kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS**** When nothing else works Honolulu detective Charlie Chan uses a gun very unconvincingly to solve the case of the knife throwing killer. Thst while on a sea cruse to the South Pacific island paradise of Somoa on the SS Newcastle. This all started when a passenger on the ship US Treasury Agent Scott Reed who had two attempts on his life already was murdered at a party when the Newcastle was about to cross the Equator.Charlie taking on the murder case, he own the dead Agent Reed that much, is himself attacked by the mysterious knife trowing killer only to escape and make it to the island of Somoa where the real action starts that has nothing to do with luaus or half naked dancing hula's girls. It turns out that a load of cash, mostly confederate, as well as valuable art objects smuggled out of the Philippines when they were occupied by the Japanese was hidden there and not reported to the US Treasury-that's where Scott Reed came in-to be assessed and taxed by the US Government! ****SPOILERS*** Charlie despite being hampered by his #3 son Jimmy and his bumbling sidekick Chattanooga Brown is finally able to solve the case but only after a number of the cast mostly suspects in Scott Reed's murderer were themselves murdered by the mysterious knife throwing killer. Charlie in the end has to shoot it out with the bad guys like a Clint Eastwood to finally solve the case which is not like the slow moving and brainy Charlie Chan that we've learned to like & love over the years. The biggest mystery is not who the killer was but how he was able to throw his knives so accurately and not leave any fingerprints on them!

classicsoncall "Dangerous Money" is an aptly named Charlie Chan film in which Sidney Toler's character investigates a pair of murders relating to illegal trading in "hot money" and stolen art. The action takes place aboard the S.S. Newcastle heading to Australia via Samoa. Along for the ride are Number #2 Son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) and assistant Chattanooga Brown (Willie Best). Charlie doesn't have much time to solve the case as he's committed to another investigation on arrival in Sydney. Be prepared for more uncomfortable racial insinuations, as Jimmy converses with Chattanooga via walkie talkie using the code names "Chop Suey 108" and "Pork Chop 711". Once again Chan/Toler demonstrates his dancing skill in a film; in "Red Dragon", he cut a mean rumba, here he slows it down a bit, but still quite smoothly with a shipboard waltz. Passenger Rona Simmonds (Gloria Warren) and ship's pursar George Brace (Joseph Allen) are hiding a secret for which she is being blackmailed. She is traveling with false papers, smuggled on board in an attempt to identify art stolen from her banker father. International businessman P.T. Burke (Dick Elliott) uses his position to extort a valuable necklace from Simmonds, but as we've seen before, there is another villain masterminding the action from a loftier height. He is flushed out by Charlie in a convenient "lights out" scene intended to add to the confusion. I have to admit, it's difficult to follow most Charlie Chan films without keeping a personal scorecard, and even so, the revelation of the killer almost always comes as a surprise. Chan himself best expresses this in a line from the film - "Kangaroo reaches destination also by leaps and bounds".

pbalos Much of the action takes place on a ship. Typical acting for a Chan flick with some comedy provided by sidekick Chatanooga. Not one of the best Toler movies, but not the worse. Poor direction and weak story line. Might be alright for a rainy day.

admjtk1701 Another poor Monogram Charlie Chan film. The production values, story, acting and directing are very weak. The story is uninteresting. A ship to the South Seas would have been fun in a 20th Century Fox Chan movie but not so here. Only of note because this was the second and final time Willie Best played Chatanooga. Otherwise, one to skip.