The Red Dragon

Charlie does the Rhumba in this one, a must see for fans! It's considered one of the worst Monograms but I always liked this one, maybe because it's one of the harder to find Chans. I thought the premise of the remote controlled bullets was a decent effort.

This one gets my vote for the weakest Chan film starring the great Sidney Toler. Even Toler's superb acting skills cannot get this inert mass airborne, unfortunately.

If you looked at this film on paper, so to speak, it seems like it should work. We get a quite good premise, and the cast of supporting characters aren't bad. I think the fault likes in the direction, because the pace of this film is sometimes painfully slow. To me, there often is little sense of dramatic tension or excitement. With all the other Chan films, there's more sense of fun and energy than I find here. I say that as someone who has seen all the films, and liked all but this one, to varying degrees. I also think the Monogram films are unjustly underrated, because they are good packages of entertainment. I'll watch this one again at some point, but it's last on my list.

Starts off at the US Embassy in Mexico City. Scenery of street makes Mexico city look very nice. Walter Dorn wants to get Charlie Chan to go there regarding secret plans of a Mr Wyans which someone tried to rob twice. It is kind of confusing as to what countries are dealing with who for the plans.

At the airport Chattanooga Brown is Chan's driver. When they land in Mexico City he is with Chan's son Tommy and Charlie Chan. Brown is a cousin of Birmingham Brown. Birmingham is funnier though in other episodes. Chan is waiting for Dorn to pick them up and he is told Dorn is dead.

Walter Dorn is killed at a gathering at Wayan's apartment by a gunshot. There are many people invited there. Insp.Luis Carvero takes Chan there and they did not find anyone with a gun.

Charlie Chan has some doubts' about Inspector Carvero because the Inspector has has a relationship with one of the women where Dorn was killed and Chan thinks he might be biased.

People get shot but no gun visible. Chan has to figure out what is going on. He has figured out the new plan will make a atom bomb more explosive.

So more investigating needed.

Stolen secret papers contain info on the mysterious 95th element, which could be used to build a giant atom bomb. Charlie Chan signs on to recover said papers—and also to track down the murderer who shot the secretary before snatching those vital documents.

Unfortunately, most of the picture is not as exciting as that sounds....however, this late entry in the Chan series is passably entertaining as well as short and sweet.

A mystery mechanism is used to commit multiple murders—one shot is always heard but two bullets are found. Can Chan solve the riddle before he too becomes a target?

Benson Fong is on hand again as Chan's #3 son Tommy, while Willie Best takes on chauffeur duties for this picture (as Chattanooga Brown, cousin to Mantan Moreland's Birmingham Brown). Tommy and Chattanooga manage most of the comic relief with mildly humorous exchanges such as:

Chattanooga: "My hair's getting tired." Tommy Chan: ""Your hair is tired?" Chattanooga: "Yeah, for the last 10 minutes it's been standing on end."

The fact that Sidney Toler dancing the rhumba is probably the highlight of the picture might tell you something.

Curious why willie best is playing birmingham's role (Chattanooga) benson fong as tommy (also played by victor sen yung) red dragon ink

I have no idea why, but instead of Mantan Moreland appearing in this film as Birmingham Brown, Willie Best is playing this role and he's referred to as Chattanooga Brown...a relative of Birmingham. Benson Fong appears as Tommy Chan and his role was occasionally played by Victor Sen Yung. As for Charlie, he's played by Sidney Toler, who played the role in 21 films from 1939-1946 (after he died, Roland Winters played Charlie for six more films).

In "The Red Dragon", Charlie, Tommy and Chattanooga are in Mexico City to assist Inspector Carvero (Fortunio Bonanova). He's got a group of suspects and all of them seem to be lying about who they are. Chan helps him figure out the truth about the folks. So what's the mystery? There are two things....stolen nuclear secrets AND a murder in which no weapon was found and two bullets came with one shot*. Can Charlie figure it all out once again??

This film is pretty typical of the quality of the Toler Charlie Chan films. I did miss Birmingham but still it's a good film...entertaining and worth seeing.

*Although you may not care, I have a handgun that can shoot two or three bullets with each shot. Some .410 shotgun shells (0 and 00 shot) fire 2 or 3 slugs with one shot.