DOCKS OF NEW ORLEANS (1948)

In the only scene in this movie set at the title location, two suspicious looking men, Grock and Pereaux, try to stop a shipment of chemicals from going to South America, but the ship is too well guarded. Meanwhile, LaFontanne, the head of the chemical company, calls on Charlie Chan, fearing a "secret enemy." The chemical, a variation of perchloric acid which can be used as a weapon, was produced in a partnership with Castanaro and Von Scherbe, On the morning that Chan is to meet with LaFontanne, Castanaro and Von Scherbe show up at the office and demand that LaFontanne sign an agreement that ensures that, if one of the partners dies, the others will get his share of the profits. He is reluctant but does eventually sign. Then, LaFontanne has a new visitor: Oscar Swenstrom, the inventor of the chemical, who feels cheated by the partners because he won't get a share of the profits. LaFontanne's secretary (and niece) Rene calls the cops, but by the time they get there, LaFontanne, who went into his office to listen to a radio concert, is found dead, possibly of a heart attack. When Chan arrives, he figures out that poison gas was actually the culprit, but how it happened and who did it are unclear. There end up being four parties of interest: 1) the remaining partners; 2) Grock and Pereaux (and a woman who calls herself the Countess) who are after the formula for the chemical; 3) Swenstrom (and his opera singing wife whom we never meet but who is mentioned more than once); 4) the niece Rene who had a chunk of the partnership, and the office manager Thompson who is Rene’s tagalong buddy. Chan is on the case with help from the cops—and hindrance from his son Tommy and chauffeur Birmingham Brown.

The generally accepted Charlie Chan film canon consists of over forty films made between 1931 and 1949. Three different actors played Chan. The first and best known is Warner Oland; after his death, Sidney Toler took over, followed by Roland Winters. Winters, who seemed the least yellowface Chan. is often regarded as the least of the three (partly because his movies, made by Monogram, had the lowest budgets, sometimes being shot is just a week or so), but in an attempt to look at him with fresh eyes, I found that he's not bad. He doesn't have the spark that Oland had, but he also is less lethargic than Toler was—Toler did his last few Chan films while suffering with cancer, but even before that, Toler was not terribly energetic. In this, the second of six Chan films that Winters starred in, he tries to follow the Oland template of quiet dignity with occasional subtle snark directed at those who underestimate Chan's talents. Black comic actor Manan Moreland played Birmingham in several Chan movies, and despite usually being depicted as scared and bumbling, he is usually a highlight of the films, as he is here. His interplay with Victor Sen Yung (as Tommy, also a bungler) is fun—they even get to do a short song, "The Chop Suey Boogie," on violin and piano. He also does a funny double-talk bit with Haywood Jones (fine in the only movie he ever made). The rest of the cast is adequate, mostly a bunch of middle-aged white guys in suits and hats who can be difficult to distinguish from each other. John Gallaudet is good as the police captain, as are Virginia Dale (Rene) and Rory Mallinson (Thompson). If you're familiar with the concept of Chekhov's gun, the opera singing wife who sings on the radio is the Chekhov's gun here. There's not a lot of action but the clever climax plays out nicely. The movie is basically an uncredited remake of MR. WONG DETECTIVE, an earlier Monogram movie. Best lines: one impatient character, wanting Chan to cut to the chase, says, "Forget the parables, Chan!" and later, "Never mind the platitudes, Chan, talk!" Of course, Chan wouldn't be Chan without those platitudes and parables. More Roland Winters coming up soon. Pictured are Moreland, Winters and Sen Yung. [DVD]