binapiraeus When a young friend of Charlie Chan's, mystery writer Paul Essex, receives a strange message on the flight to San Francisco connected with 'Zodiac', and before the landing strangely commits suicide, Charlie feels it his duty, of course, to find out who drove him to kill himself - because, as he remarks in a conversation about the occult: black magic very often goes with blackmail...He's invited to 'Treasure Island', part of the San Francisco World Fair, by magician Rhadini, who soon reveals that his great antagonist is - 'Mr. Zodiac'! So Charlie knows he's on the right track, especially since strange things keep happening: Essex' last script, 'The Mystery of the Pigmy Arrow', which he'd just finished on the plane, vanishes, and Charlie and son Jimmy suspect ominous 'Mr. Gregory', allegedly an insurance agent. At 'Treasure Island', they meet again; and we also get to know quite some other illustrious characters: Eve Cairo, who possesses REAL psychic powers as a mind reader and for some reason seems to believe very much in Dr. Zodiac's abilities - a fact of which her boyfriend, police reporter Pete Lewis, disapproves greatly; then there's Bessie Sibley, a reckless man-hunter, who seems quite fond of Rhadini, which in turn makes his wife Myra (a former knife thrower from vaudeville) pretty jealous...Charlie finally manages to be granted entrance to Dr. Zodiac's house, who gives a 'performance' of his psychic abilities, communicating in a really eerie dark room séance through an ancient Egyptian priestess with Paul Essex, who declares that he hadn't been blackmailed - but Charlie is convinced otherwise. So, he returns to the house when he knows that Zodiac is out; and actually finds, hidden in a secret room behind a huge safe, a whole filing cabinet with files full of ideal blackmail information on people from all over the country! He sets the whole room on fire to destroy once and for all Zodiac's 'income source' - and then thinks of a clever way to expose the ruthless blackmailer publicly: he suggests to Rhadini to challenge Zodiac to a 'spiritual duel'...This is certainly one of the VERY best entries in the 'Charlie Chan' series, most magnificently and literally hauntingly photographed, and marvelously acted (guest starring as 'Rhadini' is none less than one of the great matinée idols of the 30s, Cesar Romero!) - the atmosphere in this movie is so fascinating that you can't take your eyes off the screen even for a moment. And yet, amid all those creepy, murderous ongoings there is always room for some humor: Jimmy Chan, as always eager to help his Pop, rushes onto the stage for an announcement - and grabs Rhadini's 'magic' coat, which starts producing flowers, ribbons and rabbits while he's trying to make his speech! There's really NOTHING missing in this magnificent thriller...

blanche-2 Sidney Toler is "Charlie Chan at Treasure Island" in this delightful 1939 20th Century Fox film. Toler is more energetic here than in the later films, where he fell into ill health. This film also features Victor Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan, Cesar Romero, and Loretta Young's sister, Sally Blane, who had a strong resemblance to her sister.The Charlie Chan films are rich in history, both in being un-politically correct and in what was going on at the time, since many of the mysteries centered around a famous event. This event is the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island. I wonder if planes ever really looked like that - big, comfortable deco chairs that looked like suede rather than leather. As one who travels often, I sighed when I saw them. On the plane is a friend of Charlie's who has recently vacationed in Hawaii and is going home to San Francisco. He's an author, but after he receives an upsetting radiogram, he is found dead, presumably from a heart attack. Charlie doesn't buy it. He thinks it might be murder or suicide. And a purported insurance man absconds with his manuscript. The radiogram had to do with "Zodiac" and as Charlie soon learns, Zodiac is a person, and Charlie sets out to expose him as a fake psychic and figure out why his clients are committing suicide.Because Hawaii isn't yet a state, everyone has to go through customs, which I found interesting.Very good mystery, though I had it figured out, having seen so many mysteries in my life. It's entertaining, it's fun, it moves right along. Jimmy Chan and his various disguises is a riot.

bkoganbing Charlie Chan gets involved with the world of the supernatural when he and son Jimmy Chan are on a flight to San Francisco mystery novelist Louis Jean Heydt takes his own life. The circumstances are so intriguing that both Sidney Toler and SFPD detective Donald MacBride open an investigation.The title is once again a misnomer. Somebody wanted to get the San Francisco World's Fair some publicity and named the film that. We get nowhere near the fair nor to Treasure Island.Douglas Fowley a reporter and Cesar Romero a magician who has his own club where magic acts are featured declare themselves in on the hunt.Pauline Moore a psychic is the key to this whole plot. You'll have to watch the film to see how that is. I will say that this was quite an organized blackmail racket. The villain had files on people that may have rivaled J. Edgar Hoover's.

ccthemovieman-1 A lot of people think this was Sidney Toler's best Charlie Chan film. I don't know about that, but it is one of his better ones, that's for sure. It featured a lot of suspense, along with action and humor - a good bit of everything that makes the Chan movies popular among its fans.Charlie travels to San Francisco to find out if a friend of his really committed suicide or was murdered. Son "Jimmy" (Sen Yung) comes along for the ride, for some help and some humor. The story revolves around the occult, a familiar theme in films back in the '30s and '40s. Charlie provides an a solid challenge to the charlatans who practice the occult and bilk people out of their money believing in that hocus-pocus. While Chan disproves that stuff, there is one case of a woman definitely having mind-reading abilities that our Chinese friend acknowledges.A very young (and almost unrecognizable the first time I saw this) Caesar Romero plays a magician, and skeptic ghost-buster and something I can't say without giving away the ending. He was a likable guy and a good edition to the movie.In all, a fun 75 minutes. Now, if we could just get this to come out DVD.