Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo

The famous Chinese detective is in Monte Carlo with eldest son Keye Luke in Charlie Chan At Monte Carlo for a little relaxation before going on to Paris. Of course Warner Oland was already there several pictures ago.

The murder of bank manager Georges Renavent and later of chauffeur John Bleifer and the theft of bank bonds of Sidney Blackmer is the case that Oland gets involved in. Later on an American gangster George Lynn is also murdered. Lynn's got his own little racket going concerning Blackmer's wife Kay Linnaker.

Blackmer's rival in another competing banking house also has much to gain. He's got a mistress played by Virginia Field who sends out her come hither glances and those are ultimately responsible for all three of the murders.

Not one of the better Charlie Chans from Warner Oland. There is however a funny scene with Charlie and number one son trying to order breakfast in French and see what Charlie gets. This was also the last film for Warner Oland.

Nice, but not as good as other Chan features.

Another fun Charlie Chan Movie! This time, he's in Monte Carlo, and yes, another poor soul is murdered. He's assisted by the great Harold Huber as Monte Carlo's chief of police while they try to solve the murder. I liked this one more than others, because at least they TRIED for my authenticity this time, a lot of people speak French, which IS what they do in French- Language speaking countries right? Not like his adventure in Shanghai, where everyone Chan encountered spoke perfect English. So there was a bit of fun language barrier comedy. The mystery is pretty easy to guess, all in all, a great addition to the Orland Chan series.

Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) and Chief of Police Jules Joubert (Harold Huber) track down theft of metallurgic bonds and murder in Monaco. Huber has a great deal of time on screen and he plays his character with the comedy that mars his department. Supporting character actor Louise Mercier does a great job as a taxi driver whose conveyance gets the best of him and son Lee Chan's misuse of French gets him into trouble.

Early theme in movie is repeated use of number `25.' Lee points out that their hotel room is 125, he is 25 years old, this is the 25th of August, this is the Chinese Year 9325 - and therefore the number 25 will be lucky at the roulette wheel. Chan point out that Lee had borrowed $25 the week before. Later we learn that the value of the missing bonds is $25,000, one of the suspects borrows an amount equal to $25,000, and heretofore there had not been a murder in Monaco for 25 years. Poor writing fails to capitalize on this theme and the storyline sounds better in movie reviews than as portrayed on the screen.

Lots of misdirection and suspicion but in the end, Chan and the police trap (`Questions are keys to door of truth') the guilty party using knowledge that was known only to police and not the viewer. One clue might have been picked up on by an observant viewer, but the other part of the explanation at the end goes beyond what we could have known. When confronted, the guilty party makes a final error in revealing yet another fact known only to police and murderer (again not to viewer). Not one the best of the Chan series.

This is the final appearance of Oland live in a produced film - he died the following year. In this movie, as Chan, he says: `Humble presence of no more importance than one drop of rain in cloudburst.' On the contrary - although the Chan series is not high art, this viewer thinks that we are better for Oland having played the role.

As usual, Charlie and Number One Son are visiting when coincidentally there are murders. This time they seem to have something to do with stolen securities which seem to vanish and re-appear like magic. Unlike many of the films, though, Chan and Son seem to be caught up more in the action instead of passively investigating after the fact.

Many of the reviews seem to feel this is one of the weakest of the Warner Oland Charlie Chan films, though I liked it quite a bit and felt it stacked up well with the earlier films from the series. Why did I like it? Well, the stolen bonds angle seemed pretty interesting, Harold Huber (who had just played a New York police inspector in CHARLIE CHAN ON Broadway) was pretty good as a French cop and the film certainly kept my attention. It's not great, but still is a very competent part of a series of excellent and enjoyable detective films and a cut above similar series.

This film has the reputation to be very delightful in the Charlie Chan series. Well, maybe, I don't deny, I am not fan enough, but if you crave for this detective film series from the forties and thirties, you will appreciate of course. I did not particularly, because I am not sensitive enough to this atmosphere of talkings. So far, our Chinese detective has never been investigating in a casino, which is a very specific atmosphere, the gambling settings very special, providing many elements for a good mystery scheme. This film is produced by Twentieth Century Fox, the genuine production company of the series before it becomes Monogram Film Corporation.