Vuelo de muerte

This film, along with The Shanghai Chest, is my favorite of the Roland Winters films. Here, Charlie is on board a late night flight home to San Francisco. He awakens to find that everyone on the plane has been drugged, $250,000 has disappeared, and a detective hired to guard the money has been murdered.

There are a couple of subplots that at first seem to be distractions, but ultimately tie in to the murder case. The cast is filled with familiar faces, including Iris Adrian, Elena Verdugo, Lyle Talbot, Milburn Stone, and John Eldredge. The skill of these character actors adds immeasurably to the film. There is a little less comedy in this one and that is fine by me. And the presence of number one son Lee (Keye Luke) is always welcomed.

There is no denying that these Monograms lack the technical expertise of the earlier Fox films. But if one accepts them for what they are, low budget B mysteries, you will enjoy the 65 minutes.

Charlie Chan and number one son Lee doze on a plane trip. Lee wakes up and discovers that the passengers and crew are all out cold. Everyone has been drugged (except for him and his pop, who didn't drink their coffee). A dead body is lying up near the cockpit and a large packet of cash has vanished.

The Chans investigate, of course, and suspects include a pilot and his stewardess girlfriend, a pair of suspicious-looking passengers who appear to be stalking a different stewardess, and a security guard in charge of transporting the now missing money. Back on the ground, the action flows from a nightclub to the Chan home and finally back to the airplane, where Mr. Chan gets everybody back on board to explain his deductions and draw out the killer....

Roland Winters and Keye Luke are just fine as the Chan father-son team. Unfortunately the script doesn't offer them much in the way of clever dialog, but they dutifully investigate the case and manage to keep it fairly lively. Mantan Moreland offers support as chauffeur Birmingham Brown. Tim Ryan as a detective and Milburn Stone as the airline pilot are among the other vaguely familiar faces in the cast.

It's not particularly exciting or surprising but at least the plot makes sense. So it's no classic--but heck, it is kind of fun.

This is it for Chan (at least for the three actors that did the B-movie thing). It involves a plot that has been done any times since. That of a murder on board an airplane. We have a finite set of suspects. There is some history among the passengers. There is a large sum of money involved. And, Charlie and Lee (Number One Son) are on board. We have been told that Lee has been trained as a pilot for several episodes, so there is no big deal when assumes control of the plane. This has a nice cast of very recognizable actors. Noel Neill who was Lois Lane in "The Adventures of Superman" and Milburne Stone from "Gunsmoke." I also remember a show called "The People's Choice," which starred a heavy set guy who played the Mayor. There is no way to keep these people on that plane and they are allowed to leave. Of course, murders are committed and lots of drama ensues. For the final time, a light is turned out and a man is assaulted by an intruder.. How many times!!! This is the most entertaining of the Roland Winters films. I'm puzzled at the great disdain held for him. The earlier Chan movies weren't really all that great anyway. Having Caucasian men play a Chinese detective creates problems from the start. I guess there is a charm in seeing these actors do their thing for very little money. We could criticize till the cows come home, but these weren't ever works of art.

The Charlie Chan series at Monogram comes to an end with this picture. The plot sees Charlie (Roland Winters) and "Number One Son" Lee (Keye Luke) on an airplane where all the passengers are drugged. While they're out, a man is murdered and a quarter-million dollars stolen. Also appearing in this one is bug-eyed comic sidekick Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). The rest of the cast includes Milburn Stone (Doc from Gunsmoke), Noel Neill (Lois Lane from Adventures of Superman), and Lyle Talbot (movie star extraordinaire). Winters is weak as usual but the plot is surprisingly fresh for Monogram. Keye Luke is fun and the supporting cast is decent. It's ironic that the Winters series ended after its two strongest films. But it was a case of too little too late, I think.

The last Chan film made by Monogram and Roland Winters is a sad final bow for the great detective and great film series. The supporting cast is good for a Monogram picture. The best thing about it is that Keye Luke is back as Lee Chan. Great title. Poor picture! Sorry Charlie!