Charlie Chan en Mexico

This one gets my vote for the weakest Chan film starring the great Sidney Toler. Even Toler's superb acting skills cannot get this inert mass airborne, unfortunately.

If you looked at this film on paper, so to speak, it seems like it should work. We get a quite good premise, and the cast of supporting characters aren't bad. I think the fault likes in the direction, because the pace of this film is sometimes painfully slow. To me, there often is little sense of dramatic tension or excitement. With all the other Chan films, there's more sense of fun and energy than I find here. I say that as someone who has seen all the films, and liked all but this one, to varying degrees. I also think the Monogram films are unjustly underrated, because they are good packages of entertainment. I'll watch this one again at some point, but it's last on my list.

Sometimes I dread watching some of the later Monogram Chan's, but this one was a pleasure to watch. It's a friendly Chan that's easy to digest. The story is not convoluted with so many twists and turns that you need to take notes to follow the story. This one's pretty basic. Atom bomb secrets are stolen in Checkoslovakia and end up in Mexico City. A secret govt. agent who is watching the thief gets murdered in a mysterious way - one gun shot is heard, but two bullets are found. There are a group of suspects for the murder, and they're all looking for the secret papers. It's Charlie's job to find the papers first, and then find the murderer.

I like the clue the govt. agent leaves on the typewriter as he is dying. It's fun trying to figure out what the message means. If you can do it the first time you watch this flick, you are smarter than me. The way the people are murdered is pretty ingenious, which adds to the mystery. Also, I liked the fact that Chattanooga and #3 son had limited roles in this flick. The focus of these movies should be Charlie and the mystery he is trying to solve, but too many times the mood is destroyed in the name of comedy relief. Thankfully, Red Dragon doesn't have much of that. Another nice aspect was the amount of sets and locations. It helped give the movie a nice flow - it never got bogged down or boring. Sometimes these cheap Monogram's seem claustrophobic, slow, and boring, but this one bounced all around the city.

I read that the original running time for this movie was 64 minutes, but the one I watched last night was a hair under 59 minutes. This was a hard one to track down. It didn't seem like the missing 5 minutes hurt the story. Hopefully, it was just fluff, like Chattanooga and #3 son playing around. If you are a Chan fan and can find this one, it's well worth watching.

This is one of the 'lighter' Charlie Chan movies - almost TOO light, considering that what everybody's after here is the formula for a new, enormously powerful atomic bomb... But let's leave that aside; the film is meant as a clever and entertaining detective story, and that's what it is.

It all starts when a detective disguised as the secretary of nuclear scientist Wyans is killed VERY mysteriously while sitting in front of his typewriter: there were no less than six suspects around (and one more suspicious than the other: a gun runner, a smuggler, a Nazi propagandist, a fake countess, a girl who denies her descent from Czechoslovakia...), there was only one shot heard, but two bullets fired (one in the victim's heart, and the other one in the wall) - and no trace of a gun anywhere! Now who could solve THIS mystery, AND find the very cleverly hidden formula, with the only evidence being a bottle of Chinese 'Red Dragon' ink? Only Charlie Chan, of course!

And amidst all the hard and dangerous detective work, Tommy and Birmingham's cousin Chattanooga (played by tall, thin Willie Best, the exact opposite to short, round-faced Mantan Moreland in appearance, but almost equally marvelous at playing 'scared') of course find time to entertain us with their clumsiness both at detecting and at romancing - and we get to see even Charlie himself doing a rumba with a pretty young Chinese artist! But the BEST laugh is kept for the final scene - see for yourself...

Starts off at the US Embassy in Mexico City. Scenery of street makes Mexico city look very nice. Walter Dorn wants to get Charlie Chan to go there regarding secret plans of a Mr Wyans which someone tried to rob twice. It is kind of confusing as to what countries are dealing with who for the plans.

At the airport Chattanooga Brown is Chan's driver. When they land in Mexico City he is with Chan's son Tommy and Charlie Chan. Brown is a cousin of Birmingham Brown. Birmingham is funnier though in other episodes. Chan is waiting for Dorn to pick them up and he is told Dorn is dead.

Walter Dorn is killed at a gathering at Wayan's apartment by a gunshot. There are many people invited there. Insp.Luis Carvero takes Chan there and they did not find anyone with a gun.

Charlie Chan has some doubts' about Inspector Carvero because the Inspector has has a relationship with one of the women where Dorn was killed and Chan thinks he might be biased.

People get shot but no gun visible. Chan has to figure out what is going on. He has figured out the new plan will make a atom bomb more explosive.

So more investigating needed.

A man who has knowledge of a new element that will be used to create an enormous A- bomb is killed as he talks to a group of people who late become suspects. Since this is a matter of national security, our famous detective is called to the scene. Of course, one of his sons is there and so is Chattanooga Brown, the cousin of Birmingham Brown (the Mantan Moreland character). Because there is no identifying the bullet through ballistics, things get kind of hairy. Most of the suspects are spies or others who have done some evil dealings in the past. Soon, murders are being committed. Sometimes the humor gets in the way . Can one imagine something as serious as a nuclear weapon being created as these guys bumble around. Nevertheless, it still has some charm.