Charlie Chan investigates when bank employees are inexplicably murdered by cobra venom, and the sleuth (Sidney Toler) suspects a connection to a pre-war case that involved the same means. Adding interest to the setting is a “jukebox” which allows the patron to place a request to a live disc jockey — and this device forms …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>The Shanghai Cobra</em> (1945)”
A building housing an experimental radio-television station and a nearby research laboratory is the central location for this Charlie Chan mystery. As the detective (Sidney Toler) investigates a murder tied in with the station’s staff and performers, he suspects that someone may be targeting the improved radar being developed in the lab. There are a …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>The Scarlet Clue</em> (1945)”
An unpleasant scientist works in his home, which is peopled by employees and relatives whom he mistreats, and who hate him. When he is apparently slain by his own death trap, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is on hand to investigate, assisted once again by one of his children (No. 4 son Eddie, played by Edwin …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>The Jade Mask</em> (1945)”
In this series entry, also known as Meeting at Midnight, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates when a psychic is murdered during a séance his daughter Frances (Frances Chan) is attending. Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland), who has taken a job with the psychics because Chan is planning to return to Hawaii, is also on hand for …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Black Magic</em> (1944)”
Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates the locked-room murder of wealthy chess expert Thomas P. Manning (Sam Flint). He has little time to do so, as he must head back to Washington in a couple days to continue his war work. There’s a moderately effective use of a funhouse setting — I always enjoy it when …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>The Chinese Cat</em> (1944)”
Old Cassie Denham has invited her relatives, who had unsuccessfully tried to have committed, to come to her house, ostensibly so she can decide who will be her heir. Murder soon ensues. After the first killing, Reporter Bob White (Wallace Ford) arrives after the first killing, and he, together with his girlfriend and his photographer, …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Murder by Invitation</em> (1941)”
After a hiatus, star Sidney Toler brought Charlie Chan to Monogram Pictures in this wartime mystery. A inventor working on an advanced torpedo design is killed for the plans of his invention, though the exact means of the crime are unclear initially. Charlie is called upon to sift through a houseful of suspects, including a …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Charlie Chan in the Secret Service</em> (1944)”
Mountie Rod Webb (Kirby Grant) investigates attacks by a wolf, and his pal Chinook (“the Wonder Dog”) thus gets a chance to face a canine combatant. This well-scripted entry in the series moves along at a good clip, with plenty of action and interest. Recommended. Otto finds this one pleasing enough to relax.
Bad guys set their sights on a stage line owned by a supposed widow, Mary Croft (Claire Whitney), whose husband, Patrick Collins (Steve Clark), is actually in prison. The crooks are helped by an inside man, Lance Regan (Douglas Evans), who met Mary and Patrick’s daughter, Pat Croft (Jan Bryant), on a stage and who …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Cowboy Cavalier</em> (1948)”
A muddled mess of a mystery from Monogram has the “Curse of Kali” striking down those who claim a share in riches that an archaeologist who has gone bad, and who is now in a wheelchair, brought back from his expedition. The performers and the performances are undistinguished at best. Even the presence of a …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>House of Mystery</em> (1934)”
