Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) Collection

Sidney Toler

Mantan Moreland

Victor Sen Yung

Tanis Chandler

John Gallaudet

Paul Bryar

Bruce Kellogg

Al Bridge

Mary Gordon

Dorothy Granger

Jack Norton

George Eldredge

Tyra Vaughn

Lyle Latell

Mira McKinney

Raymond L. Schrock

Earl Derr Biggers

Terry O. Morse

Mystery

Comedy

Crime

Thriller

Shadows Over Chinatown

Monogram Pictures

United States of America

CinemaSerf

I was generally a fan of the "Charlie Chan" movies with Sidney Toler and this is one of the better ones. To San Francisco he and fairly hapless No. 2 son "Jimmy" (Victor Sen Yung) travel to assist their police with a mysterious murder investigation. That's not all, though. There's a missing person to be found too. "Mary" (Tanis Chandler) has gone awol and her doting mother (Mary Gordon) and her rather drippy fiancé "Jeff" (Bruce Kellogg) are at their wits end. It doesn't help that our sleuthing genius quickly discovers that this absentee once worked with his original victim. The plot thickens and the pair - assisted ably by the cowardy custard, and only sparingly used, "Birmingham Brown" (Mantan Moreland) - must get to the bottom of things before "Mary" comes a cropper. The plot here is a bit more internecine and sophisticated than with many of these adventures. That said, there is a maybe just a little too much coincidence as the thing progresses but I'm sure "Charlie" would have a profound ancestral adage for there being no such thing as luck! There's the tinies of twists at the end and en route it moves along well for an hour. It's always nice to see the original and best Holmesian "Mrs. Hudson" in a film, too!

English

Italiano