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In what would become his last role as the acclaimed detective Charlie Chan, Sidney Toler shares the screen with his former colleagues Victor Sen Yung, who played Number Two Son, and Mantan Moreland, who played Birmingham Brown.
In this picture, we see Chan traveling with two less-than-competent detectives on a bus to San Francisco where a series of “dirty deeds” as Chan puts it, await him. A case of a headless torso is somehow missing a grandmother’s missing granddaughter which raises a lot of questions, especially when Chan gets shot at during a layover at a bus depot. Speaking of missing granddaughters, our grandmother is played by Mary Gordon who was also Mrs. Hudson in the Rathbone-Homes series.
With the help of his son who is good for nothing, the chauffeur, Toler as Chan puts it, uncovers his granddaughter’s connection to an escort service. But these days, it doesn’t take a detective long to solve a case, especially when they are wired as Chan is and are constantly led astray by their assistant.
At this point in the Chan cycle, the series had shifted to low-budget producers, Monogram. Terry Morse directed this installment as he did for the next entry in the series, Dangerous Money. Following the passing of Warner Oland in 1938, Toler of course had taken over as the film detective. I believe he took on the Chan role in a total of 22 films. Many of the best films made about him were owned by Twentieth Century Fox, but they relocated to monogram and lowered budgets.
However, that does not mean that these movies are less enjoyable. There has been a lot of discourse regarding the Chan films over time, and I am in no position to offer any politically charged opinions on them. The bottom line is, I find them enjoyable and have done so over the years. I know will continue to do so in the future as well. My only hope is that one day the four early missing titles from this series with Warner Oland will appear.
For my comic relief, they suit me just fine. I have always had a swell time watching Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan and Mantan Moreland as the timid assistant who is perpetually terrified. The assaults on Moreland are yet another “Chang story” that is, unfortunately, sad. This guy always puts a smile on my face, just like Lou Costello, Huntz Hall, and the Three Stooges. That works for me.
If you happen to care, this one can be found among a collection of Chan titles issued by WB.
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