy from the thirties or forties there are much better choices. Oh, and just to be clear. There is no ghost that either walks in a crowd or alone!

 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

Whispering Ghosts (1942)

Hollywood studios copying or revisiting what was making their competitors money isn’t a new phenomenon. Since I just covered the Cat and the Canary remake I went back and watched the original, which I love. That got me to thinking I should go see what knockoffs that I could find. With Bob Hope doing that movie and then following it up the following year with the equally awesome The Ghost Breakers I figured someone would have taken notice. While there are a lot of poverty row flicks the one that stood out to me was Whispering Ghosts. This was a decent production and starred Milton Berle. If you couldn’t get Hope in your flick, then the next best thing… as far as former vaudevillian performers go… was Berle.

The movie opens with a woman, Elizabeth, checking out her uncle Eli’s unusual home. He was a sailor and had his ship hauled up on land for him to live in. He was murdered and while it took time, she has finally officially inherited the place. There is also the rumor of a cache of diamonds, so we get a fun buried treasure twist as well.

Then we meet up with famous radio detective H.H. Van Buren (Berle’s character) who claims to have solved Eli’s murder. Though it turns out that he is wrong but still has a week to figure it out as he has promised his audience the big reveal on a live broadcast. That means he and his manservant/sidekick Euclid Brown have to head off to the house looking for clues. There is also a subplot of him playing a mean trick on a fellow performer who sends some actors to the house to mess with him as revenge. This serves to add a couple extra character for shenanigans. Van Buren meets Elizabeth and the actors. Some others show up as well as a storm blows in and wrecks the road. Then shenanigans ensue. In the end though the mystery is solved, and the treasure is found.

This is a decent movie. The pacing is solid as it gets right to the story and the action/comedy. I can’t think of a slow spot in the proceedings as things are spaced out evenly from start to finish. Though it does follow the formula closely with the goofy characters and wisecracking hero that didn’t bother me at all. Like I’ve already mentioned this was made to cash in on the success of the Hope flicks, so I knew what to expect. Berle, while not as great as Hope, is still great in the lead cracking wise and dropping one-liners like the practiced professional he was. The guy was really funny, and I’ve noticed has been forgotten by a lot of younger people. That is a damn shame.

Look kids it's John Carradine!

The rest of the cast is good. Willie Best, who was also in The Ghost Breakers, does his thing. Though much like Mantan Mooreland this doesn’t play well to a modern audience. Plus, there are a couple cringeworthy jokes cracked by Berle at Best’s expense that haven’t aged well at all. Though as someone who has watched movies like this as well as every vaudevillian recording I could find it is obvious that Berle is giving Best some of the best gags so there was some respect there. Though it still is uncomfortable at times. We also get John Carradine as one of the actors hired to mess with them. This allows him to ham it up and chew some scenery in a couple funny gags. Plus, it also leads to a Dracula line from Berle that I found funny. There is some good stuff here.

While not anywhere as fun as the previously mentioned Hope flicks Whispering Ghosts isn’t too bad. Milton Berle is funny and is surrounded by a supporting cast that can help carry the load. The movie gets in cracks some jokes and gets out before getting repetitive and boring. This is totally worth a look. You can find it online for free if you dig a bit.

 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

The Cat and the Canary (1978)

I’m a big fan of the Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard version (review here) of this story shot almost forty years earlier in nineteen thirty nine, so I was interested in this remake. After poking around and finding out that Olivia Hussey, Carol Lynley and an honest to God Bond girl, Honor Blackman starred I was even more excited to check it out. How does it compare and is it worth checking out? Might as well jump in and find out.

After some unpleasantness involving a Cat and a Canary… I guess they took the title a bit literally here… relatives start to arrive for the reading of a will. In total there are six relatives all vying for the fortune of their deceased and odd potential benefactor Cyrus West. There is some frustration as they have been waiting for twenty years as his will stipulated. Why the wait? There seems to be some shenanigans involving him wanting to see who made it that far. Old Cyrus basically feels like his family is undeserving leeches and is playing some games with them from beyond the grave.

After some bickering it is announced that his niece or great niece… they aren’t quite specific about relationships… Annabelle is the sole beneficiary. Though she needs to make it thru the night alive and insane to collect. Yep the old guy set them up with a motive for murder. Though the catch is no one knows who is next in line if she should be unavailable. Though the executor of the will disappears so someone might have found a way to find out. Lots of creeping around the house in the dark while a storm rages outside ensues. There is also some romance between Annabelle and her cousin Michael who I suppose are kissing cousins! Oh, and another murder. Eventually the identity of the killer and their motives are revealed.

