Charlie Chan e la crociera maledetta

Investigating the murder of an old friend puts Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) on the trail of a strangler, which leads to a cruise ship where he encounters more murders. Well, the title's accurate. It's kind of amusing that several people get knocked off before Charlie can solve the case. Doesn't exactly look good on a detective's résumé.

Toler's fine but his yellowface makeup seems especially exaggerated in this one. Maybe it's me but it just looks different. Always fun to see Victor Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan. Layne Tom, Jr. appears here but not as Charlie Chan, Jr. as in his previous appearances. This time he's "Number Seven Son" Willie. Cora Witherspoon is terrific comic relief as Susie Watson. Great supporting cast that includes Lionel Atwill and Leo G. Carroll, among other familiar faces.

This one's a remake of an earlier Charlie Chan film, Charlie Chan Carries On. Unfortunately that's one of the lost Warner Oland Chan films from the early '30s so I can't really compare this to that. But this one's good, with a solid cast and healthy doses of humor.

This film is a very good and has a hilarious performance by the great Cora Witherspoon!! She must be from the Edna Mae Oliver school of acting--one of those ladies that can steal every scene that she is in. All the Charlie Chan films are very enjoyable to watch, at least the ones with Sidney Toler in them, as he was the best actor to portray Charlie Chan. All around good fun film to watch!!

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.

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.

Charlie Chan hustles a whole passel of suspects aboard their cruise ship, knowing one of them is a murderer. He risks his life by staying aboard himself. At least that's what suspect Leo G. Carroll tells him—to which Chan replies, "Life has been risked for jewels far less valuable than friendship."

An old friend has been murdered right in Lieutenant Chan's office, and Chan takes it as a personal challenge. The clues all point to some member of a round-the-world cruise as the murderer…but which one?

A great assortment of the usual suspects keeps this Chan mystery moving along nicely. Besides archaeologist Leo Carroll, there's Cora Witherspoon, a dizzy rich lady; Marjorie Reynolds, her secretary; Robert Lowery, handsome and suddenly wealthy nephew of a second murder victim; and Charles Middleton and Claire Du Brey as a weird couple who do séances. Cruise leader Lionel Atwill wants the whole story kept out of the papers—and how suspicious a character is he?

Mr. Chan is assisted in his investigation by number two son Jimmy Chan, played with energy and style by Sen Yung, who gets a couple of laughs but plays it mostly straight.

Sidney Toler is excellent as Mr. Chan; very much at the center of the action, his confidence and timing are superb. The suspects snap at Mr. Chan, bite at each other, make their noise…and Chan just keeps that little smile on his face, polite, slightly mocking, letting them have their say, waiting for someone to make a mistake….

An exciting and clever climax tops this one off and clinches it as a top notch series entry.