Murder Over New York

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 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.

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 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.

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.