biorngm Review - Charlie Chan in the Secret Service, released 2-14-44 The first of eleven films released by Monogram Pictures, featuring Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan, and a worthy movie for the genre of Saturday matinee double features. Our intrepid detective is now with the Secret Service during war time, in D.C., working on a murder case involving a government project with a scientist perfecting torpedoes against the German U-Boats. The scientist is killed and his torpedo design-plans are missing. Chan has to sift through the usual suspects, all of dubious character; some we learn later, are worse than others. Charlie suspects the handiwork of a certain espionage criminal being directly involved. Give Monogram the benefit of doubt with their production. If the movie was from 20th Century Fox, it would still be considered poorly edited, but in order to fit the film in the time frame required, a few cut corners were necessary disallowing certain plot explanations. The music playing in specific scenes was unnecessary, and the picture could have survived without the music accompaniment. For their first time around, it was an interesting film, with a believable story able to keep the viewer enthused till the end, where as always, the explanations run aplenty from Charlie Chan. The climax revealing the killer proved to be a surprise, considering all the suspects were red-herrings. The scenes were almost exclusively in the house of the murders, one location in different rooms. A man is murdered early in the film and Charlie goes about linking the data to the alleged killer, only to have him murdered before actual admission. The true guilty party was working with the prime suspect and was afraid of being found, so she killed him by way of his own studies. Watch the film to witness how Chan catches her at the end.

shakspryn The Monogram films get a lot of grumbling from Chan fans. The main gripe is that their films "look cheap." I think that is unfair. Fox had triple the budget (I've read); they had sets for a sailing ship (Dead Men Tell), a steamship (Murder Cruise) a wax museum, and various old spooky mansions.Monogram does a good job in their first outing. Nearly all of the story takes place in a scientist's big mansion, which has a lab where we get some interesting scenes. The humor fans expect is enhanced by Mantan Moreland as Birmingham Brown. Birmingham adds quite a bit of fun, somewhat like Nigel Bruce's Dr. Watson did in the Holmes films.The plot is well developed. Our supporting cast is interesting looking, though they don't get a lot to do. The agents helping Charlie don't stand out much. I for one am so grateful for these 17 Monogram films! (6 with Roland Winters). Toler elevates this film with his fine acting and utter command of the character. A worthwhile movie.

csteidler Sidney Toler is fine as always but the budget has noticeably shrunk in this first series entry produced by Monogram Pictures. It's not that the plot or the dialog are especially weak....it's just that many scenes and conversations do not really appear to have been rehearsed. Benson Fong and Marianne Quan are silly but fun as number three son Tommy and number two daughter Iris. Their famous father is now in Washington on a wartime assignment and the kids are visiting: "Secret service, huh?" Fong notes. "Bet Pop needs my help if he wants to keep this job." The plot concerns a scientist developing plans for some special bombs that he tests in a tub of water in his laboratory. He has dinner guests but never makes it from the lab down to the dining room—"He's dead and the plans are missing" about sums it up when Mr. Chan arrives on the scene, having been assigned to investigate. All of the guests are suspects…which of them are spies? The complicated murders are done using electrical and magnetic tricks, which Chan eventually works out with both assistance and interference from his kids. Mantan Moreland has a couple of good lines as a guest's employee; soon the series would find him in a larger role as Chan's chauffeur but here he merely gets a few scenes of comic relief. It does look hastily put together and includes some uncertain performances and odd pauses...but hey, it's not meant to be anything fancy. Enjoyable if unspectacular.

Spondonman I'm pretty sure there wasn't a Chan film made that I didn't like: I preferred Oland to Toler and Fox to Monogram but am more than happy (maybe even keen!) to watch a Toler Monogram effort. They all transported you to a world of more or less cultured baddies, each hiding a thousand secrets which Charlie (and us of course) has to work his way through. Usually, as in this case, to find the murderer from a roomful of shifty twitching eyes.Electrical scientist murdered and the secret plans stolen, Charlie with a little ... help from offspring Tommie and Iris has to decide which of the house guests did it. The Monogram house's hanging drapes and thick carpets lend a nice atmosphere to the mystery. Only gripes: the incongruously brash and childish music track and the continual visual reference to a Watching Evil Eye from a Dark Place.Watched from the Chanthology DVD and with the widescreen TV set to mild zoomview meant it was like the first time again for me seeing this, an experience I'd have to recommend and one I want to repeat with the other titles in the set.