CASTLE IN THE DESERT (1942)

Reclusive millionaire Paul Manderley lives in a secluded castle in the middle of a California desert with his wife Lucy. He wears a scarf across half his face due to a facial scar and the couple lives off the grid, so to speak, with no electricity and no telephone. They are currently entertaining a small group consisting of Walter (Paul’s lawyer), his wife Brenda, a German doctor named Retling, and the visiting Professor Gleason. When Gleason dies after drinking a doctored cocktail, Lucy freaks out—she is a descendent of the notorious Borgia family and her late stepbrother was suspected of murder by poison. Gleason's body is taken to a nearby hotel to be found. In San Francisco, detective Charlie Chan gets a letter from Lucy asking for his help, so he heads out to the castle only to discover that Lucy denies sending the letter. Soon it's like Grand Central Station at the castle. Showing up eventually are Chan's son Jimmy, the mysterious local fortune teller Madame Saturnia, a sculptor friend of the family, a history professor of Chan's acquaintance, and a private investigator. There is another poisoning and Dr. Retling thinks that Lucy is responsible and should be committed to an asylum. Meanwhile, we discover that not everyone is who they seem and there are possibly two separate conspiracies going on. Never fear, however, as Chan soon gets to the bottom of the mysteries.

This was the last Chan movie that Twentieth Century Fox made, the last one that had a decent budget and the resources of a major studio. It is quite enjoyable, and one reason is the fabulous castle interior, apparently left over from Fox's filming of The Hound of the Baskervilles. It looks good and is shot well with some inventive camera angles here and there, and the matte painting of the castle's exterior is effective. Sidney Toler (Chan) was still in good shape and Victor Sen Yung is in his element as the modern American son who winds up comically trapped in a suit of armor. The strong supporting cast, several of whom appeared in other Chan movies, includes Douglass Dumbrille as Paul, Edmund MacDonald as Walter, Ethel Griffes as Madame Saturnia who provides some mild comic relief (and is referred to as a “queer number” by a townsperson), Steven Geray as the doctor, and Richard Derr as the history professor. It's a particularly tricky mystery with fun twists, and it's paced quickly enough to be over in an hour. I liked Chan's quip about his son: "Glamour boy who jump to conclusion sometimes gets hair mussed." Though not based directly on any Chan novel, the setting seems inspired by Earl Derr Biggers’ second Chan book The Chinese Parrot. I don't know that I can name one Charlie Chan movie as my favorite, but this is certainly near the top. [DVD]