utgard14 Monogram Charlie Chan film with a plot that is a mix of a generic espionage mystery with murder at a radio station. It seems like maybe they took the plots to a couple of previous B murder mysteries (not even Charlie Chan ones) and combined them. Once again, Charlie gets help from comic relief sidekicks Benson Fong and Mantan Moreland. Fong plays Tommy Chan and he's as boring as ever. Charlie's a jerk to him throughout the movie and I honestly couldn't blame him. Tommy was clearly Charlie's least favorite son.Mantan Moreland plays Birmingham Brown, who is a little more restrained here than his earlier Chan films. Also appearing a couple of times is Moreland's old vaudeville partner Ben Carter. The two do an amusing bit that was probably from their vaudeville days. It's basically a conversation between the two where neither ever finishes a sentence because the other seems to know automatically what he's going to say. It's funnier on screen than it reads here. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Abbott & Costello's vaudeville routines. I have not been a fan of Mantan Moreland's character in the Charlie Chan series. However, if he had been more like he is in his scenes with Carter, I think I would have liked him more. Instead, he's usually just doing his bug-eyed "I'm afraid of spooks" garbage, complete with lots of double takes and talking to himself.I also liked seeing pretty Janet Shaw. Something about her I always found appealing. There's an actor character called Horace Karlos, played by Leonard Mudie, who is supposed to be a parody of Boris Karloff. That's fun for fans. Altogether, it's not the greatest Charlie Chan or even a particularly strong one. But it's watchable with some enjoyable parts. Considering this was made during the dreadful Monogram years we should be thankful it isn't worse.

tavm This is my tenth review of a Charlie Chan movie in series chronological order on these consecutive days. In this one, he's investigating some murders at a radio station. Along with him are his "No. 3 Son" Tommy (Benson Fong) and chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland)...This was another Monogram series entry of the Chan franchise that I highly enjoyed despite a not-always-believable structure. Still, there's plenty of good comedy from Fong and Moreland. There's also a special treat when the latter meets an old friend named Ben Carter who plays himself as they exchange some words where they keep interrupting each other but understanding what each is saying just the same! This was an act that both did successfully on stage and what a wonderful thing to see this preserved on film. Anyway, besides those I've mentioned as well as Sidney Toler as the lead character giving good performances, there's also some supporting players from previous Chan features that are also fine here. Among those players-and I'm only going to mention those Chan pictures I've actually seen and reviewed here-are Robert Homans-Capt. Flynn here-who was also in The Black Camel as Chief of Police, I. Stanford Jolley-Ralph Brett here-who was also in The Chinese Cat as Gennet, Charles Jordan-Radio Actor Nelson here-who was also in Black Magic (a.k.a Meeting at Midnight) as Tom Starkey, Emmett Vogan-Mr. Hamilton here-who was also in Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum as the prosecuting attorney, and Charles Wagenheim-Rausch here-another one also in C. C. at the Wax Museum as Willie Fern. With all that I've mentioned, I highly recommend The Scarlett Clue. P.S. Charles Sherlock-Sgt. McGraw here-is another player in these series entries that's a native of my birthtown of Chicago, Ill. And Milton Kibbee-Herbert Sinclair here, brother of familiar character actor Guy Kibbee, was another player from my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life. He was a photographer at George Bailey's house when George came back from experiencing the never-been-born sequence.

Neil Doyle THE SCARLET CLUE is a fairly interesting Charlie Chan film from the '40s, depending on its humor for the performances of BENSON FONG as #3 son, MANTAN MORELAND as Birmingham Brown and BEN CARTER as Ben Carter. The mysterious deaths of people associated with a radio program that is a front for some sort of radar secrets espionage, is at the heart of the crimes Chan must solve.SIDNEY TOLER was beginning to show signs of fatigue (he died two years later) and the sets and production values are noticeably reduced from what they were when the Chan films were being made by Fox. During the TCM showing of the film, Robert Osborne mentioned that it was Toler himself who brought the idea of furthering the Chan adventures to another studio after shopping the idea around.VIRGINIA BRISSAC, JACK NORTON, JANET SHAW and HELEN DEVERELL are among the chief suspects. I recognized Miss Brissac from her performance as the hard of hearing Miss Seiffert from THE SNAKE PIT. She has quite a different role here.Enjoyable fluff, not one of the best in the Chan series but a respectable enough entry from Monogram.Favorite line: When son #3 tells his dad that he has an idea but then immediately forgets what he wanted to say, Chan replies: "It's now in solitary confinement."

BaronBl00d Famed detective and government agent Charlie Chan is back again for this Monogram film where Charlie is trailing a suspect who may be involved with plans to steal radar equipment/secrets from our government for foreign spies and who has just killed aboard a ship. Chan and detective friend trace suspect back to a radio show and from there on Charlie helps at least three more people get killed with his investigation. This is an interesting Chan vehicle and gives Sidney Toler plenty of screen time to hone his Chan skills. Benson Fong and Mantan Moreland are back once again and lift the mundane to the amusing with their comic routines. Moreland, again, steals his scenes and gives the film a lot of vitality it would otherwise not have. I particularly like a couple of routines he does in the film with a guy he knows and neither one lets the other finish the sentence. The comic timing was first-rate! As for the mystery, it is not too terribly confusing though when the end is told no real explanation as to why and who did crimes is revealed fully. I enjoyed many of the characterizations of the show people. I thought the means of death were very inventive, and I loved the whole thing with the elevator. Very clever.