Charlie Chan nell'isola del tesoro

On a plane headed to San Francisco, Charlie Chan and one of his sons witness the death of a famous writer. The man's death sets the film's plot in motion, as Charlie and company investigate the mysterious "Dr. Zodiac", a grim and extremely intimidating figure who is tall, wears a large mask, and has "psychic" powers.

This is one of the better films in the Charlie Chan series. The story has some really good plot misdirection, consistent with the theme of magic. I correctly picked the killer, but only after a certain plot point toward the end. Up to that point, I was way off in my guess.

But this film is superior to other Charlie Chan films mostly because of the terrific B&W cinematography. The lighting trends toward stark contrasts, with spooky shadows. Some good cross lighting and black curtain effects, together with great close-ups of eyes in the darkness, amplify the suspense. Overall visual styling is more complex, more artistic than in other Charlie Chan movies. The other-worldly persona of Dr. Zodiac combined with the striking visuals give the film real atmospheric character.

I do have a couple of complaints. The suspect pool is not terribly exciting. I would have liked for the existing suspects to have more screen time; also, I would have preferred a larger number of suspects. Second, the way in which the whodunit puzzle is solved is not standard, to say the least. But maybe back in those days, people gave as much credence to mental telepathy as they did to logical deduction.

The film uses San Francisco's "Treasure Island" as a backdrop to the story, which adds some contextual flavor to the film, though unnecessary to the plot. Overall, this is a fine film, one that will appeal especially to die hard Charlie Chan fans.

While in route to San Francisco, Chan's friend Paul Essex dies of an apparent suicide. The only clue is a threatening note from someone calling himself the Zodiac. Chan soon discovers that the Zodiac is a successful mystic. Together with a would-be psychic-buster and magician named Rhadini (Cesar Romero), Chan sets out to discover the source of the Zodiac's mysticism and unmask a killer.

I thought I had seen the best of the Charlie Chan series. Man, was I ever wrong. After a first viewing, Charlie Chan at Treasure Island has become one of my very favorite Chan films. It's not just one of Toler's best, it's one of the three or four best entries in the entire series. It's got everything a fan could ask for - an interesting plot, a larger than life villain, solid acting, compelling characters, real suspense, comic relief that's actually funny, and some of the best writing I've seen in a Chan movie. The final reveal is also one of the best in the series. It's not the usual drawing room gathering of the suspects (which I usually prefer), but a drawn out, tension filled scene in a theater full of people. And speaking of tension, Chan's first meeting with the Zodiac is amazing, if not a bit frightening. Charlie Chan at Treasure Island also benefits from a strong supporting cast. Cesar Romero, Douglas Fowley, Pauline Moore, and, personal favorite, Douglass Dumbrille add considerably to the film. Overall, this is one Charlie Chan film that I'm very much look forward to revisiting - and soon.

When a young friend of Charlie Chan's, mystery writer Paul Essex, receives a strange message on the flight to San Francisco connected with 'Zodiac', and before the landing strangely commits suicide, Charlie feels it his duty, of course, to find out who drove him to kill himself - because, as he remarks in a conversation about the occult: black magic very often goes with blackmail...

He's invited to 'Treasure Island', part of the San Francisco World Fair, by magician Rhadini, who soon reveals that his great antagonist is - 'Mr. Zodiac'! So Charlie knows he's on the right track, especially since strange things keep happening: Essex' last script, 'The Mystery of the Pigmy Arrow', which he'd just finished on the plane, vanishes, and Charlie and son Jimmy suspect ominous 'Mr. Gregory', allegedly an insurance agent. At 'Treasure Island', they meet again; and we also get to know quite some other illustrious characters: Eve Cairo, who possesses REAL psychic powers as a mind reader and for some reason seems to believe very much in Dr. Zodiac's abilities - a fact of which her boyfriend, police reporter Pete Lewis, disapproves greatly; then there's Bessie Sibley, a reckless man-hunter, who seems quite fond of Rhadini, which in turn makes his wife Myra (a former knife thrower from vaudeville) pretty jealous...

Charlie finally manages to be granted entrance to Dr. Zodiac's house, who gives a 'performance' of his psychic abilities, communicating in a really eerie dark room séance through an ancient Egyptian priestess with Paul Essex, who declares that he hadn't been blackmailed - but Charlie is convinced otherwise. So, he returns to the house when he knows that Zodiac is out; and actually finds, hidden in a secret room behind a huge safe, a whole filing cabinet with files full of ideal blackmail information on people from all over the country! He sets the whole room on fire to destroy once and for all Zodiac's 'income source' - and then thinks of a clever way to expose the ruthless blackmailer publicly: he suggests to Rhadini to challenge Zodiac to a 'spiritual duel'...

This is certainly one of the VERY best entries in the 'Charlie Chan' series, most magnificently and literally hauntingly photographed, and marvelously acted (guest starring as 'Rhadini' is none less than one of the great matinée idols of the 30s, Cesar Romero!) - the atmosphere in this movie is so fascinating that you can't take your eyes off the screen even for a moment. And yet, amid all those creepy, murderous ongoings there is always room for some humor: Jimmy Chan, as always eager to help his Pop, rushes onto the stage for an announcement - and grabs Rhadini's 'magic' coat, which starts producing flowers, ribbons and rabbits while he's trying to make his speech! There's really NOTHING missing in this magnificent thriller...

Before history gets rewritten (incorrectly) on more of these comments, this movie was set at the Golden Gate International Exposition (sometimes erroneously known as the San Francisco World's Fair) which was held in San Francisco on what was known as Treasure Island in 1939 and 1940. (There is still a small museum of Expo artifacts in the horseshoe-shaped Administration Building.) It was not the "Century of Progress Exhibition" as some people have thought. That was the 1933 Fair held in Chicago! The real footage of this Exposition is terrific, especially the aerial views. I think the writers used the backdrop of the Expo to their advantage. The magic show was very entertaining and the clairvoyant was eerie. All in all, this is one of the best of the Chan series.

This worthy addition to the Charlie Chan canon is chock full of the usual genre gimmicks: lightening storms, seances and Confucianism. The inscrutable Sydney Toler travels to the Century of Progress Exhibition in San Francisco to investigate the apparent suicide of a friend. Naturally his "number two son" Jimmy tags along to provide comic relief. Young Cesar Romero plays a skeptical ghost-buster. Pauline Moore is typically shrill and hysterical. There is no sign of Mantan Moreland at all, thank heavens. Director Norman Foster and cinematographer Virgil Miller suffuse everything with ominous gloom. By any standard, this mystery-thriller is a complete success. If you need further chills, it might interest you to know that California's uncaptured Zodiac Killer is believed to have modeled certain elements of his M.O. upon the villain of this film.