This version of the movie made me appreciate the magical delivery and chemistry of Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. This isn’t quite a shot for shot remake, but it basically is the same story. The main characters of Annabelle (Carol Lynley) and Michael (Paul Jones) don’t have nearly the chemistry which means we have time to notice how linear and at times inexplicably boring the basic plot here is. People come to the house, a will gets read, and then folks start to yell and argue. Even when the first body is found it isn’t all that interesting. There are also attempts at comedy with Michael stumbling around a bit in the dark, but it is quickly abandoned as he simply lacks the chops to pull it off. The dude isn’t funny but that doesn’t stop them from trying.

This version of the story is also much longer clocking in at almost an hour and forty minutes. There simply isn’t enough meat on the bone for that sort of runtime. We spend far too much time on characters that simply don’t matter much to the plot while others like Hussey’s character are totally wasted. Honestly you had her and Honor Blackman on the cast and give them nothing to do? That seems like a bad decision. Much of this I blame on director and co-writer Radley Metzger. That name might sound familiar to you. He was best known for making adult films and I believe that this was his one attempt at a “legitimate” movie. I use quotes because I don’t automatically discount the quality of work in classic adult movies as many are quite good. Here Metzger misses every opportunity to make a decent movie and that is a bummer.

I could go on but honestly, I think that I’ve made my point. There is nothing charming or engaging about this version of The Cat and the Canary. Do yourself a favor and just check out the Hope version. You can pretty much find it streaming all over the place. That movie is very much worth your time this one not so much.

 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

Murder by Aristocrat (1936)

Here we have another Sally Keating mystery movie. Okay actually I suppose I need to explain that the character’s name was switched around from Sarah Keate to Sally Keating. Why? I don’t have a clue, but it is based on the same character that appeared in While the Patient Slept which I’ve already covered here. This one has our favorite crime solving nurse being called to take care of a patient who may or may not have accidentally shot himself while cleaning his gun. Spoilers… it wasn’t an accident.

The movie opens with the members of the Thatcher family sitting in the great room of their mansion. One of them, Bayard, is demanding that the others give him twenty five thousand dollars. If they don’t, he will reveal the family secrets including a very illegal bit of banking. The rest of the family doesn’t seem all that pleased with him, but he isn’t bothered by that. Though later in the night when someone takes a shot at him that might be a different matter.

The shot only winged him so the family calls a doctor who also brings along his nurse, Sally, to take care of their patient. She stays that night to keep an eye on him and watches as he continues to antagonize the family. He even lets her know that he wasn’t cleaning his gun, which is the story the family gave everyone, but was shot by someone else. The next morning Sally is sent to sit out in the yard and watches as folks come and go. This is important as she is able to collect some clues to help solve the mystery as to who shot Bayard (they didn’t miss this time) when is body is found. The rest of the movie is a belligerent District Attorney who is also a family friend not listening to her before finally realizing she has it all sorted out.

This is a very simple and entertaining movie. Clocking in right at an hour the story establishes the absolute heel that our victim Bayard is and sets the plot into action right away. The actor, William B. Davidson, chews up some scenery making no doubt to the fact that he will eventually die and how those responsible are sort of justified by that. This works well when we do finally see who the killer is as they should be sympathetic. No worries though since I’ll not be spoiling the good stuff here in this review.

Once he is shot and Sally shows up there is an appropriate amount of skulking around the old house at night with a thunderstorm blowing outside. I was enjoying the heck out of that, but then the next day when the killer succeeds it is a beautiful and sunny day. The atmosphere is a bit lacking, but I suppose it was clever to do it that way. Certainly not what I expected. The movie also does a wonderful job of giving us enough clues so that in hindsight I realized I could have guessed correctly at who the murderer was. Just in case you were wondering I was completely wrong. Though for me that is part of the fun of watching an old flick like this, getting fooled.

There isn’t much more I can say about this movie other than it is worth checking out. Being in the public domain it is easy to find online. I think I may have enjoyed this one even more than the previously mentioned While the Patient Slept. I recommend it if you are in the mood for a good murder.

 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

The Scarlet Clue (1945)

Another Charlie Chan movie for the marathon. As I do with all of these reviews I wanted to get my thoughts about a white actor in what really should have been an Asian role out of the way right off. You can click here for an article I wrote about it. Now onto the review.

The movie kicks off as all great old mystery flicks should with some shady characters skulking around a fog covered dock. A man is being trailed by a couple others and we find out that those following are police and the man who is being followed is in possession of some secret military technology. Remember that this was still during World War II and the poverty row studios like Monogram were still putting spies in everything! Charlie Chan arrives and when they go to arrest the man, they find him dead.

