Philip Ahn Movies
Though often cast as a Japanese or Chinese character, LA-born actor Philip Ahn was of Korean extraction. In films from 1936, Ahn spent the war years portraying dozens of heartless Japanese spies and military officers; ironically, the actor's father was a Korean diplomat who died in a Japanese concentration camp. After the war, Ahn was occasionally permitted to play a sympathetic role, minus stereotypical accent and mannerisms; cast as a lab technician in 1950's The Big Hangover, he has almost as much screen time as nominal star Van Johnson. One of his most substantial roles was as Chinese businessman Po Chang, foster father of young Caucasian tycoon Frank Garlund (Charles Quinlivan) on the brief 1960 TV weekly The Garlund Touch. At the time of his death from lung cancer at age 66, Philip Ahn was best known to American TV addicts as Master Kan on the TV series Kung Fu. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This lavish, 145-minute cinemadaptation of the Pearl Buck best-seller Dragon Seed was intended by MGM as a followup to the studio's successful film version of Buck's The Good Earth. In true Hollywood fashion, the Chinese protagonists are all played by Caucasian actors, with fascinating if not always convincing results. When a peaceful Chinese village is invaded by the Japanese prior to WW2, the men elect to adopt a peaceful, don't-rock-the-boat attitude towards their conquerors-and it is understood that the women will stoically acquiesce as well. But Jade (Katharine Hepburn), a headstrong young woman, intends to stand up to the Japanese whether her husband Lao Er (Turhan Bey) approves or not. She even goes so far as to learn to read and to handle a weapon, so that she may properly equipped for both psychological and physical combat. Jade's attitude spreads to the rest of the village, convincing even the staunchest of male traditional that the Japanese can be defeated only by offering a strong united front-male and female. Alas, there are a few Quislings in their midst, notably avaricious merchant Wu Lien (Akim Tamiroff), who learns all too late the terrible cost of collaboration. While it seems odd to see so many non-Orientals-Walter Huston, Agnes Moorehead, Hurd Hatfield, J. Carroll Naish-in the major roles, Dragon Seed manages to retain its power and entertainment value even 50 years after the fact (Incidentally, there are a few genuine Chinese in the cast-most of them playing Japanese!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Walter Huston, (more)
- 1944
Pearl S. Buck's novel China Sky is boiled down to a wartime romantic triangle, courtesy of commercial-minded RKO. Randolph Scott and Ruth Warrick play American doctors in a remote Chinese village. The relationship is platonic, but Scott's spiteful wife Ellen Drew suspects hanky-panky. Despite these turgid soap-opera events, World War II has to be fought, and fought it is thanks to guerilla leader Anthony Quinn and insidious Japanese POW Richard Loo, who tries to win half-Japanese doctor Philip Ahn over to the Rising Sun. Halfway down the cast as "the goat" is Chinese juvenile actor Ducky Louie, who enjoyed a brief 1940s stardom in such films as China's Little Devils (1945) and Black Gold (1947), reteaming with Anthony Quinn in the latter film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, Ruth Warrick, (more)
The year is 1942: eight American airmen crash-land during the Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo and are taken prisoner. Though slated for execution, the pilots are put through a "show trial" by the military, on a charge of committing war crimes. The Japanese judges promise to be merciful if only the Americans will reveal vital US military secrets. But captain Dana Andrews speaks for the rest of his melting-pot crew-some of whom have been subjected to the most horrific of tortures--when he chooses death before dishonor. In its own way, The Purple Heart is as racist a piece of propaganda as was ever produced by Hollywood. The Japanese are shown to be little more than sadistic beasts (at one point, the judges interrupt the trial by moronically shouting "Banzai" after receiving news of a military victory), while hissing, buck-toothed interrogator Richard Loo ("I attended your...Amelican universities"), unable to admit that he's been wrong about Yankee resilience, commits hara-kiri. Remember, however, that The Purple Heart was made at a time when America was still at war with Japan, and political correctness was hardly a consideration. Its jingoism aside, the film is a first-rate piece of moviemaking, socked across by director Lewis Milestone with the same fervor that he'd expended on his anti-war masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, (more)
- 1943
Behind the Rising Sun is a rarity: a WW2 film with a handful of sympathetic Japanese characters. His eyes slanted by the RKO makeup department, Tom Neal plays Taro, the Americanized son of a Japanese diplomat (J. Carroll Naish). During the Sino-Japanese war, Taro's father insists that the boy leave the US and join the Japanese army. Indoctrinated in the "Banzai" mentality of the empirical government, Taro is transformed into an enemy of the West, going so far as to betray his best friend ly inebriated millionaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1943
