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Excellent series entry and one of Sidney Toler's best Chan films. New direction by Lynn Shores gives this series a new look and feel. The most significant feature of this film is the mixing of suspicious characters with very realistic wax figures in the dark dungeon-like Dr. Cream's Chamber of Horrors on the New York waterfront (admission 25¢) Naturally it is raining outside most of the time (thunder and lightening to boot) and the lights keep going out.

Witty dialog add to the enjoyment. Chan provides his usual pearls of wisdom: `Knowledge only gained through curiosity,' `Mice only play when cat supposed to be in bed,' and `Sometimes better to see and not tell…' We can thank writer John Larkin who also penned a few other good Chan films including `Charlie Chan at Treasure Island.'

The story unfolds quickly and the comic relief provided by Jimmy Chan is more subtle than it other entries. Plenty of suspects, lots of misdirection, more than enough clues, and in the end Chan reveals what he knew that could not be known by the viewer; i.e. you can only guess who is the killer. Nevertheless, just sit back and enjoy this one. My wife even liked it. Highly recommended.

Dangerous McBirney, who's just been sentenced to death on the evidence Charlie Chan gave, escapes and heads directly for an old acquaintance, Dr. Cream, once a famous facial surgeon (with his 'best' clients being from the underworld), to get a 'new' face from him; but Dr. Cream has gone into another business now: he's the owner of a wax museum of crime - and exactly from there a radio reporter decides to make a broadcast on the infamous Rocke case, where an innocent man was executed, as Charlie had always pointed out; and of course, he invites Charlie as well as his 'antagonist' Dr. Von Brom, who insists that Rocke was guilty.

Now can you imagine a more appropriate setting for a creepy, mysterious murder mystery with more and more complications coming up and confusing us as well as Charlie (and Jimmy, who as usual finds his way in through some rear window) than a 'Crime Museum', full of dummies portraying murderers with guns and daggers in their hands, jail cells, gallows, executioner's axes and electric chairs...? And the ruthless killers, who are after Charlie because he helped convict McBirney, intend to use the latter in a VERY diabolical way...

There are so many different murder cases intertwined here that in the end we really don't know anymore who's who (especially since there's someone here who can 'change' faces) and who's after whom; and so we all (especially Jimmy...) witness some REALLY frightening scenes in this eerie 'House of Wax' - a movie which provides us with absolutely GREAT crime entertainment, a 'must' for every fan of the genre!

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! ***

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.

Charlie Chan At The Wax Museum opens with a dramatic courtroom escape by Marc Lawrence who has vowed to get Charlie Chan for supplying the evidence that has earned him a trip to old Sparky at Sing Sing. Lawrence books for the wax museum where owner/exhibitor C. Henry Gordon is a plastic surgeon and the place is just a hideout for criminals seeking new faces.

As it turns out there is to be a broadcast tonight from the museum where dueling detectives Sidney Toler and former Berlin police detective Michael Visaroff will debate a past crime where Toler feels the wrong man was hanged. It's where Lawrence plans some fiendish revenge on Charlie Chan. But it's Visaroff who winds up dead and Lawrence who spends most of the film in facial bandages also dies. It's another killer with a whole different agenda that Toler and number two son Victor Sen Yung have to find.

It's the usual suspect soup at the wax museum, but the film is unusual in that Charlie Chan is the target and nearly gets done in by the killer. That little twist makes Charlie Chan At The Wax Museum one of the best Charlie Chan films in the series.

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.

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.

This is another fine example of how good Toler can be in a Chan film if he is surrounded by spooky atmosphere, a good supporting cast, and a fine script. Most of the movie takes place inside the wax museum providing a great back drop for all the goings on. This is one of the best of the series. Good to watch on a rainy night.

Sidney Toler is Charlie Chan in "Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum" from 1940, and Victor Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan.

A murderer on death row, Steve McBirney, escapes from a courthouse, bent on revenge against the main witness for the prosecution, Charlie.

He hides out at a local wax museum, which is run by a doctor specializing in plastic surgery for criminals. Also, every week, a radio show about famous crimes takes place at the museum.

Charlie agrees to be on the show to debate him about a man Charlie believes was innocent. This gives McBirney his chance. Lots happens, including Jimmy mistaking dummies for the real people (including his own father).

