The twenty-sixth of forty-seven Charlie Chan movies.
Both Jean Rogers and Kane Richmond appeared in the classic serial "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars." Jean Rogers played the female lead Dale Arden while Richmond had a smaller part as a strato-sled pilot loyal to Queen Azura.
The film features shots of several US Navy vessels going through the Panama Canal Zone, including what appears to be the battleship BB-39 Arizona, to be lost on December 7th at Pearl Harbor and the aircraft carrier CV-2 Lexington, which was lost at the Battle of the Coral Sea.
There are three Latin classic pieces of music in the film: As Mr. Godley arrives at Fu Yen's hat shop a street singer can be heard singing the Cuban song "Siboney"; At Manolo's Cabaret Jean Rogers sings the beautiful "Vereda Tropical" in Spanish; The house band at the hotel plays an instrumental version of "Cielito Lindo", perhaps the greatest Mariachi song ever written, as Charlie Chan drinks his coffee. It's this attention to detail that makes the Fox Chan films so rich and engaging.
This film was first telecast in Detroit Monday 9 November 1953 on WXYZ (Channel 7), in Portland OR Saturday 19 December 1953 on KOIN (Channel 6), in New York City Wednesday10 February 1954 on WCBS (Channel 2), in Dayton Saturday 27 February 1954 on WLW-D (Channel 2), in Cincinnati Monday 17 May 1954 on WLW-T (Channel 5), in Dallas Thursday 20 May 1954 on KRLD (Channel 4), in Los Angeles Saturday 28 August 1954 on KNBH (Channel 4), and in San Francisco Wednesday 4 May 1955 on KRON (Channel 4).