The Red Dragon

This is one of the 'lighter' Charlie Chan movies - almost TOO light, considering that what everybody's after here is the formula for a new, enormously powerful atomic bomb... But let's leave that aside; the film is meant as a clever and entertaining detective story, and that's what it is.

It all starts when a detective disguised as the secretary of nuclear scientist Wyans is killed VERY mysteriously while sitting in front of his typewriter: there were no less than six suspects around (and one more suspicious than the other: a gun runner, a smuggler, a Nazi propagandist, a fake countess, a girl who denies her descent from Czechoslovakia...), there was only one shot heard, but two bullets fired (one in the victim's heart, and the other one in the wall) - and no trace of a gun anywhere! Now who could solve THIS mystery, AND find the very cleverly hidden formula, with the only evidence being a bottle of Chinese 'Red Dragon' ink? Only Charlie Chan, of course!

And amidst all the hard and dangerous detective work, Tommy and Birmingham's cousin Chattanooga (played by tall, thin Willie Best, the exact opposite to short, round-faced Mantan Moreland in appearance, but almost equally marvelous at playing 'scared') of course find time to entertain us with their clumsiness both at detecting and at romancing - and we get to see even Charlie himself doing a rumba with a pretty young Chinese artist! But the BEST laugh is kept for the final scene - see for yourself...

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.

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.

"The Red Dragon" from 1945 finds Charlie (Sidney Toler), Tommy (Benson Fong), and Chattanooga Brown (Willie Best) investigating a crime in Mexico City. They have the help of the big cheese there, Inspector Cavero, Fortunio Bonanova.

In an attempt to steal atomic bomb documents, there have been some shootings - strange ones - two shots, one bullet, and no gun found. A perplexing case for Charlie.

Plenty of suspects, including Inspector Carvero's love interest, Margarite (Carol Hughes), a night club singer called the Countess Irena (Marjorie Hoshelle), and several others, all trying to get the documents from Alfred Wayans (Robert E. Keane).

Toler has one cute scene where he does the rhumba in a nightclub.

For comic relief there was Tommy and Chattanooga. Chattanooga was Birmingham's brother. They had some amusing scenes, but I prefer Mantan Moreland in the chauffeur role, and Sen Yung or Keye Luke. Moreland had an animated face, a cheerful demeanor, and great line delivery. Best had made his career playing the black stereotype, which is difficult to watch today, though he was good.

Some trivia - Marjorie Hoshelle, who played Countess Irena, was married to Jeff Chandler. She reminded me a bit of Lauren Bacall. Hoshelle and she and Chandler's two daughters, born in the late '40s, all died from cancer.

I know the whole film is un-pc, but I do like the Charlie Chan movies.

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.