El castillo del desierto

I caught this movie on the FOX MOVIE CHANNEL which had pulled it's CHARLIE CHAN month long marathon due to protests from Asian Americans. FMC resumed showing the Chan movies in September, bookending the movies with discussions by prominent Asian-Americans inluding George (Mr. Sulu)Takei who explored the racial issues of the movies.

I respect the discomfort and resentment the CHARLIE CHAN movies cause Asian Americans and there are some blatantly racial comments in this movie. There's a part where Charlie enters a hotel to await a car and the hotel manager takes one look at him and says; "Chop Suey salesman, eh? I hate the stuff!" that frankly made me cringe. But these movies have a historical value beyond simple entertainment. They remind us of how we once acted and thought of other races and other people. Even though Charlie Chan is a respected and internationally famous detective, he is still based on his appearance and skin color. Maybe we haven't come so far since this movie was made.

Taken strictly as entertainment, though, CASTLE IN THE DESERT is a nifty murder mystery with an eccentric cast of characters trapped in a remote location with a murderer running around loose. One character is a descendant of Lucrezia Borgia. Another is a fortune teller whose predictions actually DO come true. Charlie Chan and Number 2 son do a great job of finding the true murderer and putting things aright. The plot is perhaps more complicated than it needs to be but that's the great thing about those 30's/40's murder mysteries: it wasn't that easy to guess who was the killer. Despite the unplesant racial remarks, CASTLE IN THE DESERT is a fine entry in the CHARLIE CHAN series. I enjoyed it a lot. Lots of humor and sharp, witty dialog and great atmospheric sets.

Charlie Chan, who's just planning a little vacation with son Jimmy, gets a letter from a Mrs. Manderley, née Lucrezia Borgia (!), who summons him urgently to Manderley castle because she fears for her life... And THERE we've got a classic isolated old mansion if ever there was one: Mr. Manderley, a famous historian, has built his castle in the middle of the Mojave desert, complete with a vault full of poison bottles and Renaissance torture instruments, with no electricity and no phone - and very soon the distributor of the only car available is stolen as well, which leaves the persons present in TOTAL isolation - except for Jimmy, of course, who finds his way to the castle together with a strange old lady with spiritualistic gifts, Madame Saturnia...

And very soon it is revealed that recently, a genealogist who wanted to investigate on Mrs. Manderley's Borgia family tree (although she seems perfectly alright, her step-brother was a mad poisoner...) was poisoned in the castle - but strangely, Madame Saturnia insists that 'the finger of Isis has never touched this house'... yet...

She also warns Charlie to 'watch out for an arrow' - and very soon, arrows from an old crossbow start flying through the castle halls, dangerously near to our detective hero! And the suspects are plenty: Mrs. Manderley (who insists she didn't write the note to Charlie, and that her step-brother is dead; another thing Madame Saturnia denies vehemently...), Mr. Manderley, who wears a mask over one side of his face (a result of an accident, he explains), Dr. Retling, whose death certificate for the genealogist is being questioned by private eye Fletcher, Mr. Hartford, Manderley's attorney, who together with his wife seems to be seeking to take control of the Manderley fortune, and sculptor Watson King, who reveals himself as yet another private detective hired by Mrs. Manderley... Make your choice!

The creepy atmosphere of the old castle of course makes this entry in the 'Charlie Chan' series another immensely entertaining whodunit; and the cast is also superb: apart from distinguished British star Henry Daniell as Watson King and Douglas Dumbrille as Manderley, we also meet again with some of the cast members of that magnificent Charlie Chan movie "Dead Men Tell" from the previous year: Milton Parsons, Lenita Lane - and Ethel Griffies, giving once again a FORMIDABLE performance as the mysterious Madame Saturnia. Jimmy as always adds lots of fun, disguised in a medieval armor - a great mystery movie that shouldn't be missed by any fan of the genre!

Lucy Manderley makes a brusque announcement: "Two things we never discuss in this house—my family and Paul's accident." –Her husband Paul wears a mask that covers half of his face; Lucy herself is descended from the Borgias of Renaissance Italy, renowned for power and poison. "This house" is the Manderley estate, a lonely medieval-style castle stuck out in the desert.

Charlie Chan is on hand at said estate—but the urgent invitation he answered was apparently a fake. Has Mr. Chan been summoned to witness a murder or provide an alibi? Sidney Toler is steady as always as he attempts to find out.

Eerie music, dimly lit castle sets and some good shadowy camera work create an appropriately spooky atmosphere for this fairly standard but highly enjoyable Chan mystery.

Among the entertaining cast on hand at the old dark castle are Douglass Dumbrille as the odd Mr. Manderley and Lenita Lane as his nervous wife; Henry Daniell as mysterious sculptor Watson King; and Ethel Griffies as Madame Saturnia, a spooky soothsayer whose predictions all involve death.

Sen Yung also offers assistance as Jimmy Chan. On a week's leave from the Army, Jimmy tells his Pop that "What I'd like now is the relaxation of a good murder case." He finds a suit of armor a good hiding place to spy from, but keeps getting pushed over and tumbling down flights of stairs….

The plot involves a couple of murders by poison—pointing suspicion at Lucy Manderley, the only possibly-unbalanced Borgia in the group. Other elements adding to the mystery include a sleeping potion like the one Shakespeare's Juliet took, and the early disappearance of the only vehicle's distributor, leaving the entire group stranded and cut off.

Overall, it's a fairly standard Charlie Chan: a decent mystery plot featuring a few chills, a fair mix of comedy, and a bit of action as well. Very entertaining for fans.

Final Fox Chan film leaves us somewhat dissatisfied despite a complicated but enjoyable plot. There is a body within the first few minutes, sufficient suspects, ties to the Borgia family, lots of misdirection and clues, and Chan once again dodging arrows. The characters are marooned in an eerie reconstructed medieval castle (complete with a dungeon in the basement) located in the Mojave Desert. For a change, it is possible to figure out the ending ahead of or along with Chan. $20M is a great incentive for crime.

Sidney Toler does good job at discovering a mystery and solving murder but fails to perform his usual wrap up at the end clarifying all of the loose ends. Son Jimmy (on leave from the Army) assists Pop without resorting to too much comedy. Pop takes US Army Carrier Pigeon No. 13576 with him to the desert but alas, the pigeon succumbs to the poison nightshade. `Man without enemies like dog without fleas.'

Good supporting cast. Ethel Griffies and Milton Parsons return to play small but effective roles. Only a few (unnecessary) racial slurs. Some interesting camera work with the use of shadows to convey danger. By the way, there is a real castle in the desert, Scotty's Castle, now part of Death Valley National Park. And I suspect that hotels in the region now rent rooms for more than $2/night! Recommended.

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is summoned to a mysterious castle in the Mojave Desert where a bizarre masked man (Douglas Dumbrille) lives with his wife, a descendant of the famous Borgia family. There are also several other guests at the castle. When one of them is poisoned, Charlie must investigate with meddlesome son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung).

The last of the 20th Century Fox Charlie Chan films is one of the weirdest. The plot, at its heart, is a simple old dark house mystery. But the setting here, a castle in a desert, is different enough to keep things somewhat fresh. Also the eccentric characters help out a lot. It's an enjoyable entry in the Fox series. Not the best or worst but somewhere in the middle. Sadly, the quality would drop considerably when the series moved to Monogram a couple of years later.