Hitchcoc
Instead of taking precautions to aid a man who is in grave danger, Charlie again waits to do anything. He is approached by an old friend who says that someone is trying to kill him. It has something to do with an old gold mine, The Golden Eye, that has begun producing after many lean years. The gang find themselves on a dude ranch where things aren't' as they should be. The old friend supposedly falls down a shaft and is left a broken man, fighting for his life. Once again, there are a couple bodies that need to be dealt with. Charlie pretends to be a jade merchant and exposes his identity to an old detective friend who seems to be aware of the goings on. The problem, as it often is in these poorly done old films, is the slipshod work of everyone as they do nothing to protect those in danger. It was good that this series slowly plodded to an end.
mark.waltz
An Arizona gold mine becomes the location for another murder that Charlie Chan happens to be around when it occurs. As the series began to reach its inevitable conclusion, the plots just got more outrageous, yet this one is perhaps one of the more accessible of the later part of the series. Roland Winters doesn't have the cleverness of either Warner Oland or Sidney Toler, and sometimes it seems like the writers just put together their plots by simply just changing the location, the motivation, the names of all the suspects and toss in a couple of comic bits for Mantan Moreland and whatever # son happens to be there. Victor Sen Yung gets his opportunity to be a dude as he tries on chaps and Mantan Moreland does his usual pratfalls and scaredy-cat double-takes, even talking directly to the camera. Of course, all the usual suspects are there, as is the vulnerable heroine (Wanda McKay), a tough-talking nun (veteran actress Evelyn Brent) and a dumb-as-nails cop (Tim Ryan). These later day entries confound the audience with confusing twists and turns that sometimes make no sense, and give the impression that towards the end, they weren't even really trying.
bkoganbing
Contrary to what you might originally think The Golden Eye is not an original version of the James Bond classic. It's the name of a played out gold mine which has suddenly sprung to life. But its owner Forrest Taylor is so fearful of his that he goes to San Francisco to seek out Charlie Chan.The writers of the Charlie Chan series were getting terribly uninspired in doing this film. Roland Winters goes to a dude ranch with number 2 son Victor Sen Yung and the comical relief of chauffeur Mantan Moreland along to oversee the investigation. While there they meet Tim Ryan of the San Francisco PD who is doing a nice drunk act as a blind because they eventually find out they're on the same case which involves smuggling.Not much mystery here because just about every other cast member is involved some way in the racket. Evelyn Brent plays a nun, but none too successfully. She gives her disguise away in a truly stupid manner and you didn't need to be Charlie Chan to figure out she was a phony.Definitely not one of the better Charlie Chan features.
jonfrum2000
This episode in the Chan series features skimpy sets - not rare in the later Chans - and a weak role for the usually entertaining Mantan Moreland, but some Chan is better than none. Roland Winters does a perfectly serviceable job as Charlie - lacking the warmth of Warner Oland, but also lacking the harshness of Sidney Toler in his father/son interactions. The plot is pedestrian, but the series is about Charlie and assistants, not the stories, so a less than perfect plot is OK. This movie lacks the beautiful women in gowns we often get in Chans, and not much of a love affair, so some of the classic Chan features are missing. By this late time, they were spending very little money on the series, and milking it for the value of the franchise. One can imagine that it was a perfectly good way to spend an hour on a Saturday in post-war America.I noticed that after crediting Roland Winters and one woman actress, Mantan Moreland and Victor Sen Young came next. In spite of the fact that a white man was playing Chan, clearly a black man and a Chinese man came next in popularity with audiences. For some reason, this fact is never credited. The theme of racist America is just to popular to be spoiled by such facts.
AD
