Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)
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Escaped gangster Steve McBirney (Marc Lawrence), vowing to get even with Oriental sleuth Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler), lies in wait at a spooky wax museum run by demented plastic surgeon Dr. Cream (Henry Gordon). Chan is lured to the museum's opening day ceremonies on a ruse, along with a variety of strange characters ranging from a girl reporter (Joan Valerie) to a radio announcer (played by real-life announcer Ted Osborn). The subsequent murder spree is complicated by the fact that no one-not even the wily Chan--can tell the wax effigies from real thing. The explanation of the film's events-and the revelation of the killer-are quite a surprise. With Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum, 20th Century-Fox's "Chan" series reached its peak: from here, it could only go downhill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Complete Cast:
- Sidney Toler - Charlie Chan
- Joan Valerie - Lily Latimer
- Ted Osborn - Tom Agnew
- Hilda Vaughn - Mrs. Rocke
- Archie Twitchell - Carter Lane
- Stanley Blystone - Court Attendant
- Jimmy Conlin - Barker
- C. Henry Gordon - Dr. Cream
- Victor Sen Yung - Jimmy Chan
- Marc Lawrence - Steve McBirney
- Marguerite Chapman - Mary Bolton
- Michael Visaroff - Dr. Otto Von Brom
- Charles Wagenheim - Willie Fern
- Harold Goodwin - Edwards
- Charles Trowbridge - Judge
- Joe King - Inspector O'Matthews
- Emmett Vogan - District Attorney
- Eddie Marr - Grenock
- Director(s):
- Lynn Shores
- Writer(s):
- John Larkin, John Francis Larkin
- Closed Captioning:
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- Subtitles:
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