Charlie Chan in City in Darkness (1939)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Herbert I. Leeds

Writers:

Robert Ellis (writer)
Ladislas Fodor (play)
(more)

Release Date:

15 November 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

PARIS! BLACKOUT!...but there's no blackout for crime...and the great detective is commandeered!

Plot:

While in Paris for a reunion on the eve of World War II, Charlie finds that the murder of an hated businessman leads him to a conspiracy to smuggle arms to Germany.

Plot Keywords:

Peace Conference | La Marseillaise | WWI Veteran | Charlie Chan | Sequel

Cast

Sidney Toler	...	Charlie Chan
Lynn Bari	...	Marie Dubon
Richard Clarke	...	Tony Madero (as Richard Clark)
Harold Huber	...	Police Inspector Marcel Spivak
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Antoine
Dorothy Tree	...	Charlotte Ronnell
C. Henry Gordon	...	Prefect of Police J. Romaine
Douglass Dumbrille	...	B. Petroff (as Douglas Dumbrille)
Noel Madison	...	Belescu
Leo G. Carroll	...	Louis Santelle
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Pierre
Louis Mercier	...	Gentleman Max
George Davis	...	Alex
Barbara Leonard	...	Lola
Adrienne D'Ambricourt	...	Landlady
Frederick Vogeding	...	Captain (as Fredrik Vogeding)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eugene Borden	...	Gendarme (uncredited)
André Cheron	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Ann Codee	...	Complainant at Police (uncredited)
Albert Conti	...	Manager (uncredited)
Gino Corrado	...	Proprietor of Wine Cellar (uncredited)
Jean De Briac	...	Puppeteer (uncredited)
Jean Del Val	...	French Cabby (uncredited)
Fred Farrell	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Harry Fleischmann	...	Baptiste (uncredited)
Constant Franke	...	Officer (uncredited)
Arno Frey	...	Pilot (uncredited)
John George	...	Victor, Notorious Patron of Gangland Bistro (uncredited)
Helen Giere	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Paul Irving	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Jeanne Lafayette	...	French Girl (uncredited)
Michael Mark	...	Mechanic (uncredited)
Alphonse Martell	...	Gendarme (uncredited)
Alberto Morin	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Nita Pike	...	Telephone Operator (uncredited)
Albert Pollet	...	Cabby (uncredited)
Frank Puglia	...	Gendarme at Steamship Office (uncredited)
Joseph Romantini	...	Gendarme (uncredited)
Rolfe Sedan	...	Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Tom Seidel	...	Phillip (uncredited)
Lester Sharpe	...	Market Man (uncredited)
George Sorel	...	Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Larry Steers	...	Man Leaving Paris (uncredited)
Jacques Vanaire	...	Gendarme (uncredited)
Veola Vonn	...	French Girl (uncredited)
Marek Windheim	...	Cabby (uncredited)

Directed by
Herbert I. Leeds

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Robert Ellis		writer
Ladislas Fodor		(play) (as Ladislaus Fodor)
Gina Kaus		play
Helen Logan		writer

Produced by
John Stone	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Virgil Miller

Film Editing by
Harry Reynolds

Art Direction by
Lewis H. Creber		(as Lewis Creber)
Richard Day

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Herschel McCoy		(as Herschel)

Sound Department
Joseph E. Aiken	....	sound
William H. Anderson	....	sound

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Samuel Kaylin	....	musical director

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1939) (USA) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

City in Darkness (UK)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA High Fidelity Recording)

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Chan's prescient aphorism at the film's conclusion, expressing pessimism about the upcoming Munich Conference was filmed months prior to the start of World War II.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Harold Huber is thrown from the raised doorway of the hotel steps by the bouncer, the mattress on the cobblestones can be seen in the shot.

Quotes:

Charlie Chan: Birds never divide worm until safe in roost.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Murder Over New York (1940)

Pre-war Paris as setting for weak spy melodrama

Maybe it was the play that forms the basis of this tale, maybe the return to previous screenwriters, or a new director, or whatever…but this is one of the weakest Sidney Toler Chan films done at 20th Century Fox. Not much of a mystery – more a propaganda film about the coming war and the need to beware of traitors who would sell and ship arms to the enemy and who need clearance papers that disguise munitions as fruit.

One of the few films without one of his offspring (he admits to having 5 sons here). Chan plays instead off Marcel, secretary and godson to the Paris Chief of Police. Audiences were probably being conditioned to regard the French as future allies; hence Marcel explains that he is really the son of the Bucharest Chief of Police – thus maligning Romania instead. Harold Huber has done a much more subtle and effective job at comedy in the Chan series. Pedro de Cordoba does splendidly as a dignified gentleman's gentleman Antoine and WWI veteran who sees his son off to the next conflict. AMC gives second billing in this film to Lon Chaney, Jr., but in reality his is a bit part preceding his more memorable appearance in `Of Mice and Men' the same year. He must have needed the work.

There are enough clues, misdirections, and suspects to keep the outcome up in the air but we are not made to really care. The murdered man deserved to be murdered and who did it matters little. There are sufficient clues for an observant viewer to arrive at the solution along with Chan.

Not one of the better or even good Chan films. See this only to round out the series. As Chan said in this film: `To describe bitter medicine will not improve its flavor.'