Good mystery with a strong atmosphere, a poison dart murder, and a woman seeking to clear her husband's name. Sen Yung gives the movie some humorous moments, and Charlie proves himself a crack detective once again. Toler has some funny lines as he hands out his usual platitudes. Good entry into the series.

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.

The movie was a little bit too confusing to enjoy properly. Lots of suspects, not enough times to know them more, one little bit too clever detective and you have the ingredients for an hour of complicated mystery.

The mood is good for the genre. The action is settled in a wax museum of past criminals. And of course, there's the famous Charlie Chan with his proverbs and witty remarks. Sidney Toler is good in the role of the Chinese detective.

One quote from the movie. When sentenced to be killed on December the 9th, the guy says: «Oh thanks judge, I won't have to do Christmas shopping»!

Out of 100, I gave it 70. That's ** on a four stars rating system.

Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates mysterious goings-on at "Dr. Cream's Museum Of Crime", which houses wax dummies of famous crime figures. The story puzzle features a murderer whose face has been changed as a result of surgery. Such a silly plot devise is a tad cheap, in that it provides the director an easy way to disguise the killer's current identity.

While Chan is inside the eerie museum, at least one murder occurs. And there are roughly nine suspects, a bit much for a film with a 63 minute runtime. Still, the suspect pool provides some interestingly diverse characters.

In trying to identify the killer, I guessed wrong. There's really not much to go on in terms of clues. However, some suspicious behavior and a line of dialogue offers a couple of vague hints.

A mostly nighttime setting, great B&W lighting, a pronounced echo, and lightning and thunder contribute enormously to the spooky atmosphere.

If I could have changed anything it would have been to reduce the number of suspects to six or seven and to focus a little more on their personalities and backgrounds. Also, I would have deleted Jimmy Chan, inserted apparently for comic relief, who is generally just annoying.

An average film in the Charlie Chan series, "The Wax Museum", despite the silly plot devise and too many suspects, is enjoyable for its spooky atmosphere and for a story puzzle that's not easy to figure out.

This is my third review in a series of them for these days for the films of the Charlie Chan mysteries. It's also my first for the ones starring Sidney Toler as the famed detective with Victor Sen Yung (then billed as simply Sen Yung) as "Number 2 Son" Jimmy. In this one, Chan is a target for execution from a hood that escaped Death Row-which, of the latter, was due to Charlie's testimony-years earlier. I'll stop there and just say that while there's plenty of compelling atmospheric touches and some good humor concerning Jimmy's sneaking around the wax museum's exhibits, the way the whole thing gets revealed at the end seemed a little convoluted for my tastes (it probably didn't help that I almost fell asleep during some of the parts). Still, for the most part, I liked what I saw and I'll probably watch this again someday just to try to sort things out from what I remembered on previous viewing. Oh, and that female reporter (as many such parts in '40s movies tend to be) sure was stunning...

This was one of the better Charlie Chan movies that starred Sidney Toler. While I am a bigger fan of the earlier films with Warner Oland, these later films following the death of Oland were still pretty good, though they lacked some of the freshness since by then they'd already made a HUGE number of these films. As a result, the films have become a little bit formulaic and predictable. Now this isn't all that bad, though, as there were many devoted fans and they are charming in their own way. PLUS, this film is a huge improvement over the later Chan films starring Mantan Moreland as "Birmingham Brown" and much of it was because the basic formula of the series was changed. Moreland was at times funny as comic relief, but all too often, the humor was based more on the notion of "let's laugh at the scared Black guy"--a cliché widely accepted back then but something that SHOULD make you at least a bit uncomfortable today. Plus, by the time he came to the series, this may have been Monogram Pictures' attempt to "jump the shark"--a reference to a desperate move to change the formula for a series due to lagging ratings or attendance. So, without Moreland, the film is a bit better and sticks with the original tried and true formula.

As for the plot itself, this one has a lot of "red herrings". Despite there initially appearing to be one person with a reason to murder (a convicted criminal wanting to kill Chan), it turns out that practically everyone had reason to murder someone in this film. This definitely kept me guessing, though at times, it also seemed a bit unfair--as the evidence the writers dropped into the script and the direction the film ended up going seemed totally unrelated at times! Not a bad little film, though, and the creepy setting of the wax museum was a big plus.

