Le château dans le désert

I've never understood why some folk in the Asian community don't like Charlie Chan.

A reviewer here said he cringed at the racist comment of an innkeeper who wouldn't let Charlie sit on his porch. Well, gee...in 1940 America that was common behavior. But Charlie Chan doesn't throw a fit, he gets on with the job of investigating murder and at the end of the film shows himself to be smarter than all the white folk who looked down on him.

Doesn't that make him a great role model? That was the case in many of the Charlie Chan films. The character was created at a time when Orientals were always villains, nothing more. Earl Derr Biggers created Chan to be a hero. He is brighter than everyone else he meets, for all that he doesn't speak grammatical English. Not because he's stupid, but because he's an immigrant from Hong Kong! Lesson? Just because someone's English language skills are not up to snuff doesn't mean that they can't run rings around you intellectually.

True also to the tenor of the times, Chan has to have "comic relief" - either his fully Americanized sons (and occasionally daughter) who speak English perfectly and are played by Asians who deserve to have their work seen - or by African Americans Stepin Fetchit or Mantan Moreland. I admit I do have problems watching those characters - I don't think I would have thought their actions funny then, nor do I think their funny now, but again, they're part and parcel of the times.

Having said all that, Warner Oland is the only Charlie Chan for me. I've never really cared for Sidney Toler's version. The plot is rather labyrynthine, but fun for all that. For the most part, anyway!

This being the final entry in the Charlie Chan mystery series to be produced by 20th Century-Fox. Chan (Sidney Toler) finds himself summoned to a medieval-style castle built in the middle of the desert in the western U.S. It belongs to eccentric researcher Paul Manderlay (Douglass Dumbrille) and his wife Lucy (Lenita Lane) who happens to be a descendant of the infamous Borgias. They have a house full of guests, one or more of whom seems intent on killing them all.

This is an odd installment of the series, with a lot of comedy and an "old dark house" setting. The characters are all strange enough to hold one's interest, and Toler and Sen Yung's interplay is still fun. Fox decided to end the series with this one, stating a desire to cut back on film production during the war, but many feel it was also due to the Asian lead character, who, despite being Chinese-American, would still be resented by those with anti-Japanese sentiments due to the war. Toler himself would eventually buy the rights and take them to the poverty row Monogram company, where a new batch of Chan films started in 1944 with Charlie Chan in the Secret Service.

Castle in the Desert (1942) was the last Charlie Chan movie produced by 20th Century Fox. This one starred Sidney Toler as the man himself and Sen Yung as number 2 son.

Charlie is invited to a desert castle to see Mrs. Manderley, a descendant of the Borgias, and her husband Paul, who wears a handkerchief over one side of his face because of a horrible accident. The castle has no phone or electricity because Paul is a historian and tries to replicate the conditions of the men he is studying.

A death has occurred, but in order for Manderley to hold onto his $20 million fortune, he cannot be attached to any scandal. He persuades a doctor to allow the man to be moved to a hotel where he will be found, and nothing will attach to the Manderley or the castle.

Soon Jimmy Chan arrives with a sculptor (Henry Daniell) he met at the station who also needed a ride; there is also an eccentric astrologer (Ethel Griffiths) who claims the man who died is not dead, and neither is Mrs. Manderley's stepbrother, who presumably died in the war.

There is another death and a murder, and Charlie soon uncovers not one, but two conspiracies that are designed to get control of the Manderley money.

This was a good movie, but confusing. I still can't figure out what the deal was with the stepbrother. All they did was talk about him being alive, and I think Charlie said he was in the house. I swear I never saw him. Anyway, I wasn't satisfied at all with the ending. They should have stuck with one conspiracy.

Anyway, Toler and Sen Yung are good, and the cast is high quality, with Douglas Dembrille as Manderley, Henry Daniell, Richard Derr, and Arlene Whelan. The quality of the series is about to go down -- this is the last one of any quality.

Good movie set in the Mojave desert. One of the best Chan movie with Sidney Toler. The ambiance for suspense is nicely set in a castle in the middle of nowhere. And there's always that famous phrase: «One of us is a murderer». I just love it when they say that!

The acting is good. Victor Sen Yung is funny as Number 2 son and I also liked the fortune teller lady. She was adding some fun to the movie.

One quote: «What I'd like now is the relaxation of a good murder case»! (Jimmy Chan to his father)

In all, an entertaining movie.

Out of 100, I gave it 78. That's good for **½ on a **** star rating system. Seen at home in Welland, June 2nd, 2001. Marko Roy.

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.