Charlie Chan au Musée de cire

Dr. Cream's wax museum hosts a weekly "Crime League" radio broadcast: renowned detectives revisit famous unsolved crimes and debate various solutions.

Charlie Chan reluctantly accepts a challenge to appear on the program to discuss the controversial Rock Case—which culminated, he has long been convinced, in the execution of an innocent man. Little does Mr. Chan know that he himself is now being set up….

Sidney Toler is excellent as the master sleuth in this prime Charlie Chan mystery, one of the series' most memorable. It's a mostly serious Chan we see here—unflappable, quick thinking, even gutsy—and Toler appears to inhabit the character effortlessly.

Sen Yung is good as usual as Jimmy Chan—sneaking in, snooping around, making himself invaluable despite his pop's protests.

Marc Lawrence is the escaped murderer out to get Chan for helping convict him; C. Henry Gordon the shady Dr. Cream, wax dummy creator and sometime plastic surgeon; Joan Valerie the museum assistant who doesn't mind gangsters hiding out in the basement but argues that a murder on the site will ruin their whole setup.

The "crime museum" provides a suitably spooky atmosphere, and a convoluted enough plot keeps viewers as well as detectives guessing who is who. Definitely a top notch Chan mystery.

Excellent series entry and one of Sidney Toler's best Chan films. New direction by Lynn Shores gives this series a new look and feel. The most significant feature of this film is the mixing of suspicious characters with very realistic wax figures in the dark dungeon-like Dr. Cream's Chamber of Horrors on the New York waterfront (admission 25¢) Naturally it is raining outside most of the time (thunder and lightening to boot) and the lights keep going out.

Witty dialog add to the enjoyment. Chan provides his usual pearls of wisdom: `Knowledge only gained through curiosity,' `Mice only play when cat supposed to be in bed,' and `Sometimes better to see and not tell…' We can thank writer John Larkin who also penned a few other good Chan films including `Charlie Chan at Treasure Island.'

The story unfolds quickly and the comic relief provided by Jimmy Chan is more subtle than it other entries. Plenty of suspects, lots of misdirection, more than enough clues, and in the end Chan reveals what he knew that could not be known by the viewer; i.e. you can only guess who is the killer. Nevertheless, just sit back and enjoy this one. My wife even liked it. Highly recommended.

Charlie Chan At The Wax Museum opens with a dramatic courtroom escape by Marc Lawrence who has vowed to get Charlie Chan for supplying the evidence that has earned him a trip to old Sparky at Sing Sing. Lawrence books for the wax museum where owner/exhibitor C. Henry Gordon is a plastic surgeon and the place is just a hideout for criminals seeking new faces.

As it turns out there is to be a broadcast tonight from the museum where dueling detectives Sidney Toler and former Berlin police detective Michael Visaroff will debate a past crime where Toler feels the wrong man was hanged. It's where Lawrence plans some fiendish revenge on Charlie Chan. But it's Visaroff who winds up dead and Lawrence who spends most of the film in facial bandages also dies. It's another killer with a whole different agenda that Toler and number two son Victor Sen Yung have to find.

It's the usual suspect soup at the wax museum, but the film is unusual in that Charlie Chan is the target and nearly gets done in by the killer. That little twist makes Charlie Chan At The Wax Museum one of the best Charlie Chan films in the series.

After first seeing Warner Oland play Charlie Chan in a half-dozen or more pictures, this was my first look at Sidney Toler playing the famous detective. At first I thought he was a distant second to Oland but I have grown to like his version almost as much.

Sen Yung was almost as good as Keye Luke, too, as one of Chan's sons and helpers. Yung plays son "Jimmy" and adds a lot of humor to the movie.

What was really fun about this movie were all the varied characters. There were all kinds of suspects at the wax museum and many pretending to be statutes. The film was humorous and fascinating. Toler's films tended to have more humor in them. I enjoyed ogling Marguerite Chapman in this film.

So far, no announcement of this on DVD, but I expect since the others are slowing being released.

Of all the Chans that I know, this is both the best and the most interesting.

The setting is really cool. Its a wax museum where contemporary crimes are displayed, using personalities that are alive and are among the statues of themselves. It is also a plastic surgery where crooks get their faces changed. And thirdly it is the site of a broadcast radio show where unsolved crimes are re-enacted on-air.

It sounds complicated, and it is. But it is all done very matter of factly, so that these three very clever notions overlap and sometimes merge. Regular readers of my comments know that I love this sort of stuff, stuff I call "folding." Folding is stuff that plays with the notions of representation, and the fun is in how the movieness can play with itself, presenting to us and at the same time noodling with what it means to present.

Detecting in folds has always been a way of discovering narrative. Charlie Chan mysteries aren't the most cerebral of things along these lines. And the actual mystery here is impossible for the audience to anticipate. Its just revealed.

But in just the form of the thing, its great fun. It even has a chess-playing machine, a pretty savvy reference to a fourth fold. (One of the earliest

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.