Charlie Chan à Honolulu

Fairly good blend of comedy and mystery. There's been a murder aboard ship in Honolulu and Charlie must leave his clan and expectant daughter-in-law to investigate. Highlight for me is George Zucco doing his mad scientist routine with usual straight face. Here he collects human brains in bottles, and when he grabs Jimmy Chan (Sen Yung) to measure his head, it's funnier than all the other antics combined. Fine cast, including fast-talking Dick Lane, sinister Marc Lawrence, Kewpie-doll Phyllis Brooks, and the much-underrated Claire Dodd with a force to her that's good enough for A-pictures. Also, it's a sprightly Sydney Toler in his first turn as the Chinese detective. For me, the rotund rubber-faced Eddie Collins is a matter of taste, but he does have his moments with the pet lion (likely left over from another production). Anyway, it's a good fast 60 minutes with a well-developed array of suspects and a number of chuckles.

This was the first Chan film in which Sidney Toler took over the main role from Warner Oland, and he is immediately masterful and acceptable in the part of the Asian detective. I didn't expect to enjoy Toler, not only since I am an Oland fan, but because my first exposure to him was through seeing one of his later mediocre Monogram Chan quickies from the '40s. But this debut has Toler in fine and confident form.

The film begins with a humorous dinner at the Chan home, with Charlie's wife and 10+ children. We quickly establish who the detective is and where he comes from, and then we see that his enthusiastic #2 son Jimmy (well played by Victor Sen Yung) is as excited about being a detective as his older #1 brother Lee had been in the Oland series. When a call arrives for Chan to investigate a murder aboard a small freighter, son Jimmy intercepts and decides to impersonate his dad to get some quality sleuthing in. Some fun happenings ensue before Charlie Chan himself gets wind of it and ultimately joins Jimmy on board to handle the case.

This is an all-around entertaining chapter in the series, with assistance too from George Zucco, as one of the mysterious suspects aboard the ship who collects criminal brains. There are some annoying bits by one of those typical "silly 1930s funnymen" used for comic relief in the mix, but what makes it all work is how effortlessly Sidney Toler and Sen Yung slip into their roles formerly undertaken by Warner Oland and Keye Luke, as the new father and son. *** out of ****

"Charlie Chan in Honolulu" is Sidney Toler's first Charlie Chan, and the difference between him in this and in his last films is very noticeable. Here he is much more lively.

As this story unfolds, Charlie's daughter is about to give birth, and while he and his wife are at the hospital, the police call Charlie at home and ask him to go to a ship where someone has been murdered. Aspiring detective Jimmy Chan (Sen Yung, Bonanza's Hop Sing) intercepts the call, and he and #5 son Tommy (Layne Tom Jr. Who in real life became a distinguished architect) decide to take on the case.

Tommy immediately gets stuck in an area where wild animals are being kept for importation to the zoo; chaos ensues. This takes up some footage at the beginning.

Charlie finally arrives and tries to sort out the mess, but there's another murder, and a missing and reappearing $10,000, a mysterious doctor (George Zucco) who pretends to be deaf and has an interesting science experiment on board, a fast-talking detective and his charge -- meanwhile, Charlie keeps getting calls from his son-in-law.

They really threw the book at this one, complete with very dramatic music, as Toler's debut. He's delightful.

One of the crazier Chan films, but it's nice to see Toler so energetic, and the Chan family is fun.

Upon Warner Roland's death, it was SIDNEY TOLER's turn to play the Chinese detective with the huge family. This time his son is played by Victor Sen Yung, who would go on to play the role of Jimmy Chan in many future Chan films.

This time the plot involves $300,000 of stolen money and a slew of passengers aboard a freighter, several of which are suspicious enough to be questioned by Chan about their associations. RICHARD LANE, MARC LAWRENCE, PHYLLIS BROOKS, EDDIE COLLINS and ROBERT BARRAT are the chief suspects but it's GEORGE ZUCCO, a mad doctor with thick glasses carrying a live brain in a suitcase, who makes the most vivid impression and, at one point, actually seems to be the killer when a couple of murders occur.

Not the best of the series, but it does make a good start for Sidney Toler who would go on to keep playing Chan until the mid-'40s. The comic relief from Eddie Collins is sometimes painful and Chan's quotations are a bit much, as usual. He gathers the passengers together for the final scene and stages a bit of detective work that gives the story a nice finish.

Summing up: As usual, the viewer is given almost no way to solve the crime.

This has to be the wildest of the Charlie Chan movies I've seen. It was Sidney Toler's first effort in the lead role, replacing Warner Oland, and it featured more comedy than any other Chan film to that point.

In this film, Chan and his number two son Tommy, his number five son Charlie Jr., and others including a doctor who keeps a live brain in his suitcase, all provide laughs. Along the way is a funny-faced lunatic animal keeper and a lion on the loose. They provide a lot of laughs.

As far as suspects go, there is a strange psychiatrist (the one with the portable brain), two pretty women, two ship's captains, a guy disguised as a cop and his suspect. I told you it was wild. It's too difficult to figure out "whodunnit," so you just sit back and enjoy the wild action and humor.

Yeah, it's silly.....but it''s tremendously enjoyable.