The Scarlet Clue (1945)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Phil Rosen

Writers:

Earl Derr Biggers (characters)
George Callahan (writer)

Release Date:

11 May 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Charlie discovers a scheme for the theft of government radar plans while investigating several murders.

Plot Keywords:

Radar | Government | Radio Station | Charlie Chan | Radio

Cast

Sidney Toler	...	Charlie Chan
Mantan Moreland	...	Birmingham Brown, Chauffeur
Virginia Brissac	...	Mrs. Marsh
Ben Carter	...	Ben Carter
Benson Fong	...	Tommy Chan
Robert Homans	...	Capt. Flynn (as Robert E. Homans)
Jack Norton	...	Willie Rand
Janet Shaw	...	Gloria Bayne
Helen Deverell	...	Diane Hall (as Helen Devereaux)
Victoria Faust	...	Hulda Swenson / Janet Carter

Also Known As:

Charlie Chan: The Scarlet Clue (Australia)

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #10732) | Australia:PG

Company:

Monogram Pictures

Trivia:

Mantan Moreland and real-life nightclub partner Ben Carter (playing himself) recreate two of their nightclub routines.

Quotes:

Tommy Chan: When it comes to detective work, I know my P's and Q's.
Charlie Chan: But are you familiar with rest of alphabet?

Movie Connections:

Follows Charlie Chan Carries On (1931)

Chan Films Go More Comedic With Moreland

This was my first look at Charlie Chan's, or should I say Sidney Toler's assistant "Birmingham Brown" (Mantan Moreland.) He certainly changed the face of these movies, and I don't mean that as some sort of racial pun. What I mean is Moreland added silliness to these films, although he's such a likable guy I didn't mind. Many times he even made me laugh out loud.

Also new to me at the time of my first viewing of this (sometime in the 1990s) was Number Three Son "Tommy," played by Benson Fong. I liked him a lot, but then I have liked all of Charlie's kids.

Anyway, with the addition of Moreland - who was strictly added for comedy - with Chan's witty proverbs, the repartee between father and son, and so on.....these Mongram Charlie Chan movies turned out to be almost more comedy than mystery.....but they still entertained.

The most memorable scene in this movie had to be something shocking and violent, the opposite of how I've been describing these latter-day Chan films. In that scene, a trap door in an elevator suddenly sends a man plummeting to his death. Most of the film is talk but it's okay. This whodunit had a surprise ending. I guessed wrong, but that's nothing new.