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I love the Chan series but it takes an element of disbelief. You have to either accept (or ignore) the fact that Charlie never seems to spend much time in Hawaii (making one wonder what the Honolulu PD actually pays him to do) and much like Philo Vance or Nick Charles, has some sort-of official status everywhere he goes. And if you watch enough of these, you begin to see the same Fox contract players popping up over and over again as red herrings, jilted lovers and "adventuresses." This '40 entry has Charlie coincidentally meeting up with an old friend (bad omen--- his friends have a shorter life expectancy than the doomed red shirted yeomen beamed down in Star Trek episodes) Scotland Yard on a plane en route to a police convention. Charlie enlists himself in solving his friend's murder and by default, the case he was working on. No. 2 son Jimmy Chan (played by 25-year old Victor Sen Yung) seems to exist to state obvious inane comments or offer wildly improbable facts--- most notably identifying a new poison gas by smell (he must be a whizz undergrad back in California). Watch for Shemp Howard as a phony Hindu in a line up and future Captain Marvel Frank Coghlan Jr. in a bit part as a coat room clerk in a men's club. This is a fair entry but suffers somewhat from the lack of an exotic setting (Paris, Berlin... Reno!) or the occasional supernatural elements found in several of the others (...Egypt, ...Secret, Castle in the Desert). It's one of the most straight forward whodunits of the entire Fox films.

Charlie Chan flies in to New York for the big police convention. His flight lands, he's greeted by old friend Inspector Vance (Donald MacBride), and who should come rushing out onto the runway but—Jimmy Chan?

Sidney Toler and Sen Yung are excellent as always as Pop Chan and Number Two Son. Jimmy, it turns out, has come to New York with a college buddy to see the World's Fair—he figured he could ask permission once he got there.

The Chans are soon on a case, this one jump started—as is frequently the case—by the murder of a fellow detective. Their investigation delves into the suspicious crash of a newly designed airplane, a deadly supply of poison gas pellets, and the usual assortment of suspicious characters.

Donald MacBride offers good support as the police detective who looks to Mr. Chan for guidance and is even impressed with Jimmy Chan's detecting abilities. (The elder Chan is dubious but resigned: "Aid from number two son like interest on mortgage…impossible to escape.")

Ricardo Cortez is an executive with the company building the new planes; Kane Richmond an engineer; Robert Lowery and Marjorie Weaver a frightened young couple; and Joan Valerie (who had just appeared in a different role in the previous Chan movie) an actress mixed up in it somewhere. —No shortage of familiar faces for B movie fans, that's for sure.

It's a nicely worked up plot, and the couple of action sequences are well staged and exciting. The series was really rolling along at this point—and this entry is no disappointment.

Charlie's in New York catching pre-war spies with wise-cracking #2 son, Victor Sen-Yung. They make a delightful team. Yes, it's unfortunate that blacks are stereotyped, but we're certainly intelligent enough to place this within the proper prospective.

As with every Chan film in the 30s & 40s, the film shows Charlie's high sense of family values, and he is accorded respect like no other character in the film as he easily outwits dimwitted white chief detective Don McBride and the others.

Overall, the Chan series are an honorable and respectable part of our film history - and they're fun and entertaining as hell. These films deserve to be seen as often as any other film of the era.

Please pass the popcorn and leave your over-sensitive political correctness at the door. It's show time!

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is headed to a police convention in New York City when he reconnects with an old colleague on the plane ride. The old friend is now working for British military intelligence in the war effort, and he tells Charlie that he's on the trail of saboteurs after bomber planes. When Chan's buddy ends up murdered, Charlie takes on the case.

This Chan entry, the last of four released in 1940, has a few unusual characteristics. The most obvious is dropping the "Charlie Chan" name from the title. In fact, even in the opening credits Toler's name is listed last. Director Lachman had helmed Charlie Chan at the Circus back in 1936, and his return to the series sees some distinctive visual touches, like a more mobile camera; heavy (if at times corny) use of shadows, with menacing disguised figures lurking behind our hero; and lots of close-ups of actors giving suspicious looks. It's enjoyable if one doesn't take it too seriously, but it can seem almost comical. The cast is good, although Cortez is wasted.

This Charlie Chan mystery is a misnomer. There is no Murder Over New York, but not for lack of trying. And the attempt is made at the climax of the film so that Sidney Toler can get the murderer of three people to give himself away.

Toler and number two son Victor Sen Yung are in New York for a police convention and Toler runs into a former Scotland Yard colleague Frederic Worlock who is on the trail of an international spy. Later on Worlock is found dead. Two other murders are committed.

Note the presence of a lot of Hollywood's British colony here. Some are suspects, some are not. A whole lot of the cast has played villains in other films so that affords you no clue. The ultimate mastermind is someone who has played some incredibly slimy bad guys on screen.

