Alibi suspect

This is my twelfth review of a Charlie Chan movie in series chronological order on these consecutive days. In this one, a man who's been out of prison for twenty years is suddenly arrested for a recent robbery at a bank he claims he's never set foot in. His daughter and lawyer are on the verge of giving up until Charlie overhears and offers his services...Directed by Phil Karlson who had previously helmed The Shanghai Cobra, he once again provides an exciting beginning and ending sequence for a Chan entry. While I admit to not understanding everything that is going on concerning the case, it was still interesting to hear Charlie's analysis, as always. And despite the now-not-very-acceptable stereotype of a scared black man with bulging eyes in these modern times, Mantan Moreland is still funny to me when he does what he does here. His comedy is perfectly aided, once again, by Benson Fong as "No. 3 Son" Tommy, and Ben Carter in a reprise of his and Mantan's "interrupted talk" from The Scarlet Clue. Even Charlie joins in this routine at the end. Incidentally, Carter would pass away not long after appearing here. Good atmospheric touches throughout. So on that note, I recommend Dark Alibi. P.S. Joyce Compton, who's Emily Evans here, was a native of Lexington, Ky. where I lived as a child from 1974-75 during which my youngest sister was born. Ray Walker, who's Danvers here, was another character actor who appeared in my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-as Joe, a luggage handler who gives the adult George Bailey his suitcase with his name on it as we see James Stewart as the lead character for the first time. Also, on a personal note, I started watching these Monogram Chan movies (usually starring Roland Winters) on my local station here in Baton Rouge on Channel 2, WBRZ-TV, in the late '70s during the late night lineup of movies on Saturday morning on "Charlie Chan Cinema". The wraparound open and closing sequence had someone banging a gong before we dolly to a silhouette of a Chinese man speaking in Pidgin English introducing the movie and mentioning the next week's title, respectively, while the country's type of music played in the background. Actually, since we only see his shadow, I don't know if he was actually Asian or some other race but that was my memory of that sequence...

A bank is robbed, and a guard is shot to death. Clues lead the police to the Foss Family Hotel where we meet a varied group of unsavory suspects.

Thomas Harley, who resides at the hotel along with his beautiful daughter June, is the one that the police are after-- it was his fingerprints left on the safe that led the police to the hotel.

He claims that he was locked up in a theatrical warehouse, but he has no witnesses. Even more suspicious is his story that he had received a letter from a man he hadn't seen for many years, asking him to a meeting at the warehouse; but the prosecutor can prove that the man had been dead for eight years.

Chan thinks the set-up is much too pat, and he doesn't give up on Mr. Harley when Harley's daughter June makes an appeal to him to help free her innocent dad. But how can he account for those fingerprints?

A nice bit of fluff from the Chan series, but not much to dig your teeth into. No one in law enforcement seen anything in the coincidence of three bank robberies solved in the exact same way - the only evidence is fingerprints - with the money never discovered. Of course, Charlie knows that something is going on. The fun cliché of this Chan episode is the warehouse full of theatrical props - like the fun house and the séance, a great setting for a movie mystery.

Prison is never so wacky as when Tommy Chan and Birmingham Brown are let lose - don't fight it, just go with the silliness. Birmingham's brother Benjamin shows up - as a convict, and the duo repeat their stage act for a bit of comic relief.

No dramatic lighting in this one - Monogram wasn't going to pay for fine cinematography. This episode in the series also suffers from a weak female cast - none of the beauties in gowns that fill earlier efforts. The biggest failure is at the very end - the final reveal comes out of nowhere and is over before you can scratch your head. Still, it's a workmanlike Chan, and that's good enough for an hour's fun.

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is asked to prove the innocence of a man already convicted of murder and scheduled to be executed. So Charlie tries to get to the bottom of how the man's fingerprints could have been at the scene of the crime if he was innocent. He's got help from incompetent son Tommy (Benson Fong) and trite comic relief Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). There's a moronic scene where Tommy and Birmingham wander around a prison with no guards even noticing. It's a typically cheap Monogram movie with shoddy writing. Moreland's old vaudeville partner Ben Carter returns for the second time in the series to do one of their old vaudeville routines. It's amusing but essentially the same bit they did the last time. Janet Shaw, Joyce Compton, Teala Loring and Chan regulars Milton Parsons and John Eldredge also appear.

The script is particularly weak. One of the biggest flaws in the Monogram series versus the Fox one is that the scripts are so bad. Often Sidney Toler seems to be padding his lines in an effort to make the scene work. In the older series, particularly throughout the Warner Oland years, Charlie seemed wise beyond his years. In the Monogram films he just seems smug. Don't even get me started on the lack of good aphorisms that Charlie Chan is known for. Here he spouts nonsense about "if tooth is missing, gap will tell us much" or some such baloney.

If you've seen some of the Monogram Chans and liked them, you will probably enjoy this more than I did. If you're new to Charlie Chan movies, do yourself a favor and start with the Fox films. Don't let your first Chan film be from Monogram or you might never want to try another.

Another enjoyable mystery fused with comedy. This time Charlie is hired by the pretty Teala Loring ( sister of Debra Paget and Lisa Gaye) to prove that her father is innocent of a bank job. There's nine days left before he goes to the electric chair, but if there's anyone can prove his innocence it's Charlie Chan. Great surprise ending. Never expected it to be that person ( the main culprit)