Charlie Chan im Wachsfigurenkabinett

This may be the highest ranked Charlie Chan film on this entire website. I feel bad for not being as captured by it as most people do. When you have a movie series with literally dozens of entries, it's easy to see them becoming episodic. It seems like less a movie and more like just a long episode of a TV show. In fact, "Columbo", another detective series actually did have episodes that were this long. That being said, this is still a good movie. I am starting to get more familiar with the characters, especially Charlie Chan's son, Jimmy.

I really do like how they mixed up the formula a bit here. This wasn't really a simple murder mystery. It was interesting to see Charlie find new light shed on an old case. Was there another movie about that? There's so many characters that have distinct roles it's hard to keep up. There's just so much going on with which character was supposed to die, which one was manipulated, and how someone even died. It's not a mystery to the audience as much, but more to the characters. I still like this dynamic and would recommend this. Uh, sorry I couldn't keep up with the plot that well! ***

A convicted murderer (Marc Lawrence) escapes and vows revenge on Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler). He receives help from an unscrupulous doctor who lures Charlie to his wax museum for a radio show on criminal cases. I realize that sentence doesn't make a lot of sense but trust me it works out okay. "Number Two Son" Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) is especially high-strung in this one. Chan series vet C. Henry Gordon plays humorously-named villain Dr. Cream. Joan Valerie and Marguerite Chapman provide the pretty. Spooky wax museum backdrop is a plus. This one's got lots of suspects and atmosphere to spare. There are also quite a few implausibilities so be prepared to suspend disbelief more than usual. Still, it's good fun.

Of all the Chans that I know, this is both the best and the most interesting.

The setting is really cool. Its a wax museum where contemporary crimes are displayed, using personalities that are alive and are among the statues of themselves. It is also a plastic surgery where crooks get their faces changed. And thirdly it is the site of a broadcast radio show where unsolved crimes are re-enacted on-air.

It sounds complicated, and it is. But it is all done very matter of factly, so that these three very clever notions overlap and sometimes merge. Regular readers of my comments know that I love this sort of stuff, stuff I call "folding." Folding is stuff that plays with the notions of representation, and the fun is in how the movieness can play with itself, presenting to us and at the same time noodling with what it means to present.

Detecting in folds has always been a way of discovering narrative. Charlie Chan mysteries aren't the most cerebral of things along these lines. And the actual mystery here is impossible for the audience to anticipate. Its just revealed.

But in just the form of the thing, its great fun. It even has a chess-playing machine, a pretty savvy reference to a fourth fold. (One of the earliest

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Dr. Cream's wax museum hosts a weekly "Crime League" radio broadcast: renowned detectives revisit famous unsolved crimes and debate various solutions.

Charlie Chan reluctantly accepts a challenge to appear on the program to discuss the controversial Rock Case—which culminated, he has long been convinced, in the execution of an innocent man. Little does Mr. Chan know that he himself is now being set up….

Sidney Toler is excellent as the master sleuth in this prime Charlie Chan mystery, one of the series' most memorable. It's a mostly serious Chan we see here—unflappable, quick thinking, even gutsy—and Toler appears to inhabit the character effortlessly.

Sen Yung is good as usual as Jimmy Chan—sneaking in, snooping around, making himself invaluable despite his pop's protests.

Marc Lawrence is the escaped murderer out to get Chan for helping convict him; C. Henry Gordon the shady Dr. Cream, wax dummy creator and sometime plastic surgeon; Joan Valerie the museum assistant who doesn't mind gangsters hiding out in the basement but argues that a murder on the site will ruin their whole setup.

The "crime museum" provides a suitably spooky atmosphere, and a convoluted enough plot keeps viewers as well as detectives guessing who is who. Definitely a top notch Chan mystery.

After first seeing Warner Oland play Charlie Chan in a half-dozen or more pictures, this was my first look at Sidney Toler playing the famous detective. At first I thought he was a distant second to Oland but I have grown to like his version almost as much.

Sen Yung was almost as good as Keye Luke, too, as one of Chan's sons and helpers. Yung plays son "Jimmy" and adds a lot of humor to the movie.

What was really fun about this movie were all the varied characters. There were all kinds of suspects at the wax museum and many pretending to be statutes. The film was humorous and fascinating. Toler's films tended to have more humor in them. I enjoyed ogling Marguerite Chapman in this film.

So far, no announcement of this on DVD, but I expect since the others are slowing being released.