Alibi suspect

I was a fan of Charlie Chan when the films were first released. I did not realize Sydney was past 70 when he made this movie. There is a lot of humor in the prison scenes. There are a couple of big scenes that come as a surprise for a film that had a shoestring budget. One is the interior of a real prison with the convicts going into their cells in unison. That scene is melded into a stage copy of the same action but slightly more modest. Another scene has a big moving camera set as the cast enters a police lab. There are a lot of familiar faces in the supporting cast. Everyone does a great job with their role. There are some exterior shots of the old cars and trucks which were not that old when the movie was made. This is a good old movie to watch to get a glimpse of what the world was like right after World War II. While watching it you will want to check the ladies hair styles and the interior of the old rooming house and telephones.

Most of the movies in the Charlie Chan series were bona-fide mysteries that were short on plot credulity and laced with a measure of comic relief throughout. "Dark Alibi" falls in line with this tried and true formula, but somebody dumped in an overload of comedy and nearly spoiled the whole picture. There are a lot of suspects to choose from in the clever plot in which we have to figure out who is the bank robber/murderer who masterminded the crime and used someone else's fingerprints to frame an innocent man. Not bad, huh? Even though the story is a little hard to swallow it gets points for creativity. However...

No question Mantan Moreland is a funny guy and gets a lot of mileage here with his pop-eyed, 'feets-do-your-duty' scared stiff routine. He is almost hung out to dry with it, and coupled with some misguided scenes with Benson Fong as two incompetents, it is all too much. The picture could have been 15 minutes shorter without some of the excruciating hi-jinks involving these two. The cast was a good one, production values were very good and the film did not betray any trace of a Poverty Row production. Recommended for Charlie Chan fans and for those who enjoy a mystery in which the murderer is very tough to spot (and don't worry too much about the details).

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is asked to prove the innocence of a man already convicted of murder and scheduled to be executed. So Charlie tries to get to the bottom of how the man's fingerprints could have been at the scene of the crime if he was innocent. He's got help from incompetent son Tommy (Benson Fong) and trite comic relief Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). There's a moronic scene where Tommy and Birmingham wander around a prison with no guards even noticing. It's a typically cheap Monogram movie with shoddy writing. Moreland's old vaudeville partner Ben Carter returns for the second time in the series to do one of their old vaudeville routines. It's amusing but essentially the same bit they did the last time. Janet Shaw, Joyce Compton, Teala Loring and Chan regulars Milton Parsons and John Eldredge also appear.

The script is particularly weak. One of the biggest flaws in the Monogram series versus the Fox one is that the scripts are so bad. Often Sidney Toler seems to be padding his lines in an effort to make the scene work. In the older series, particularly throughout the Warner Oland years, Charlie seemed wise beyond his years. In the Monogram films he just seems smug. Don't even get me started on the lack of good aphorisms that Charlie Chan is known for. Here he spouts nonsense about "if tooth is missing, gap will tell us much" or some such baloney.

If you've seen some of the Monogram Chans and liked them, you will probably enjoy this more than I did. If you're new to Charlie Chan movies, do yourself a favor and start with the Fox films. Don't let your first Chan film be from Monogram or you might never want to try another.

The mystery here is not very compelling, which leaves the abundant comedy part that mostly is. Okay, I know the Moreland ("Feets don't fail me now !") brand of silliness is as politically incorrect as can be. But his bits, especially with Ben Carter, are still pretty funny, stereotypes aside. Too bad the weird-looking Milton Parsons (Johnson) doesn't get more screen time. Between him and the jolting Skelton Knaggs, they had the graveyard types of the 1940's all wrapped up.

Seems an innocent man is about to be executed for a robbery and murder he didn't commit. So Charlie has a deadline to meet in clearing him. No dark houses or secret passages here, but there is a prop room full of weird theatrical props (probably Monogram's). Of course, the props meet up with Birmingham (Moreland) creating lots of amusing setups. Fortunately, soon-to-be cult director Karlson keeps things moving in smooth fashion, so we barely notice the skimpy whodunit part. All in all, it's one of the lesser Chan mysteries, but still has compensations.

Another enjoyable mystery fused with comedy. This time Charlie is hired by the pretty Teala Loring ( sister of Debra Paget and Lisa Gaye) to prove that her father is innocent of a bank job. There's nine days left before he goes to the electric chair, but if there's anyone can prove his innocence it's Charlie Chan. Great surprise ending. Never expected it to be that person ( the main culprit)