Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum

Charlie Chan At The Wax Museum opens with a dramatic courtroom escape by Marc Lawrence who has vowed to get Charlie Chan for supplying the evidence that has earned him a trip to old Sparky at Sing Sing. Lawrence books for the wax museum where owner/exhibitor C. Henry Gordon is a plastic surgeon and the place is just a hideout for criminals seeking new faces.

As it turns out there is to be a broadcast tonight from the museum where dueling detectives Sidney Toler and former Berlin police detective Michael Visaroff will debate a past crime where Toler feels the wrong man was hanged. It's where Lawrence plans some fiendish revenge on Charlie Chan. But it's Visaroff who winds up dead and Lawrence who spends most of the film in facial bandages also dies. It's another killer with a whole different agenda that Toler and number two son Victor Sen Yung have to find.

It's the usual suspect soup at the wax museum, but the film is unusual in that Charlie Chan is the target and nearly gets done in by the killer. That little twist makes Charlie Chan At The Wax Museum one of the best Charlie Chan films in the series.

Dangerous McBirney, who's just been sentenced to death on the evidence Charlie Chan gave, escapes and heads directly for an old acquaintance, Dr. Cream, once a famous facial surgeon (with his 'best' clients being from the underworld), to get a 'new' face from him; but Dr. Cream has gone into another business now: he's the owner of a wax museum of crime - and exactly from there a radio reporter decides to make a broadcast on the infamous Rocke case, where an innocent man was executed, as Charlie had always pointed out; and of course, he invites Charlie as well as his 'antagonist' Dr. Von Brom, who insists that Rocke was guilty.

Now can you imagine a more appropriate setting for a creepy, mysterious murder mystery with more and more complications coming up and confusing us as well as Charlie (and Jimmy, who as usual finds his way in through some rear window) than a 'Crime Museum', full of dummies portraying murderers with guns and daggers in their hands, jail cells, gallows, executioner's axes and electric chairs...? And the ruthless killers, who are after Charlie because he helped convict McBirney, intend to use the latter in a VERY diabolical way...

There are so many different murder cases intertwined here that in the end we really don't know anymore who's who (especially since there's someone here who can 'change' faces) and who's after whom; and so we all (especially Jimmy...) witness some REALLY frightening scenes in this eerie 'House of Wax' - a movie which provides us with absolutely GREAT crime entertainment, a 'must' for every fan of the genre!

A convicted murderer (Marc Lawrence) escapes and vows revenge on Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler). He receives help from an unscrupulous doctor who lures Charlie to his wax museum for a radio show on criminal cases. I realize that sentence doesn't make a lot of sense but trust me it works out okay. "Number Two Son" Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) is especially high-strung in this one. Chan series vet C. Henry Gordon plays humorously-named villain Dr. Cream. Joan Valerie and Marguerite Chapman provide the pretty. Spooky wax museum backdrop is a plus. This one's got lots of suspects and atmosphere to spare. There are also quite a few implausibilities so be prepared to suspend disbelief more than usual. Still, it's good fun.

Very atmospheric entry in the Chan series with Charlie trying to set the record straight in a case that has been falsely judged. Marc Lawrence gives a standout performance as a murderer set for the death penalty by Chan's testimony but subsequently escapes seeking plastic surgery at the wax museum run by Henry Gordon. The storyline is that Chan is to square off with Berlin detective Dr Otto Von Brom (Michael Visaroff) on a radio broadcast from the museum to reassess this case in which Von Brom pinned the murder on innocent Joe Rocke. Chan accepts the challenge suspecting Gordon of harboring Lawrence at the museum. The cast turns in uniformly good performances. However, the viewer must contend with the irrepressible Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan and his silliness. This is a decent mystery but it is the filming and setting of this movie that makes it a cut above the other Chan films.

After first seeing Warner Oland play Charlie Chan in a half-dozen or more pictures, this was my first look at Sidney Toler playing the famous detective. At first I thought he was a distant second to Oland but I have grown to like his version almost as much.

Sen Yung was almost as good as Keye Luke, too, as one of Chan's sons and helpers. Yung plays son "Jimmy" and adds a lot of humor to the movie.

What was really fun about this movie were all the varied characters. There were all kinds of suspects at the wax museum and many pretending to be statutes. The film was humorous and fascinating. Toler's films tended to have more humor in them. I enjoyed ogling Marguerite Chapman in this film.

So far, no announcement of this on DVD, but I expect since the others are slowing being released.