Dark Alibi

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).

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)

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.

This is my twelfth review of a Charlie Chan movie in series chronological order on these consecutive days. In this one, a man who's been out of prison for twenty years is suddenly arrested for a recent robbery at a bank he claims he's never set foot in. His daughter and lawyer are on the verge of giving up until Charlie overhears and offers his services...Directed by Phil Karlson who had previously helmed The Shanghai Cobra, he once again provides an exciting beginning and ending sequence for a Chan entry. While I admit to not understanding everything that is going on concerning the case, it was still interesting to hear Charlie's analysis, as always. And despite the now-not-very-acceptable stereotype of a scared black man with bulging eyes in these modern times, Mantan Moreland is still funny to me when he does what he does here. His comedy is perfectly aided, once again, by Benson Fong as "No. 3 Son" Tommy, and Ben Carter in a reprise of his and Mantan's "interrupted talk" from The Scarlet Clue. Even Charlie joins in this routine at the end. Incidentally, Carter would pass away not long after appearing here. Good atmospheric touches throughout. So on that note, I recommend Dark Alibi. P.S. Joyce Compton, who's Emily Evans here, was a native of Lexington, Ky. where I lived as a child from 1974-75 during which my youngest sister was born. Ray Walker, who's Danvers here, was another character actor who appeared in my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-as Joe, a luggage handler who gives the adult George Bailey his suitcase with his name on it as we see James Stewart as the lead character for the first time. Also, on a personal note, I started watching these Monogram Chan movies (usually starring Roland Winters) on my local station here in Baton Rouge on Channel 2, WBRZ-TV, in the late '70s during the late night lineup of movies on Saturday morning on "Charlie Chan Cinema". The wraparound open and closing sequence had someone banging a gong before we dolly to a silhouette of a Chinese man speaking in Pidgin English introducing the movie and mentioning the next week's title, respectively, while the country's type of music played in the background. Actually, since we only see his shadow, I don't know if he was actually Asian or some other race but that was my memory of that sequence...

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.