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

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)

Company:

Monogram Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Leonard Mudie plays a horror actor called Horace Karlos. Ironically, when Boris Karloff was at Monogram doing his Mr. Wong series, he used a plot device similar to the method of murder utilized here.

Quotes:

Charlie Chan: [after accidently bumping a passer-by] Oh, I beg your pardon, sir.
Horace Karlos: To meet a gentleman who apologizes for bumping you in these days is a rare thing, indeed. He is either a coward or a gentleman. I give you credit for the latter.
[they both bow]

Movie Connections:

Follows Charlie Chan's Secret (1936)

Won't let you down

This was a nice entry in the Chan series [32/38], with Charlie, Tommy and Birmingham in fine comic form. The rest of the cast displayed no sense of humour at all.

Charlie was still working for the Government this time after a gang of murdering agitators who were after radar secrets from an "experimental" radio, television and radar broadcaster. They don't write radar shows like they used to ... A nice touch was that a suspect (who was responsible for the original apparently indelible clue) was last seen on the 2nd floor of the radio building, found dead on the 10th after falling from a great height. Convoluted! The sets were used thoroughly in the previous film The Jade Mask, the gas chamber being turned in this into an ante room for a weather chamber. Moreland excelled himself with this one, with endless solo wisecracks or even as part of a double act. Was it unacceptable in Hollywood back then for him to have taken his taxi driver cap off as it would have made him appear an equal?

A good Monogram Toler plus Moreland film, even if with more ridiculous intricacies in the plot than usual.