Billy Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo is the third take on Lajos Biro's theatrical tale of romance and espionage, Hotel Imperial. This time, the action is transplanted from World War I Galicia to World War II Egypt as Rommel's Afrika Corps viciously forces the British Army to retreat towards Cairo. Protagonist John J. Bramble (Franchot Tone) is stranded in the Sahara, the lone survivor of a British tank crew. In shock and suffering from sunstroke, Corporal Bramble deliriously staggers across the desert searching for the nearest outpost. What he finds is the Empress of Britain Hotel in the Libyan border town of Sidi Halfaya. The city has been deserted and destroyed; no one remains but the Inn's owner, Farid (Akim Tamiroff), and the French chambermaid, Mouche (Anne Baxter). To the woman's chagrin, Farid conceals the English soldier as the Germans commandeer his hotel for the lodging of General Rommel (Erich Von Stroheim). Mouche is unsympathetic toward the plight of any Englishman. She feels the British had abandoned the French Army at Dunkirk, where one of her brothers was killed and another was captured. She has remained in Sidi Halfaya only to wait for the German Army and to bargain for her sibling's freedom, not to help the British. Despite Mouche's protests, Bramble assumes the identity of the hotel's deceased waiter, Davoss, who was crushed during an air raid. Surprisingly, the disguise affords him an immediate audience with Rommel. Davoss was, in fact, a top-secret Nazi spy. This access to Rommel, the invincible Desert Fox, inspires Bramble to remain at the Empress. It becomes his mission to steal the crucial secret of the five supply depots the Germans have buried from Tobruk to Cairo -- which gave them a fighting advantage -- and possibly turn the war in Britain's favor. Meanwhile, after being rejected by the General, Mouche is desperately reduced to "entertaining" Rommel's deceitful lieutenant in order to help her brother. She and Bramble inevitably grow closer as they each struggle to save what is dear to them. When the body of the real Davoss starts to emerge from the rubble in the Empress' basement, it becomes Mouche's fate to make the ultimate decision between saving one brother and saving many. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, (more)
- 1943
Set in Japanese-occupied China shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this action/drama stars Alan Ladd as Mr. Jones, a cynically materialistic American who has no qualms about selling oil to the enemy; as far as he's concerned, their money spends as well as anyone's. Against the advice of his friend and partner Johnny Sparrow (William Bendix), Jones heads to Shanghai to negotiate a sale with representatives of the Japanese government. En route, Jones and Sparrow are caught in a massive rainstorm that leaves the roads all but impossible to navigate; the yanks are also stopped by Chinese guerilla troops, who force them to take on a group of schoolgirls and their instructor, an American named Carolyn Grant (Loretta Young). Between the patriotic Carolyn, the Chinese schoolgirls, and a baby that Sparrow rescued from the side of the road, Jones has a lot more going on than he's used to dealing with, but the situation forces him to take a long, hard look at his personal politics. When he discovers that one of the girls was brutally raped by Japanese soldiers after she tried to return to her family, Jones decides he can no longer stand alongside the Japanese and kills the three soldiers responsible. This was one of a small number of pro-China films made in the United States during World War II, when the two countries had a mutual enemy in Japan; however, a few years down the line, Hollywood's attitude towards China would be markedly different. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Alan Ladd, (more)
- 1943
In this '40s film Kay Kyser parades an entertainment group all over the globe providing laughs for the boys in battle. This film realistically portrays the role of the USO during the WW II time period. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mischa Auer
- 1943
The 12-episode Universal serial The Adventures of Smilin' Jack is based on the Zack Mosely comic strip of the same name. The title character-minus his trademarked pencil moustache-is played by Tom Brown. Departing radically from the characters and situations of the original funny-paper version, the serial concerns itself with an effort by the Axis powers to find a secret route from India to China known only by the rulers of the (apocryphal) city of Mandon. Sidney Toler, then concurrently starring in the Charlie Chan series, plays a ruthless Asian general, while future Make Room for Daddy star Marjorie Lord is the plucky heroine. The serial's highlight sequence has Our Hero proving his mettle by walking barefoot over a pit of hot coals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1942