Quite a curve gets tossed us toward the end as all the suspects are put in a plane and are meant to be killed. Of course they're not as Charlie Chan gets his man.

One of the best of the Sidney Toler Chan films.

This film is about a deadly poison that is contained in small glass globes that is used to kill. This is apparently done to hide an espionage ring intent on stealing plans for a new American bomber. Now much of this plot was repeated in other Chan films, THE JADE MASK and THE DOCKS OF NEW ORLEANS. Additionally, it was first used in MR. WONG, DETECTIVE--all had the exploding glass globes--a plot element that obviously has been overused. It was interesting in MURDER OVER NEW YORK, but by these later films it was rather passé.

Fortunately, the rest of the film was fresh and the plot worked out very well--with a nifty conclusion where, of course, the culprit reveals himself. However, no plane could fly the way this one did--especially in 1940. Such extreme dives and rapid ascents were pretty silly out of this already obsolete plane.

By the way, in a small role as a porter you'll see Frank Coghlan Jr.--the same actor who played Billy Batson in the CAPTAIN MARVEL serial. According to IMDb, Mr. Coughlan is 93 years old and retired from the film industry.

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is full of clever sayings in Murder in New York, from 1940. Also starring is Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan. They make a delightful team. Jimmy shows up unexpectedly while Charlie is in New York to attend a conference. He and a friend of his want to attend the World's Fair.

It's not long before both Chans are on a case, when a friend of Charlie's, a detective, is murdered. Soon they're in the midst of the investigation of a sabotage ring, people being killed by poison gas pellets, an airplane crash, and plenty of suspects. The police ask Charlie to stick around and help. I don't think he gets to his conference, and Jimmy doesn't see the World's Fair, at least not yet.

Donald McBride, Ricardo Cortez, Kane Richmond, Robert Lowery, Marjorie Weaver, and Joan Valerie are all featured.

It's a fair mystery, enlivened by Charlie's witty dialogue. Frankly, any one of these films that has something to do with the war basically have similar plots: sabotage, missing formulas, spies, that type of thing.

Sidney Toler is in good form. I have to say I prefer Warner Oland, who seemed to exhibit more energy and was more upbeat. Toler's humor comes from his sardonic line delivery and good chemistry with the actors. Both brought something special to the role.

Whether the story is bad, good, confusing, whatever, with stereotypes abounding, somehow these films are always enjoyable.

Murder Over New York is one of the better Chan mysteries and I've just seen this for the first time.

In this one, Charlie Chan is visiting New York to attend a police convention. At the same time, people who are involved with aircraft plants are being murdered and he decides to help with the investigation, along with his Number 2 son. These murders turn out to be the results of sabotage at the aircraft plants and Chan helps to identify the murderer...

Charlie Chan is played well by Sidney Toler and the rest of the cast includes Sen Yung as his Number 2 son and Marjorie Weaver.

I rather liked this mystery and is worth having if you like this sort of thing.

Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.

An old friend of Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is murdered. Charlie's investigation puts him on the trail of a mysterious man known as Paul Narvo. If he can figure out the identity of Narvo, he can solve the murder. With unwanted help from "Number Two Son" Jimmy, of course.

Fairly routine Charlie Chan mystery. Toler is solid as Charlie and Victor Sen Yung is good fun as Jimmy. Donald MacBride plays the police inspector who would be lost without Charlie's help. The suspects are made up of Ricardo Cortez, Robert Lowery, Melville Cooper, John Sutton, and pretty Joan Valerie. Marjorie Weaver is over-the-top in her performance as a woman who used to be married to Narvo. Also an amusing appearance from Shemp Howard. Not bad but not one of the series' best.

Though I have certainly seen more than my share of movies in my lifetime, I have to admit that "Murder Over New York" is my very first Charlie Chan movie. One reason why I put off seeing any Charlie Chan movies for a long time was that I found the idea of a Caucasian playing an Asian to be insulting. While I would have preferred an Asian to play Charlie Chan (and wished that Chan would have spoken fluent English), I have to admit that Sidney Toler gave a warm and likable performance as the detective. And I was pleased to see that his character was treated with respect and likability by his policeman peers and other characters. As for the rest of the movie, it's in large part a fairly standard 1940s murder mystery, but it does keep you guessing for a long time, and at 65 minutes it doesn't overstay its welcome. And in the end, it was entertaining enough for me that I will give another Charlie Chan movie a chance in the future should one cross my path again.

This episode is, by far, the most stylish, with a touch of film noir added to the mystery. Charlie is back in New York City, attending a police convention, when one of his old colleagues from Scotland Yard is murdered. I agree with the last reviewer, should you be a long time acquaintance of Charlie's, your days are numbered. Period.