The rest of the movie is Chan, his son Tommy, chauffer Birmingham Brown, and a host of suspects at a radio station (there was a car at the murder scene that led them there) getting grilled. Sure enough some espionage is afoot, and Charlie needs to sort that out before the enemy makes off with some vital radar plans. Toss in some spooky masks, a thinly veiled reference to the legendary Boris Karloff, and a deadly elevator for some fun.

This is another of the Chan movies that I’ll admit doesn’t give the audience much chance to follow along with and try to figure out as it plays more like an adventure flick with some “who done it” teases along the way. You get an interesting murder weapon in both the cigarette twist as well as the trick elevator. But neither are hard to see coming. There are some clues so I don’t want to imply that we are kept in the dark but unlike any other Chan movie I can think of when the killer is revealed not only do we not get an explanation of how he sorted it out but there is also not a good connection as to why the killer/spy did what they did. That was a bit annoying.

Mooreland and Carter are excellent!

There is a bit of gunplay involved and we do get a healthy dose of comedy from Mantan Mooreland as Birmingham Brown who is joined here by his sidekick from the nightclub scene Ben Carter. They do their famous gag finishing each other’s sentences with the final punchline being given to Tommy by Mooreland. The wordplay from these guys is pure genius and makes me sad that so little of their act was saved from the thirties and forties. I would have loved to check it out.

Sidney Toler is good again in the role of Charlie Chan. His delivery is solid, and he has a lot of energy. This is one of the last movies where he was still on his game as the cancer which eventually killed him sapped him of his strength in the later entries. He did another six of these movies before passing away in nineteen forty-seven. While not the best mystery of the bunch this is one of his better performances and that makes The Scarlet Clue worth checking out.

 

Ó Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

Black Magic aka. Meeting at Midnight (1944)

Time for some more Charlie Chan review goodness. I suppose I should, as I always do with these movies, direct you towards my thoughts on casting a white actor in an Asian role. You can find that link here. With that out of the way lets actually take a look at this entry into the long running franchise. 

This movie kicks off with a bang as we see some folks sitting around a table at a séance where the medium, William Bonner, is contacting the spirits of lost loved ones for those in attendance. While this is happening Birmingham Brown, the always entertaining Mantan Moreland, shows up to take over the butler’s job. To say he is a bit put off by the spooky nature of his new boss’s business is an understatement. This is made worse when a shot rings out and Bonner is found murdered when the lights come back up. We also see that the whole thing is a scam that Bonner and his wife have been pulling with a couple of assistants in the basement. 

The police are called and as they sort things out they discover that one of the attendees is Charlie’s daughter Frances. Initially he doesn’t want anything to do with the crime but when the police threaten to hold his daughter for questioning, he dives into the case. Soon he is interviewing witnesses and potential killers. The date of October 5th, 1935 keeps coming up during this time. Another murder is attempted, a woman walks off a high rise building, Charlie is shot at, and Birmingham reacts to the craziness going on around him before all is revealed and the killer brought to justice. 

This is another solid movie from the Chan series. Sidney Toler does a decent job playing the character with a bit more of an edge behind the façade. There are brief spots where you can see his annoyance and anger at what is happening around him. This is especially so when he sees that the police are going to use his daughter’s predicament against him. The pacing is solid as the formula is down by this point. The murder happens quickly, Chan is drawn into it, and moves right to interviewing the suspects. We also get the typical shots being taken at him by the killer when he gets too close. Is it familiar? Sure, but when done right that doesn’t matter much. Here I had a good time and felt like all sixty seven minutes of the movie were headed towards the conclusion. Though I was bummed that the vital clue is kept from the audience until the very end, so we don’t have a chance to figure it out ourselves. 

It was also interesting that this is the first time we get a daughter solo and no son as his assistant. I don’t believe that happened again. While I thought the actress did a good job there is a lack of chemistry between her and Moreland. The comic shenanigans that Birmingham and whichever one of Charlie’s sons was along for that mystery adds a lot to these later entries and it is missing here. That might also play into why I didn’t feel like we got enough of Moreland in the movie as he disappears for long stretches. While I dig the mystery I also look forward to a bit of silliness with these movies. 

That said we do get enough here for it to be a decent way to kill an hour. I like Toler and am always down for Mantan Moreland. And while the story is a bit of a cheat not giving the audience all the clues the pacing is brisk enough to keep the story entertaining. In the end I suppose Black Magic is not the best but still worth a watch. 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

Featured Post - Mystery Movie Marathon

I thought I'd kick the new year off with another movie marathon. I thought it was time to check out a few old school mystery flicks. Some of them are old and some of them are new. How long with the marathon run? Probably until I run out of flicks to watch or get bored of them. I'm thinking I should at least get thru the end of January.

