Sunday, July 20, 2025

CHARLIE CHAN IN THE SECRET SERVICE (1944)

Detective Charlie Chan is currently in Washington D.C, engaged in wartime service for the government. Melton, an inventor working on a bomb that will be effective against German U-boats, opens a closet door during a cocktail party and drops dead, and his plans go missing. A secretive master spy named Manlich is suspected and Chan is on the case. Among the suspects: a wealthy matron, a war refugee, an unpopular economist, and a brother and sister pair; he uses a wheelchair but we discover that he can get around without it if need be. Two Secret Service agents are also present, as are Chan's son Tommy and daughter Iris who want to help out but, as usual, are mostly in Dad's way, despite extolling themselves as "hip cats of the younger generation." It's discovered that Melton was killed by a set-up that electrocuted him when he grabbed the closet light chain. But who did it and where are the plans?  Though the title promises adventure, this is basically an old dark house mystery set in a house that is not dark enough to generate much atmosphere.

This is the first in a series of seventeen Charlie Chan films made by Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures after 20th Century Fox ended their series. The phrase Poverty Row is a bit misleading. Basically, these studios made low budget B-films which often wound up as second features to A-films from bigger studios. The films are not necessarily poor in quality, as the word "poverty" might imply, but their cheaper budgets are in evidence. In this film, the bland sets, the stark lighting, the haphazard plotting, and a lack of star talent are all marks of a Monogram production. However, there is still Sidney Toler as Chan to help make the movie worth watching, though I also think this is the beginning of Toler's decline. For the first time, Chan seemed to be getting old. Toler turned 70 the year this film was released—his pace is slower and he seems less invested in the role, understandably perhaps as this is his twelfth outing as Chan. (It's noted in this movie that Chan has 14 children which could be a reason for the character's weariness.) Benson Fong made his first of six appearances in the series as Tommy. One other character is introduced who would appear in most of the Chan films that followed: the Black chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland, pictured with Toler above). Here, he works for the wealthy matron; in his next film, he's Chan’s taxi driver, and later, Chan would hire him as a valet. The comic relief antics of Birmingham, usually in conjunction with whatever Chan son was present, are high points of the films. He introduces his trademark "Good gracious me!" remark here, often uttered almost directly to the camera. I admit the identity of the killer was a surprise to me. No one in the lackluster supporting cast is worth pointing out. [DVD]

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