What set apart the Sidney Toler whodunits from the Warner Oland mysteries, were the introduction of some intriguing death traps. Case to be made here.

The killer, a very clever spy, eliminates his victims with a poison gas placed inside a small glass sphere. All he has to do is simply throw it at his intended victim. No fingerprints and very little evidence to make a connection.

Lester Ziffren, who wrote the later Fox episodes for Toler, does a splendid job with the script, and with a host of red-herrings. It's episodes like this that may have inspired the PERRY MASON tv series, lining up all the suspicious faces. There are many to choose. Excellent direction from Harry Lachman, who also headed the later episodes, with the exception of one Warner Oland episode, CHARLIE CHAN AT THE CIRCUS (1936).

Guessing the killer is a labor of love for all us mystery buffs. This one is difficult.

Superb cast, lead by pretty Marjorie Weaver as Patricia, Robert Lowery (returning to the series), playing David Elliot and best of the red-herrings, Ricardo Cortez (as Kirby), the owner of an aircraft company. Cortez is a standout, as usual. Scowling Donald MacBride makes a perfect police inspector.

Victor Sen Yung a hoot as Jimmy Chan, although his college science background is an asset to the case.

If you're keeping tabs, an episode chock full of Charlie's famous "Chan-O-Grams," or wise sayings, which are priceless. Again thanks to writer Lester Ziffren, whose wife's uncle was producer Sol Wurtzel.

Top adventure, featuring a tense finale inside an experimental plane. Watch everyone's faces. The exterior shots of the plane reveal it to be a Lockheed Model 10, the same model piloted by Amelia Earhart on her final journey, from which she disappeared. Notes indicate the movie plane may have been a war model for the government. It's sleek. Possibly filmed at Burbank Airport as the tower looks familiar.

Always on dvd, best box set from Fox, CHARLIE CHAN, VOLUME 3. Also featuring CHARLIE CHAN AT THE WAX MUSEUM and CHARLIE CHAN IN PANAMA, many others. 4 dvd set. Released 2008. Includes theatrical trailers, stills and interviewers. A must for collectors. Thanks much to RETRO TV for running these golden oldies Friday afternoons.

In watching the entire Charlie Chan canon, there is one consistent issue. That is the trust that Charlie puts in his own son. There are at least five goof ups due to him; not to mention his constantly tampering with evidence and shooting off his mouth. I realize that these are part of the comic relief, but sometimes they cross over into potential danger for other people. Putting that little complaint aside, this was quite an entertaining offering. It involves sabotage once again. There is a test plane at the center of it and concern that someone may try to put a wrench in the works. The use of poison gas is front and center and the identity of a man known for his terrorism. We have the repeated business of a person in authority wanting the spotlight, but Chan is ultimately in control. I like this one.

In another pre-war sabotage warning, Sidney Toler (as Charlie Chan) protects America's military production while explaining: `One man with gun have more authority than whole army with no ammunition.' Fair series entry with only a slight chance that the viewer will be able to predict the guilty party. As in many of the early Chan films, key information known only to the detective is not revealed until after the solution is announced. On the other hand, there is at least one good clue that might point you in the right direction. `Wishful thinking sometimes lead to blind alley.'

Former Scotland Yard Inspector Hugh Drake is killed prior to sharing information that would lead to the identity of mastermind killer and saboteur Paul Narvo. Mrs. Narvo has escaped from her husband and fears he will kill her since she knows of his escapades. Just enough misdirection and alternative suspects to keep it interesting. Chan is `aided' by his `favorite son' Jimmy in identifying presence of poison gas `tetrogene' and in finding Drake's killer, Chan and the police prevent the loss of a bomber TR-4 (played by the Lockheed Loadstar which is in fact pressed into wartime service as both a bomber and cargo plane) while undergoing a test flight over New York.

Racial slurs re-introduced in this film – dialog should probably be cut when shown today since it adds nothing. Closing credits list Marjorie Weaver as playing the part of Patricia Shaw while in film she uses the alias Patria West and her Scotland Yard Criminal Investigation Bureau card shows her maiden name as Miriam Shaw.

Fair mystery best recommended only for those who want to see the entire series.

"Murder Over New York" is fun, but not as good as most of the other Fox Chans. This film would have been better named, "Charlie Chan in New York", the film's working title. This is Toler's chance to play Chan in the Big Apple. There is a lot to like here, though, including guest star Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges.

This has one of my favorite Chan sayings, "Coincidence like ancient egg--leave unpleasant odour." Toler and Yung are good in this one and so is the supporting cast. But there is little or no mysterious atmosphere which I look for in these films. Still, it is good to see.