In the past I've also gotten some feedback that many of you don't like when  I cover these old mystery movies. This is my website and I like what I like and that includes talking covering this stuff. So if you don't dig it I'm sorry but it is what it is. So without anymore delay it is time to dive in. 

Movie 1 - Black Magic aka. Meeting at Midnight (1944) - Charlie Chan goodness! Toss in Mantan Moreland for some comedic fun. The full review is here. 

Movie 2 - The Scarlet Clue (1945)  - Might as well hit you with another Charlie Chan movie. This one features a radio station setting and has one of the coolest murder methods of the series. We also get more Mantan Mooreland comedy. The review is here. 

Movie 3 - Murder by Aristocrat (1936) - This is a series that I only found last year. It is based around a nurse whose name changes due to different studios getting ahold of the property (it is based on a series of books popular in the thirties). Basically murders, weird families, and spooky houses. Check out the review here. 

Movie 4 - The Cat and the Canary (1978) - I finally got around to checking out this remake of an old favorite of mine. Sadly it lacks the chemistry of the classic Bob Hope flick and generally fails to entertain despite having a solid cast. Full review here. 

Movie 5 - Whispering Ghosts (1942) - Bob Hope was doing a lot of murder mystery/comedy mashups so it makes sense that some studio would do the same with another Vaudeville superstar, this time around Milton Berle, to cash in on what was a successful formula. Check out review here. 

Movie 6 - The Ghost that Walks Alone (1944) - Another Murder Mystery/Comedy mashup this time starring Arthur Lake from the Blondie movies! I really wanted to like this one but it is a by the numbers uninspired outing. If you must read the full review it can be found here. 

Movie 7 - The Trap (1946) - Another Charlie Chan movie for you guys. This is one of my favorites and has Chan trying to figure out who murdered a showgirl. This one features son Jimmy as well as the always hilarious Mantan Mooreland as Birmingham Brown. Check out my review at this link. 

Movie 8 - The Monster of Blackwood Castle (1968) - I've tried for many years to get into the German productions of what I guess are hugely popular Edgar Wallace novels. While I've never tried the books the few movies from the series that I've watched have been bad. I've been told this is the best of them so I thought I'd give it another shot. My review is here. 

Movie 9 - Dangerous Alibi (1946) - Decided to hit you all with another Charlie Chan flick. This time Willie Best replaces Mantan Mooreland as the comic sidekick. While not as good he still does a solid job. You can read the full review here. 

Movie 10 - A Haunting in Venice (2023) - This is another of the Kenneth Branagh adaptations of Agatha Christie's famous Belgian Detective Poirot novels. This one is very loosely adapted from Hallowe'en Party and takes some liberties with both the setting and story. But it is well worth checking out. My full review is here. 

Movie 11 - The Shanghai Cobra (1945) - Well you know I had to work another Charlie Chan movie into this marathon. Spoilers I have another one before we are all done. This time Charlie is working with son Tommy and chauffeur Birmingham Brown to sort out some shenanigans at a bank. My full review is here. 

Movie 12 - Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) - Had to squeeze an old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movie into the marathon. This is another WWII set story with Nazis spies and criminals running around. Check out my full review here. 

Movie 13 - Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938) - Lucky number thirteen is also the last entry in this year's Mystery marathon. I figured finishing things off with another Chan flick wouldn't be such a bad thing. You can check out the full review here. 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

Night of Terror (1933)

Time to dust off another oldie but maybe goodie? The movie opens with a couple in a convertible starring at the moon and stars. A creepy looking man sneaks up on them and then the camera pulls away as we hear a scream. What happened? Well, the newspaper headlines tell us that the Maniac, the name of the killer, has murdered another couple. Yeah, it didn’t end well for them at all. These is the latest murders in a spree that has been going on for a while.

We then see the Maniac sneak into an estate where the Rinehart family lives. Someone kills the patriarch, we are supposed to believe it was the Maniac, and later after the will is read we find out that the family is to spilt the inheritance evenly. The surviving members anyway… This leads to more death as there are less Rineharts left to split the cash as bodies keep popping up. There are also subplots about a friend of the family who is doing a weird experiment to prove you can live without breathing as well as a nosy reporter who is pursuing the beautiful young woman of the family, Mary. Mary is engaged to the doctor. All is revealed before the credits roll and that includes a couple fun twists.

