Black Magic

Not one of the best in the Charlie Chan series, but still good. Charlie is now seen with is daughter, played by Frances Chan. Unfortunately, she doesn't knows how to act. Her character is not too inspiring either. But Birmingham Brown, played by Mantan Moreland, brings fun to the screen! He sees spooks all around and never wants to be involved... but always is: "this is strictly a private murder to which I wasn't invited". Once again, he makes us laugh with his gimmicks.

74/100 (**½)

Seen at home, in Welland, November 24th, 2001. And again at home, in Toronto, on February 14th, 2007.

Average Monogram Chan potboiler, in the Mongram House with some of the Monogram staff - but then, I've always liked this one! The surviving print (in Chanthology) is in excellent condition, lending a nice overall atmosphere to the proceedings and helping a lot in following the story. One of the things that always makes me smile watching Monogram's is that the plots usually involve dispensing with some or a lot of accepted social conventions - they weren't meant to be analysed and mulled over decades later. In this Moreland and Frances Chan are in and out of the house like yo-yo's, and creeping all over the place unseen - it wasn't their house but as in a lot of Monogram's you weren't supposed to dwell on ownership issues which obstructed juvenile frisson or slapstick.

At a séance a man is apparently shot dead with what turns out to be an invisible bullet, as Charlie jocularly puts it. The quest is on to find out which of the clients around the table did it and how. The way in which Charlie solved it is depressingly familiar and trite, but everything was wrapped up nicely anyway. As usual Moreland was acting scared witless, in fact with "gremlins galloping up and down his spine" this time - a fantastic image! Frances Chan couldn't act very well but she certainly looked like she was enjoying the experience of making a movie with her constant smiles - her sunny disposition seemed to be rubbing off on Toler too who was enjoying his own aphorisms more than ever.

Overall, nice to watch once in a while especially in a Chan season. And I prefer big shoes to big corns.

The newer films were filled with more silliness. Mantan Moreland became more and more a part of the series. While he was a very funny man, he really only played one note. In this one, a psychic is shot while performing a phony séance. Chan's daughter happens to be at the event and that's how Charlie ends up on the case. The police actually extort him into staying and solving the murder. Mantan, Birmingham Jones, and the daughter are the real investigators. There is a kind of hypnotic drug used and once again we must put aside our beliefs and accept this. Part of the fun is the chicanery that goes on behind the scenes as the credibility of the medium comes tumbling down. I have to admit that our detective has numerous close calls but seems to land on his feet. If you've seen the movie, you'll know how important this is in this film. About average as Chan movies go.

Nervous and bug-eyed Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) "assists" Charlie Chan and his daughter at the murder investigation in the home of a woman who has a séance business. During one of her sessions, a man is killed, and one of six people at the séance table appears to be the murderer.

Moreland was a great comic actor with tons of talent, and he is one of two reasons to watch this film. The other reason is the high-contrast B&W lighting, that reminds me of some 1940's noir films.

Other than Moreland and the film's lighting, "Black Magic" has little to offer. With a runtime of just 67 minutes the story is razor thin and poorly developed, suggestive of a sketchy, hastily written screenplay. There are several plot holes, and the killer's modus operandi is rather far-fetched.

As in many Chan movies, production design is minimal. And the sets here are a little too familiar. The entry hall in the séance house looks exactly like the entry hall used in the Chan movie "The Jade Mask". And the elevator set here looks like the elevator set used in the Chan movie "The Scarlet Clue". But Monogram Studios had the reputation for being cheap. And in this film ... it shows.

Even so, I can see how this film might have appealed to viewers in the 1940s, particularly as a Saturday afternoon matinée feature. In its time it probably was delightfully entertaining and a welcome diversion from the grim business of WWII.

Okay, I must admit that I generally DO like B-movies and series films from the 1940s. I like to watch The Falcon, The Saint, Sherlock Holmes and even Charlie Chan--they are escapist fun. Predictable and occasionally poorly written? Sure,...but still fun. So, despite my love for the genre, I am still in complete shock that so many people gave this ordinary little film a 10 on IMDb!! Come on, people, this is NOT "high art" or even an especially memorable film and the IMDb ratings become irrelevant if such a film is given ridiculously inflated scores! I would really LOVE to know what scores the people that give this movie a 10 gave to OTHER films. Do they give them all 10s or are they scoring films like GONE WITH THE WIND, BEN HUR, CHARIOTS OF FIRE or ORDINARY PEOPLE with lower scores?! I'm just dying to know.

Okay, as for the movie itself, it's pretty much what you'd expect from a later Charlie Chan movie from Mongram Studios. Unlike the original Chan movies (which featured higher production values, better scripts and Warner Oland), this movie was made by a "Poverty Row" studio (Monogram)--known for exceptionally low budgets and a quick turnaround on the films (completing many in just days--regardless of the aesthetics). While a little more interesting because of its plot involving phony psychics and mind control as well as an unusual appearance by one of Chan's daughters instead of the ubiquitous #1, 2 or 3 son, it is still an essentially low-budget formulaic film. And, as usual, Chan is supported by the moronic antics of Mantan Moreland--a Black actor sure to offend many modern viewers due to his stereotypical characterization (as a scared and rather dim-witted Black man as "comic relief"). Despite this MAJOR problem with all the Monogram films, I try to overlook it and understand it was typical of the 1940s (sadly). The film, while occasionally very interesting, isn't well-written or produced and probably will satisfy Chan fans but fail to convince others of the merits of the series.