Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Phil Rosen

Writers:

Earl Derr Biggers (characters)
George Callahan (writer)

Release Date:

14 February 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The screen's most daring sleuth!

Plot:

Charlie Chan is an agent of the U.S. government assigned to investigate the mysterious death of an inventor.

Plot Keywords:

Charlie Chan | Inventor | Invention | Investigation | Secret Service

Cast

Sidney Toler	...	Charlie Chan
Mantan Moreland	...	Birmingham Brown
Arthur Loft	...	Inspector Jones, Secret Service
Gwen Kenyon	...	Inez Arranto
Sarah Edwards	...	Mrs. Hargue, Housekeeper
George J. Lewis	...	Paul Arranto (as George Lewis)
Marianne Quon	...	Iris Chan
Benson Fong	...	Tommie Chan
Muni Seroff	...	Peter Laska
Barry Bernard	...	David Blake
Gene Roth	...	Luis Philipe Vega aka Von Vegan (as Gene Stutenroth)
Eddy Chandler	...	Lewis, Secret Service (as Eddie Chandler)
Lelah Tyler	...	Mrs. Winters

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (Certificate #9732) | USA:Not Rated (DVD)

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Monogram Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

First film to introduce Mantan Moreland as Birmingham Brown.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Also, while Charlie is riding in a cab to the murdered doctor's house in "Washington, DC", he goes through a neighborhood full of houses with red tile roofs and palm trees in the yard!

Quotes:

Charlie Chan: Man who never leave wheelchair should never wear out shoeleather.

Movie Connections:

Follows Charlie Chan's Courage (1934)

A Treat For Fans Of Charlie Chan

A house full of guests is the setting for this mystery story, wherein a scientist is murdered. Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates, along with his two irksome kids. The wonderful Mantan Moreland plays a bug-eyed Birmingham Brown, a role inserted presumably to add comic relief.

This sixty-three minute film contains about fifty minutes of story. The rest is filler, mostly in the film's first half. The story, about a secret WWII torpedo plan, is simple and direct. It's the kind of film I can envision as being typical for a 1940's Saturday afternoon matinée. There's a stage play quality to it, in that most of the scenes take place in three or four rooms. As with other films in the Chan series, the production design here is minimal and cheap looking. The emphasis is on the whodunit puzzle, but that's what counts most for murder mystery fans.

And the script does provide a good puzzle. The killer is camouflaged amid well thought out red herrings, in a way that makes solving the puzzle not real easy.

For Charlie Chan fans, this is one of the better mysteries in the Monogram series. For everyone else, the film has little or nothing to offer.