Hitchcoc Charlie Chan gets involved in this case when a good friend is killed. He moves into the horse racing world. In so doing, he becomes the target of a crime syndicate that is involved in illegal betting. Avalanche, the horse that is the favorite, acts erratically. All sorts of shenanigans take place on board the steamship bring the horses to Los Angeles. There are a number of possible suspects and this offering makes it hard for the viewer to figure things out. The one thing that is hard to swallow is that the two favorites are disguised and switched. I would be that anyone close to a race horse could tell merely from its gait that it is a particular horse. This stretches things quite a bit. Unfortunately, we once again have a black man acting in the stereotypical Stepin Fetchitt mode. His name is Streamline and he has a monkey. While the monkey is important to the plot, this man is made to look subservient and foolish.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** Chinese/American P.I Charlie Chan, played by non Orientel Scandinavian Warner Oland, has his hands s full here getting shot and kidnapped by a gang of bookies as he uncovers a sinister plot to make a big and illegal score by them in switching horses in the up and coming rich Santa Juanita Handicap for three year old's and ups. It's the favorite in the race Avalanche who's been switch with another horse during an arson fire on the ship taking him from Honolulu to L.A for the big race. That's after the horses owner Major Kent, George Irving, was found dead in Avalanche's stall after he got Charlie Chan to investigate why his horse was made to get disqualified in his last race the Melbourne Cup in far off Australia.Charlie gets the help of his #1 bumbling son Lee, Keye Luke, in doing all the leg and dirty work for him in uncovering the plot for the bookies to make a major killing at the race track. Charlie himself escapes from his captors, the bookies, together with #1 son Lee to get to the Santa Juanita Park to re -witch the two horses. That while Lee disguised as a Chinese laundry boy distracts the security guards by exploding his laundry truck just before the big race started. Still determined to pull off their scheme in winning the race the bookies plan to stop the now real Avalanche from winning by shooting him with a blowgun just before he hits the finish line.***SPOILERS*** It's after the race that the truth comes out to who was responsible for all the crimes, including two murders, that lead up to it. Charlie in his unique way of explaining the facts behind the case was so boring and mechanical in explaining them that the person responsible just without as much as a whimper turned himself into the police. That in him knowing that life behind bars or even being executed was far better then being Chinese water tortured or talked to death by Charlie Chan.

Isnam777 If you've read my title you'll know you're going to hear praise for this Chan entry. You should know this is the one Chan film I could watch over and over and never tire of it. The entire Chan series is great, but this entry is perfect in my view.Charlie's old friend Major Gordon Kent, former owner and promoter of champion race horse Avalanche, is killed after getting too close to a gambling syndicate responsible for his horse's defeat in its latest race. Chan is called in when Kent's ocean liner reaches port in Honolulu. What initially is believed to be an accidental death blamed on Avalanche stomping Kent to death is quickly proved to be murder by the clever Chan. As the ocean voyage continues on to Los Angeles, Chan (along with #1 son Lee) come aboard to try and solve the murder before the horse's next race in California. As Chan closes in on the killer (and the gambling syndicate) his life and the life of his son are put into jeopardy. Despite all this will Chan and son stop the syndicate's ultimate plan from succeeding, and will justice be found for Kent's murder? It all comes to a whirlwind conclusion as Chan finally solves the puzzle and figures out the many angles of this mystery.This entry is such a good one because it contains so many elements of my favorite Chan films. We have Chan and #1 son working as a team, a good portion of the story takes place on a passenger ship, the movie beginning in Honolulu but ending in another part of the world, there are more than one angles involved with the murder only playing a piece of the bigger puzzle, Gangsters, cool action sequences, a great cast and director, a romantic diversion... everything that I have liked about previous entries wrapped up into one, and neatly done as well.For my money, this is the gold of an already great film series. If you like Chan films, or great classic mystery movies from this era in Hollywood, watch this one!

tedg I spend a lot of time working with old detective films because I believe them to have contributed to, indeed profoundly changed, how we manage narrative. Some detective films (and those that reference them) are clever or important, fossils that indicate how our imagination evolved. Others are some other agenda wrapped in the detective label. The Chan series started out, I think as a genuinely interesting detective. The idea here was that some "otherness" was in our designated observer on screen. The fellow who unraveled reality for us was something like us, but wiser in an inscrutable way.But the movies quickly became a lowbrow entertainment, which meant jokes at someone's expense. And because of the era, that means a main thread is jokes about race. Its inevitable, since the main device is racial: a white actor playing a superwise Chinese man. There are two secondary devices you will find in most Chan films:— the son (usually a son) is played by a real Chinese man, and lest we forget that the detective is an icon, this Chinese fellow is a buffoon. He sometimes gets things right, but never by intent.— the black man. Often this is the "driver." Here it is a stablehand. His job in the story is always the same, to indicate another fold in the reality of the characters. His demeaned demeanor is bug-eyed, retarded, subservient. He plays someone as iconic as Chan, but at the bottom of the stack, with the otherwise 100% white folks in the "real" story.Oh. The story? Adapted from the Sherlock Holmes tale "Silver Blaze." Swapped racehorses with a "gambling ring" thrown in. I'm curious. Where there ever famous gambling rings like this in real life, or are they just movieland confabulations?Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.