Just a note before going any further. I enjoyed this movie despites some of the flaws I’ll mention below. I tried to write this review spoiler free, but it just didn’t work. I’m going to recommend checking it out so if you don’t want things ruined for you stop here. The movie is on YouTube as of the writing of this review so check it out.

Night of Terror is solid but not great. The story starts off with a bang but tapers off quickly with the family being introduced and time passing after the first murder in the house. I think moving time ahead a week breaks up the momentum created by the creepy opening. It does pick up towards the end but the pacing issues kick this down from being a great example of an Old Dark House style flick to being an okay one. For those unfamiliar with what I’m speaking about there was a whole subgenre of horror/mystery that involved murders, secret passages, killers hiding in the dark, and a beautiful heroine. The movie has all of these and plenty of it. The name comes from the first movie to do this but has it’s origins in some very popular and creepy stage plays from the twenties.

The cast is solid with the best performance coming from a very familiar face, Bela Lugosi, who plays the manservant and vaguely mystical Degar. He is used very well as a red herring. I mean of course Dracula guy had to be the killer, right? Nope. Though it a fun twist he does get to play the Maniac under piles of makeup. Another actor is credited with the role, but it is clearly Lugosi creeping around in the dark. I suppose he did get to be the killer though again maybe not. In another fun twist the Maniac is killing folks but here is used as cover for one of the family members who is knocking off the others to make his share of the inheritance even higher. There is a lot going on with Night of Terror and I’m all about it.

I should mention the other criticism I have about the movie is that we get zero chance of figuring out who the killer is. This leans more into the horror and less into the mystery, so I don’t think that is a dealbreaker for me. But it does need to be acknowledged. I almost included it in the mystery marathon but decided against it.

You already know that I’m recommending this one and that you can find it on YouTube. This is one of those public domain movies that are well worth spending an hour on. Lugosi was way more than just Dracula and this is one of the best examples of that fact. This is best watched in the dark without distractions (put the damn phone down!).

 

© Copyright 2023 John Shatzer

You’ll Never See Me Again (1973)

A couple is on a picnic being all “lovey dovey” and eating candy bars. Hey man it is a made for television flick so don’t expect much more than that. But it does establish the fact that they are married and in love. Though later when they return home and the woman, her name is Vicki, gets a latter from her estranged mother there is a fight. She wants to go see her for the first time in years while he needs to go to his architect job stuff. This leads to him hitting her and her dropping the line “You’ll never see me again!” as she storms out.

When she doesn’t return the next day her husband, Ned, goes looking for her. But she is nowhere to be found and the police can’t help him beyond taking him to see a woman in the hospital that turns out not to be Vicki. Ned starts to retrace her steps and along the way finds a sketchy gas station mechanic, played by Bo Svenson, who turns out to be a red herring. Eventually he finds his way back to Vicki’s home and meets her mother, for the first time which may be important, only to be told she never made it there. Of course, the cops start to suspect him after someone plants Vicki’s bloody dress in his car and makes an anonymous phone call. But not to worry as it is all resolved before the credits roll.

For the most part I’ve enjoyed checking out these old made for television movies, but much like every other genre they can’t all be good. You’ll Never See Me Again isn’t good. The pacing is terrible. There are a lot of very “talky” scenes with characters droning on about things that in the end don’t move the story along and just serve to pad things out. Sure, the gas station attendant bit was a needed red herring, but did we need to see Ned also track down and yell at the man who gave Vicky a ride? All that does is let him know she did get to her mother’s house. I have other examples, like the subplot of him being framed and the cops trying to arrest him, but none of that serves to further the mystery. Though I guess it does up the ante and add consequences to our main character. But it is still tedious.

Speaking of the mystery it may be due to me watching a ton of mystery movies but the moment the characters made such a huge deal about him never having met her mother whom she was estranged from I knew exactly what the hell was going to happen. Along the way the feeble attempts at misdirection never made me thing for a second that my initial idea was wrong. The other attempt at surprising the audience involving Ned noticing that a room is off somehow isn’t a surprise. I mean they beat you over the head with it so you know that it has to be important later. Spoilers… it is.

One of the things that you have heard me talk about in many of my reviews is that I love the fact that these made for television movies couldn’t just lean into the violence and sleaze due to censors. That normally makes for a well written and fun watch. I can’t say that this movie falls into that category as it is about as generic and by the numbers as you can get. This totally wastes performances from David Hartman, Jane Wyatt, and the familiar face (at least to genre fans) of Ralph Meeker.

Hell, I haven’t even mentioned the fact that our heroic husband slaps the hell out of his wife and that is I guess something the audience is supposed to ignore and accept. Times have changed and for the better. I can’t recommend wasting your time on this one.

 

© Copyright 2023 John Shatzer