binapiraeus When Professor Arnold discovers the tomb of an Ancient high priest, which probably leads to the treasures of the goddess Sekhmet, he mysteriously disappears. His brother, his daughter and his son have been waiting for news from him for weeks when Charlie Chan arrives with the news that some of the items from the tomb, which were all to be delivered to the French Archaeological Society, have been found in various private collections in Europe; and this, combined with the professor's sudden disappearance, of course leads him to the conclusion that someone from the expedition team wants to make a fortune out of the finds - and much more of the hidden treasures of Sekhmet...A VERY suspenseful, exotic adventure of our Chinese detective, highly dramatic at times, but also with some comical elements, and a very beautiful love story. Warner Oland is once more at his best, just like all the rest of the cast, most of whom regrettably are more or less forgotten today - except for the girl who played the mysterious young Egyptian servant: Rita Cansino - better known as Rita Hayworth...So there are MANY reasons for watching this classic mystery, which is not just another 'whodunit' set in some faraway country, but MUCH more - here, Ancient history meets with modern greed and ruthlessness; and the 'antidote' to it in the shape of a very clever, philosophical and humane Chinaman...

Robert J. Maxwell A tomb is opened in the Valley of Kings, an archaeologist dies quickly, another disappears, and artifacts from the tomb begin appearing mysteriously on the black market. Charlie Chan is called in to investigate the whole business by the French archaeological society. Everybody looks suspicious except the pretty young woman and Stepin Fetchit as "Snowshoes", who claims to be descended from Ameti, the recently disinterred King.Actually, what the French Archaeological Society has to do with anything is just as big a mystery. Egypt was in British hands at the time, and they shouldn't have been fiddling around with three-thousand year-old tombs either without the most careful supervision, which was never provided.I lost the thread of the narrative once or twice because my attention drifted and the plot is a little convoluted, but I enjoyed the mumbo jumbo and the fake ghosts and the violin with the deadly gas concealed in its belly, encased in thin glass designed to shatter when the instrument emits sound of a certain frequency.Stepin Fetchit wasn't very amusing. The stereotype wasn't bothersome. Mantan Moreland appeared in some of the later episodes and was often quite amusing. It's just that Fetchit has little to do and nothing funny to say. Rita Hayworth appears in a secondary role but you'd never recognize her if you didn't know who it was. Her hairline was far lower at the time. Not as bad as the wolfman's, but you know what I mean. It peaked down the middle of her brow and had yet to be electrolyzed or electrocuted or whatever it is that Hollywood does to permanently remove hair and restore its line to where they believe Nature intended it to be. I kind of like stories like this about ancient Egyptian tombs -- the narrow passageways, the confusion of multiple rooms, the profusion of hieroglyphics, the fake ghosts gleaming in the darkness, the underground streams. I wish they'd worn pith helmets.The pyramids had uncountable numbers of corridors and shafts going this way and that like a carnival maze. Some years ago, after the invention of fiber optic photography, an investigator ran a tube a few dozen yard up a dead-end shaft that was square and about a foot in diameter. Of course there was nothing IN the tiny shaft -- except a few dangling threads of an old spider web. No one has explained what the spider was seeking at that depth, or why the spider was stupid enough to look for anything at all in a dead-end three-thousand-year-old granite-lined shaft.

Michael O'Keefe The honorable detective Charlie Chan(Warner Oland)finds himself at an excavation of an Egyptian tomb. Chan is working on the behalf of the French Historical Society in search of reasons why treasures from a once popular high priest is turning up in private collections. The archaeologist that made the discovery of the tomb, Professor Arnold(George Irving)has disappeared and found murdered. Arnold's family believes the crimes are part of a threatening curse. During Chan's investigation suspects are also murdered. Atmospheric mystery with some comic relief provided by the legendary Stepin Fetchit. Also in the cast: Jameson Thomas, Nigel De Brulier, Pat Paterson,Thomas Beck and a young and beautiful Rita Haworth. There is also another beauty in a minor role, Gloria Roy. This film can only boost Chan's fan base.

Spondonman This has always been one of my favourite Warner Oland Chan's, made even more suitably murky and mysterious by the passage of time and the way it's been handled since it was made.Charlie's in Egypt to track down the person responsible for leaking valuable ancient artifacts into European collections, finding murder as well. With some fantastic atmospheric sets as backdrop and a great cast he and the ever dependable Thomas Beck act as a team to get to the bottom of the mystery and nab the culprit. Every other post has highlighted the main problem with it: Stepin Fetchit. It's a shame they put him in but it's not a problem to me as I don't watch it for him shuffling and mumbling along but for the main story unfolding around the rest of the cast. His major scenes could easily be cut out or altered to save everyone's black and white blushes today - but where would you stop? Airbrush cigarettes, smoke and alcohol, cgi over carbon non-neutral cars or low efficiency lightbulbs, even change Oland to a white Swede and superimpose a black superhero in goodie Beck's place to engage a more proactive and socially inclusive demographic, erase mention of Egypt to try to disguise the colonial connotations etc? And of course if we went that far also add plenty of mindless graphic sex and violence because that's OK in todays crazy world; the Nazis would have simply burned all the prints of this and everything considered similar and revised the history books.With all its faults I'm grateful for what we've got – some of the early Chan's are lost forever – at the very least for an insight into the human mental condition as it existed in Hollywood in 1935 but more for as it exists around the world today. If you really don't like it you could campaign for its destruction, but if you like watching pre WW2 b&w middle brow detective movies containing innumerable dead people like this like me watch it without angst as a good film.