Charlie Chan a Honolulu

This Charlie Chan, (Sidney Toler) keeps you busy seeing plenty of comedy performed by Jimmy Chan, (Victor Sen Young) oldest son to Charlie Chan who takes over an investigation of a murder which occurred aboard a freighter and claims he is Charlie Chan and gets himself deeply in trouble with his father. George Zucco, (Dr. Caredigan) appears in this film wearing glasses that look like the bottom of coco cola bottles and is very mysterious especially when he transports human brains along with him on his travels. Wild animals like tiger's, and lions also appear in this film and there are plenty of women who act very suspicious and one gal has in her possession $300,000 dollars which seems to disappear and more people are involved with this investigation. At the same time, Charlie Chan is expecting his first Grandchild and the entire family of fourteen all can be seen visiting the hospital room. You will never be able to figure out just who the killer is, because the film goes around like a Merry-go Round. Enjoy this 1938 B Film.

Warner Oland had died and Sidney Toler took over the role of Charlie Chan. While Lee is apparently in college, Number Two son, Jimmy, becomes the one aspiring to be a detective. During a rather tiresome beginning involving the birth of a grandchild, there is some banter between father and son and other child. While Charlie is at the hospital with the entire here, one of the boys gets a call about a murder aboard a ship. Jimmy and his stowaway brother end up on the ship, impersonating honorable father. In addition to two woman, a strange man who sleeps with a lion, is a weird character played by George Zucco, who was in many horror films. He has a kind of fish tank where he keeps a brain alive. Anyway, things go from bad to worse. One of the women came aboard with 300,000 dollars. It is soon missing. There are numerous suspects and eventually Charlie gets wind of his son's bumbling activities (not terrible, just not very insightful) and heads for the ship. This isn't a bad transition for the series as Toler picks up pretty well where his predecessor left off. This Chan, at least for now, is a bit harsher.

This has to be the wildest of the Charlie Chan movies I've seen. It was Sidney Toler's first effort in the lead role, replacing Warner Oland, and it featured more comedy than any other Chan film to that point.

In this film, Chan and his number two son Tommy, his number five son Charlie Jr., and others including a doctor who keeps a live brain in his suitcase, all provide laughs. Along the way is a funny-faced lunatic animal keeper and a lion on the loose. They provide a lot of laughs.

As far as suspects go, there is a strange psychiatrist (the one with the portable brain), two pretty women, two ship's captains, a guy disguised as a cop and his suspect. I told you it was wild. It's too difficult to figure out "whodunnit," so you just sit back and enjoy the wild action and humor.

Yeah, it's silly.....but it''s tremendously enjoyable.

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is called to investigate a murder aboard a freighter docked in Honolulu. There's pressure on Charlie to solve the case quickly so the freighter can leave, as well as waiting on news about the birth of his first grandchild and dealing with meddlesome son Jimmy's attempts to be a detective.

It was nice to see Charlie's family again, especially Charlie Chan, Jr. (Layne Tom, Jr.). This is also the first appearance of "Number Two Son" Jimmy Chan (Victor Sen Yung). He's not as charming as Keye Luke's Lee Chan, but he's fun and enjoyable in his own way. Supporting cast features Robert Barrat, Richard Lane, and the great George Zucco. This is Sidney Toler's first Charlie Chan film. Toler's Chan was different from Oland's. A little more snark from Charlie and more comic relief from sidekicks. While I prefer Warner Oland, Sidney Toler was an admirable replacement and most of his Chan movies are good. At least until the series moved to Monogram.

This was the first Chan film in which Sidney Toler took over the main role from Warner Oland, and he is immediately masterful and acceptable in the part of the Asian detective. I didn't expect to enjoy Toler, not only since I am an Oland fan, but because my first exposure to him was through seeing one of his later mediocre Monogram Chan quickies from the '40s. But this debut has Toler in fine and confident form.

The film begins with a humorous dinner at the Chan home, with Charlie's wife and 10+ children. We quickly establish who the detective is and where he comes from, and then we see that his enthusiastic #2 son Jimmy (well played by Victor Sen Yung) is as excited about being a detective as his older #1 brother Lee had been in the Oland series. When a call arrives for Chan to investigate a murder aboard a small freighter, son Jimmy intercepts and decides to impersonate his dad to get some quality sleuthing in. Some fun happenings ensue before Charlie Chan himself gets wind of it and ultimately joins Jimmy on board to handle the case.

This is an all-around entertaining chapter in the series, with assistance too from George Zucco, as one of the mysterious suspects aboard the ship who collects criminal brains. There are some annoying bits by one of those typical "silly 1930s funnymen" used for comic relief in the mix, but what makes it all work is how effortlessly Sidney Toler and Sen Yung slip into their roles formerly undertaken by Warner Oland and Keye Luke, as the new father and son. *** out of ****