bigverybadtom A lunatic escapes from a mental asylum after seeing a newspaper article about an opera production at a nearby theater. The police fail to find him, and Charlie Chan happens to be nearby. The maniac is believed to be a former opera singer supposedly killed in a Chicago opera house fire years ago, with intentions of taking revenge on the opera stars who had locked him in the opera house. But there are feuds and intrigues among the opera cast and crew as well.But the story is not so simple after all. The maniac is at the opera house, but why is he there? For revenge, or for some other reason? The story takes on very unexpected turns before it concludes.Good performances by all, especially by Boris Karloff who plays the maniac without overdoing it, and it is not merely Number One Son who provides comic relief.

TheLittleSongbird Fans of Charlie Chan, Boris Karloff or both should find little to dislike about Charlie Chan at the Opera. Count me as someone who likes Karloff a great deal and gets a fair amount of pleasure watching the Charlie Chan film series. The general consensus is that Charlie Chan at the Opera is one of the best of the series, and it is a consensus that I agree with wholeheartedly. If there is anything that didn't work very well, it was that that Boris Karloff's singing was dubbed very obviously with the sloppy lip synch and the singing voice sounds very little like Karloff when he speaks(Karloff probably did have some singing talent, but there is a lot of truth in what has been said already that he probably wouldn't have been an actor if he was THAT good). Tudor Williams does dub him brilliantly though, the dark velvety quality(that is fairly reminiscent of the great baritone Lawrence Tibbett) of his voice makes him captivating and thrilling to listen to. That aside, the film is very pleasing to look at, well shot with effectively used settings. The Mephistopheles costume was really striking and Karloff looks very imposing(he always did though) in it. The music is grandiose, playful and beautiful, the opera Carnival was composed especially and it is well-utilised and is one that you wish made appearances on the opera stage. Apart from the lip-synch, Karloff is still very good here, he is charismatic and formidable but clearly knows how to have a good time. Warner Oland is spot-on as a character that suits him to a tee, in particular he really relishes his hilariously droll lines and it shows in his sly delivery of them. The dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny, Charlie Chan's lines are like little bon bons and you have to love the nod to Karloff and one of his most iconic roles. All the acting is very good though. The scenes with William Demarest are every bit as fun as those with Karloff and Oland. The mystery parts of the story are well-paced, have good amounts of suspense- not too obvious or predictable- and keeps your "little grey cells"(in the words of Agatha Christie and her immortal creation Hercule Poirot) working, complete with some great atmosphere. Overall, non-stop entertainment from start to finish. 9/10 Bethany Cox

thinker1691 Of all the mystery detectives who made their mark on the big screen, the most easily recognizable was Charlie Chan. Originally created by Earl Derr Biggers, he went on to star in some thirty or forty episodes, Although Warner Oland appears in this film " Charlie Chan, at the Opera " this would become his last as Sidney Tolar would later replace him. Director H. Bruce Humberstone makes much of the great talent he assembles when the late great Boris Karloff plays Gravelle. Keye Luke from 'Kung Fu' fame plays Charlie Chan's son. The story has Karloff playing a dark sinister character who seems quite mad. Escaping from an Insane asylum Gravelle promises to get revenge of the individual who tried to kill him in a fire. Besides the magnificent operatic voices, there is dark drama and intrigue in the film as the audience enjoys Karloff at his best as he matches wits with the great Honnlulu detective when murder and mayhem visit the Opera House. William Demarest makes for an appearance as a police officer. All in all, this is but one of the many movies, which intrigues audiences in the 30 and 40's. Recommended. ****

r-c-s I have no idea whether this is T H E best Charlie Chan movie, but it's indeed among the few top ones among dozens that made up the series. This one mixes four separate story lines with good plot contrivance that don't get in the way: 1 a young couple wanting to get married but having their dream hampered. 2 a wife and 3 a husband who want to punish their adulterous spouses. 4 a mentally ill amnesiac who escapes from an asylum to exact revenge upon his adulterous wife who had trapped him years earlier in a building on fire. It will take time and turns to learn who is who, but all apparently have good reasons to kill a opera star...while the opera's on stage. The 'comedy moment' son#1 bit is present but doesn't get in the way and is less annoying that usual. Acting is good, although plagued by some drama queen 1930s clichés. There is also a cop who doesn't like Chinese people, but it's an odd character that sits between comedy relief and supporting roles. Recommended.