Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise

An old Scotland Yard Inspector friend Montague Shaw drops in on Charlie Chan in Honolulu asking for his help in catching a murderer whom he believes is on a cruise bound for San Francisco. Shortly afterward Shaw is strangled and Sidney Toler now has a personal reason for taking over Shaw's investigation.

Also coming along is Number 2 son Victor Sen Yung as usual providing his unwanted assistance to Pop. Number 2 son as a stowaway earns his passage as a steward's assistant, but does prove useful in being able to search cabins of cruise passengers.

With such worthy villainous types as Lionel Atwill, Leo G. Carroll, Charles Middleton, and Leonard Mudie in the cast it's going to be difficult to tell who the perpetrator can be. All have been cast as villains in many films. Jewelry salesman Don Beddoe also winds up dead before the cruise is over.

With a really good cast to provide believable red herrings Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise is a top drawer feature of the Charlie Chan series. Captain Stubing never saw things like this going on with the Love Boat.

Plenty of people would vote Treasure Island the best, but for my money, this one takes the prize. The film is 76 minutes long and gives us good plot turns, lots of the humor fans like, and a standout cast. Lionel Atwill and Leo G. Carroll in particular, are excellent, but all the players are good. And, much of the story is set on an ocean liner, going from Honolulu to San Francisco! I really like the old mysteries that are set on a train or an ocean liner. Sidney Toler is simply masterful in his role as Charlie Chan. He's the equal of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, which is the highest praise I can give. He gives the character tremendous intelligence, moral force, and a quiet humor, that are most appealing. The plot is very clever and involving, and that helps to elevate the movie. This is a classic that you can enjoy seeing more than once. You get to see Charlie in a real battle of wits with the killer. Plus, our hero looks great in a dinner jacket! Highly recommended.

From 1940, "Murder Cruise" sports a nice cast, with Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan, Sen Yung as his son Jimmy, Leo Carroll, Lionel Atwill, and Cora Witherspoon, who is very funny.

Charlie seems to have a tough time with this one -- after his friend from Scotland Yard is killed, he joins a cruise from Honolulu to San Francisco to help find a suspected murderer. There are no less than four more.

The murderer is obvious the second he's introduced for reasons having nothing to do with the plot.

Inspector Duff has been on a case case undercover. He's a passenger on a cruise ship going on a world tour from New York. One of the passengers was strangled the first night.

Duff joined the cruise in Liverpool, and he is sure the criminal is on board, and he's afraid that he will strike again. You can say that again - he strangles Duff right in the office while Charlie takes a call about another of the passengers being murdered.

Jimmy shows up, naturally, and gets into all kinds of trouble. Charlie puts up with it, Toler's Chan always being on an even keel and exhibiting dry humor.

Very enjoyable. The young Chan, Willie, is played by Layne Tom, Jr. Tom is on a 2006 interview about the Chan films and became a very well known architect, dying at age 87.

Good fun.

Producer John Stone and Director Eugene Forde's last Chan films. By now Stone had done over a dozen and Forde had directed four. Sidney Toler (who appears to be ill in portions of the movie) is supported by #2 son Jimmy and #7 son Willie (Layne Tom, Jr. who was once cast in `Charlie Chan at the Circus' as #2 son Charlie Jr. and in `Charlie Chan in Honolulu' as #5 son Tommy). Lionel Atwill and Leo G. Carroll both add to the drama but Charles Middleton is best remembered in the Flash Gordon films as the Emperor Ming. Cora Witherspoon provides great comic relief. Don Beddoe is credited as playing `James' Ross but introduces himself to Chan as `Frederick' Ross, weight 168 lbs, 5'10', and he will admit to being 35.

Fast-paced who-done-it set primarily aboard a ship bound between Honolulu and San Francisco. A 'round the world cruise by ten travelers has been beset by a series of deaths by strangulation. It is clear from the beginning of the film that the guilty party is a man dressed in a dark hat and raincoat with dark classes and a full beard. But none of the passengers look like that.

Scotland Yard Inspector Duff is sent to investigate only to die as the film opens. Interesting subterfuge will keep the viewer off balance and probably unable to keep up with Chan until all is revealed at the end. `Man can more safely search for gold if world think he dig ditch.' Recommended.

Now this is a movie RIGHT after every real murder mystery fan's heart - no wonder, because it's based on one of Earl Derr Biggers' original novels, "Charlie Chan Carries On" (which had already been adapted in 1931 as the - now lost - first film starring Warner Oland in the role, bearing the book's title), and can clearly be identified as a crime novel brought to the screen. A plot with so many twists and knots that it's almost impossible to follow, a whole bunch of suspects to 'choose' from, dark connections with the past...

And it was adapted in a really MASTERFUL way, with a perfect direction (the atmosphere on board the ship is wonderfully genuine, and the foggy night scenes on deck are pretty creepy), an illustrious cast including mystery specialist Lionel Atwill, Leo Carroll, Robert Lowery (who later would become famous in westerns), Marjorie Weaver (the heroine of many a good B movie), and Cora Witherspoon, and many gags included to lighten up the murderous atmosphere - as usual, mostly provoked by, or involving poor Jimmy Chan.

It all starts in Charlie Chan's office in Honolulu, where he is visited by his old friend Inspector Duff from Scotland Yard, who tells him about a strange case he's on incognito: a cruise ship started four months ago on a world tour from New York, and on the first night one of the passengers, a judge, was strangled. In Liverpool, Duff joined the cruise, and he's convinced that among the passengers must be a dangerous criminal, and it's very probable that he'll strike again. And so he does: Charlie's superior next door is informed over the telephone that a Mr. Kenyon, another one of the passengers, was murdered in his hotel room - and when Charlie gets back to his own office, he finds his friend strangled; and that makes him feel obliged to take on the case himself...

He goes on board, and is introduced to the passengers by group leader Dr. Suderman: there's archaeologist Professor Gordon, Dick Kenyon, the nephew of the murdered man, Paula Drake with whom he's in love and who's the secretary of slightly hysterical Susie Watson, Susie's admirer Freddie Ross, the strange spiritualist couple Mr. and Mrs. Walters - and Mr. Pendleton, who seems to be afraid to death that HE's the intended victim! Then there's a mysterious beggar with a huge beard creeping around, there are stories from the past involving Mrs. Pendleton, there are little bags containing exactly 30 silver dimes (...) - and of course, there's a stowaway: who else but... Jimmy Chan?

And then unfolds a plot before our eyes which is not only almost too complicated to describe, but it would also be a shame to give away too much of it - because it really has to be SEEN to be believed! An absolute 'must' for every mystery fan, equal (if not superior) even to many of the very best 'whodunits' that were ever brought to the screen!