Very atmospheric entry in the Chan series with Charlie trying to set the record straight in a case that has been falsely judged. Marc Lawrence gives a standout performance as a murderer set for the death penalty by Chan's testimony but subsequently escapes seeking plastic surgery at the wax museum run by Henry Gordon. The storyline is that Chan is to square off with Berlin detective Dr Otto Von Brom (Michael Visaroff) on a radio broadcast from the museum to reassess this case in which Von Brom pinned the murder on innocent Joe Rocke. Chan accepts the challenge suspecting Gordon of harboring Lawrence at the museum. The cast turns in uniformly good performances. However, the viewer must contend with the irrepressible Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan and his silliness. This is a decent mystery but it is the filming and setting of this movie that makes it a cut above the other Chan films.

An escaped convict (Marc Lawrence) plots to carry out his revenge on Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) who had him locked up. A surgeon (C. Henry Gordon) alters his looks and hides out in a wax museum where he plans his murder after he invites Chan over.

This entry in the Charlie Chan cycle has a nice eerie horror style with some quality chilling cinematography by Virgil Miller. It feels as if it deliberately stops itself short of being a horror film as it wants to retain it's family audience.

A convicted murderer is sentenced to die. As they are taking him out, he easily escapes. He then goes to a wax museum where a doctor performs plastic surgery on criminals to change their faces. Each week a radio broadcast on famous crimes is done at the museum. Charlie is the guest detective one evening. Meanwhile, all sorts of intrigue is going on. To make matters worse, Jimmy Chan finds a way into the museum. One of the problems, however, is we have a hard time keeping up with all the mistaken identities. There are secret rooms, passageways, wax figures and real figures. You name it. When a person is murdered, it sets things off. Chan was the intended victim but another man changed places at a table. Lots of real fun. Oh, they have scenes where the lights go out and things are taken and people leave the room. I'm waiting for a Charlie Chan movie where they don't do that. Action is very quick here and it makes the whole thing a lot of laughs.

There are plenty of doses of silliness thanks to Charlie's number two son. However it has an engaging plot with plenty of suspects.

Convicted murderer Steve McBirney escapes from the courtroom and vows to get revenge on Charlie Chan who had him convicted.

He hides out in Dr Cream's wax museum of crime. Only Dr Cream also does plastic surgery for criminals and now McBirney is all bandaged up.

Now McBirney wants to lure Charlie Chan to the museum for a radio broadcast about an innocent man Joe Rocke who was executed. It will allow McBriney to kill Charlie Chan.

Only Dr Otto Von Brom who testified against Rocke is killed by a poison dart that was meant for Chan.

There are many characters and side plots for its short running time. Number two son is just there for comic relief.

In the 25th Charlie Chan movie, Marc Lawrence escapes from custody after being sentenced to death. He makes his way to C. Henry Gordon's wax museum, where Gordon makes most of his money by hosting a mytery broadcast every week, and also by giving new faces to crooks on the lam. Eventually Sidney Toler and Victor Sen Yung make their ways to the museum during a broadcast, where Lawrence is bandaged up as his face heals.... and another killer lurks. There's a lot of atmosphere in many of the Charlie Chan movies, and this is one that relies heavily on the lights going out frequently, amidst the cracked people hanging around, As often happens, the actual murderer seems like a random choice, even though the clues are there, well hidden among the light changes, the creepy props, and Yung kicking Toler in the seat of his pants.

It's Gordon's fifth appearance in a Charlie Chan movie, and his last feature role. He would die later in the year at the age of 56.

The Wax Museum is a classic murder mystery setting, so it's no surprise that Charlie Chan eventually ended up in one. The ominous lighting on the faces provides high-quality atmospherics, but the acting gets in the way in this one. Son Jimmy 'sneaks' around the Wax Museum - opening doors wide, and somehow not being seen or heard by the people within plain sight, and within spitting distance. While B movies always require that we stretch our suspension of disbelief, Jimmy folds, spindles and mutilates our credulity to the point of breaking. While the sons were a popular part of the Chan series, I find that all to often, any camera time given to the sons just subtracts from our Charlie time, with negative consequences. The live radio show setting is another classic - think Poirot. I can't help but think that with more time and money, this could have been a much better movie in the Chan series. As it is, I put it in the bottom 20% of Chan episodes.