Castle in the Desert

My opinion is this is one of the best in the Chan series. It has a good story that is written well. The cast is great with some wonderful character actors. I think the production quality is a little better than other Chan films. One thing that stands out are lighting and camera angles. They create an ambiance of suspense.

While I admit that the Chan films of Warner Oland are, as a group, superior to those of Sidney Toler, that doesn't mean that some of the Toler films aren't rock solid and as good individually as anything Oland made. Three that immediately come to mind are Charlie Chan at Treasure Island, Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum, and this film, Castle in the Desert. (By the way, why isn't the title Charlie Chan and the Castle in the Desert? It would have made sense to me.) In Castle in the Desert, Charlie is summoned to a strange, isolated castle in the middle of the Mojave Desert. But no one in the house will admit to having sent of Chan. His presence is, however, quickly needed when in no time at all Charlie finds himself up to his elbows in murder, poison, deadly arrows, red herrings, and suspects galore. What could be more fun!

I've seen someone use this phrase before to describe a Charlie Chan film and I think it fits Castle in the Desert – "It's a crackling good mystery". As I've indicated, all of the necessary ingredients for a fun outing with Chan are here. In fact, Castle in the Desert is really more like two mysteries in one. While the solution to the first is fairly obvious, it's still a lot of fun and just an appetizer for the more difficult and dangerous mystery to come. This was Toler's last Chan film for Fox and, by the time this one was made, Toler could have played the role in his sleep. He seems so at ease with the character. The rest of the cast is enjoyable with Henry Daniell and, one of my favorites, Douglass Dumbrille standing out in support. Another bonus for Castle in the Desert is that Victor Sen Yung as #2 son Jimmy Chan isn't anywhere near as annoying as he is in some of the other Chan films.

Overall, Castle in the Desert is a nice finale to the Chan films at Fox. Nothing that would come later at Monogram is anywhere close to matching it. I've got no problem rating this one a strong 7/10 verging on an 8/10.

I caught this movie on the FOX MOVIE CHANNEL which had pulled it's CHARLIE CHAN month long marathon due to protests from Asian Americans. FMC resumed showing the Chan movies in September, bookending the movies with discussions by prominent Asian-Americans inluding George (Mr. Sulu)Takei who explored the racial issues of the movies.

I respect the discomfort and resentment the CHARLIE CHAN movies cause Asian Americans and there are some blatantly racial comments in this movie. There's a part where Charlie enters a hotel to await a car and the hotel manager takes one look at him and says; "Chop Suey salesman, eh? I hate the stuff!" that frankly made me cringe. But these movies have a historical value beyond simple entertainment. They remind us of how we once acted and thought of other races and other people. Even though Charlie Chan is a respected and internationally famous detective, he is still based on his appearance and skin color. Maybe we haven't come so far since this movie was made.

Taken strictly as entertainment, though, CASTLE IN THE DESERT is a nifty murder mystery with an eccentric cast of characters trapped in a remote location with a murderer running around loose. One character is a descendant of Lucrezia Borgia. Another is a fortune teller whose predictions actually DO come true. Charlie Chan and Number 2 son do a great job of finding the true murderer and putting things aright. The plot is perhaps more complicated than it needs to be but that's the great thing about those 30's/40's murder mysteries: it wasn't that easy to guess who was the killer. Despite the unplesant racial remarks, CASTLE IN THE DESERT is a fine entry in the CHARLIE CHAN series. I enjoyed it a lot. Lots of humor and sharp, witty dialog and great atmospheric sets.

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!

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is summoned to a mysterious castle in the Mojave Desert where a bizarre masked man (Douglas Dumbrille) lives with his wife, a descendant of the famous Borgia family. There are also several other guests at the castle. When one of them is poisoned, Charlie must investigate with meddlesome son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung).

The last of the 20th Century Fox Charlie Chan films is one of the weirdest. The plot, at its heart, is a simple old dark house mystery. But the setting here, a castle in a desert, is different enough to keep things somewhat fresh. Also the eccentric characters help out a lot. It's an enjoyable entry in the Fox series. Not the best or worst but somewhere in the middle. Sadly, the quality would drop considerably when the series moved to Monogram a couple of years later.