Charlie Chan in trappola

This was Sidney Toler's last film as detective Charlie Chan, the last in a series of twenty-two, produced between 1938 and 1946.

The physical fragility of the actor is visible, as he appears in fewer scenes, moves slowly and even demonstrates a relative verbal economy that is not characteristic of the character. There is, for example, not a single "correction please" in Toler's farewell to the character. A film where we have more "number 2 Son" and Birmingham than Chan.

The plot is what you would expect from a banal television police series and the value of this work is above all historical and sentimental, for fans of the character.

When one of the showgirls in a troupe staying at a beach house is killed, novice showgirl Barbara Jean Wong, calls on that famous detective, Jimmy Chan. Fortunately, his father, Charlie Chan, shows up in the person of Sidney Toler.

Under the direction of Howard Bretherton, this is the strongest of of the Monogram Charlie Chans, due a good mystery script and Bretherton's superior ability to direct the comedy sequences on which the series now relied. Mantan Moreland, as Oland's other assistant, gets a lot more and better comedy in his role, and Victor Sen Yung flourishes. The ladies in the troupe include Rita Quigley and Anne Nagel, and Kirk Nagel, Minerva Urecal, and Larry Blake perform their more serious roles well.

Alas, it was the end for Toler. He had been playing the role for almost a decade by this point, but he was dying of cancer. He would died on February 12, 1947 at the age of 72, after sixty-five years in show business.

Can we agree that Sidney Toler was ill at the time of this movie, and stop talking about it. This isn't' film class - you don't have to tell us all you know about the back-story of the series. Toler does a perfectly good job in this episode of the series - Charlie Chan wasn't exactly Shakespeare, and didn't require great acting. Having several female characters in a Chan mystery was rare, and it's a nice change to me. The son role isn't overplayed in this movie, and while it's not Mantan Moreland's best role, he gives just enough comic relief to the film. Based on the reviews here, you'd think that a prize was being given for nastiest review. Lighten up - the Chan series was meant as light entertainment - not film school criticism fodder. You get action, suspense, comedy, and even a bit of romance all in an hour. Over the years, I saw this 3-4 times before I knew anything about the making of the Chan films, and I always thought it was every bit as good as most of the others in the series. IF you can't just sit back and enjoy this Chan, that's a YOU problem, not a problem with the movie.

An acting troupe rents an oceanfront mansion to stay in while they get ready for the show. Before you know it, the star of the show has disappeared and a fellow actress is found murdered. The situation seems grim.

Luckily, one of the cast members named San Toy has an idea: "I met a detective. The world's greatest detective. His name is Jimmy Chan. Great Chinese detective. He'll protect his countrywoman."

Soon Jimmy Chan is on the case, accompanied by associate Birmingham Brown, and you know that Charlie Chan himself cannot be far behind. Sidney Toler moves a little slowly but is wise as ever in his final appearance as the great detective. Sen Yung and Mantan Moreland are energetic if not exactly inspired as Jimmy and Birmingham.

The supporting cast is pretty standard and features an assortment of young women who seem to be designated by type (the French one, the hysterical one, the cute flirty sarcastic one). The suspects, of course, all accuse each other of murder and lesser crimes, and it's up to Mr. Chan eventually to sort it all out.

The whole thing appears to have been put together pretty quickly, and I'm not at all sure the plot makes any sense...but it's undeniably fast moving and contains a bit of humor. There are also some great shots of oceanfront highway and beach in the picture's opening moments. For those who are not sticklers for tight plot or strong production values, this picture is actually a lot of fun.

Sadly, this is one of the weakest Charlie Chan movies (though even at that, it provides good, average B movie entertainment) - and even much more sadly, it was the last film that Sidney Toler could finish before he died. There are moments where it's obvious that he struggles with his fatal disease; which makes the whole thing even more sad, but also increases enormously our respect for this great actor who gave everything literally until the end.

The story is somewhat confused, the movie seems like it's been done hastily (perhaps because Sidney Toler didn't have much time left?); and the hysterical crowd of 'bathing beauties' certainly tends to go on the audience's nerves, even though they display the latest and most daring bikini fashion of the time. There's a variety troupe on holiday at the seaside, and it becomes clear very soon that the 'star' of the group is SO unsympathetic that sooner or later she WILL be killed... But first it's one of the other girls' turn, whom shrew Marcia blackmails into stealing papers from another girl's trunk (threatening that she'll reveal that the girl is under age), so that she can blackmail the other one, too, whose husband seems to have a dark past. The little girl is strangled, and her Chinese colleague San Toy (one of the few nice girls of the troupe) calls on her friend Jimmy Chan for help - in somewhat of a confusion, so that Birmingham, who picks up the phone, is under the impression that Jimmy has been murdered!

So he and Charlie haste to the beach house, where they soon catch an intruder: Jimmy, who found the paper with the address on Birmingham's desk! No need to say that Charlie is immensely relieved; but now he's in the middle of a murder case, of course - and, as was to be expected, the next day on the beach the body of hated Marcia is found... Now everybody starts accusing each other, some of the girls get fits of hysteria - and Charlie, together with his two assistants, tries to make head or tail of the whole muddled case.

As I said before, this movie certainly isn't among the better Charlie Chans - but it's our last opportunity to see our beloved trio Sidney Toler - Sen Yung - Mantan Moreland together; so let's just enjoy the jokes and the suspense, and laugh and let's be entertained by them once more...