Strange but true: Norma Shearer turned down the title role in Mrs. Miniver to star instead in the insignificant trifle We Were Dancing. Loosely based on two Noel Coward playlets originally presented as part of the omnibus production Tonight at 8:30, the story concerns the romance between socialite Vicki Wilomirsky (Norma Shearer) and Nicki Prax (Melvyn Douglas), an impoverished baron who supports himself as a "professional guest." Nicki steals Vicki away from her stuffy attorney fiance Hubert Tyler (Lee Bowman), but their subsequent marriage comes to an end when Vicki spots Nicki in the arms of his ex-lover Linda Wayne (Gail Patrick). Returning to Tyler, Vicki is on the verge of a second marriage, when Nicki once again waltzes into her life?.and on and on it goes, where it will stop, nobody knows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1942
- NR
A lively espionage drama that reunited the stars and director of the previous year's The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific was originally envisioned as the story of a Japanese invasion of Hawaii. Real-life events of December of 1941, however, precluded such a scenario and the location was changed to the Panama Canal. For reasons known only to Warner Bros., the title was retained despite the fact that none of the action takes place in the Pacific. Humphrey Bogart plays Rick Leland, a disgraced ex-army man, who, after being turned down by the Canadian military, jumps a Japanese steamer bound for the Panama Canal Zone. Also onboard are Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor), a small-town girl claiming to be en route to Los Angeles; Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet), a corpulent sociologist with a suspiciously friendly regard for all things Japanese; and Joe Totsuiko (Victor Sen Yung), a happy-go-lucky second generation Japanese-American on his way to visit the old country. But no one is exactly who he or she claims to be and the voyage from Halifax via New York City to Panama becomes a matter of life and death for the passengers in general, and for the future of the United States in particular. Director John Huston was forced to leave the film three weeks into the four-week shooting schedule when summoned to report to the Department of Special Services. According to Huston, he purposefully placed Humphrey Bogart's character in a highly precarious situation and left it up to his replacement, Vincent Sherman, to come up with the solution -- which Sherman did in an especially fiery climax. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, (more)
- 1942
China Girl charts the exploits of two-fisted newsreel photographer Johnny Williams (George Montgomery), stationed in Burma and China in the early stage of WW II. Captured by the Japanese, he escapes from a concentration camp with the aid of beautiful, enigmatic "China Girl" Miss Young (Gene Tierney). The two arduously make their way back to friendly lines so that Johnny can deliver the vital military information he's managed to glean from his captors. Though it probably wasn't supposed to happen this way, Lynn Bari steals the film from official star Gene Tierney. China Girl was scripted by Ben Hecht with his usual blend of sentiment and cynicism. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Tierney, George Montgomery, (more)
- 1942
The first of Columbia's "B" wartime melodramas for their Summer 1942 schedule was the largely speculative Submarine Raider. Set in the early stages of the war, the film makes several suppositions concerning the events surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack which don't entirely hold up when seen today. According to the screenplay, a Japanese aircraft carrier en route to Hawaii takes time out to shell an American yacht, killing all the passengers except for heroine Sue Curry (Marguerite Chapman). Fortunately she is rescued by a passing submarine, wherein she falls in love with sub commander Chris Warren (John Howard). Apprised by Sue of covert Japanese naval movements, Warren tries to alert Pearl Harbor of the impending sneak attack. Failing to do so, he spends the remainder of the picture trying to sink that enemy aircraft carrier introduced in Reel One (both sub and carrier are "played" by unconvincing scale models, bobbing up in down in Columbia's studio tank). Nino Pipitone, in real life a Philippine horse trainer, plays the black-hearted Japanese commander. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Howard, Marguerite Chapman, (more)
- 1942
This musical -- a concoction of comedy, songs, dancing, and war-time patriotism mixed together with a spy spoof plot -- opens with Tommy Dorsey and his band swinging through "Hawaiian War Chant" while Eleanor Powell taps away. Powell, it turns out, is Tallulah Winters, the band's official tap dancer, and she and the orchestra are taking an ocean liner to Puerto Rico for their next gig. Also on board are some enemy agents, anxious to secretly and safely transport their stolen plans, which include a prototype magnetic mine that can make play a big role in the war. Utilizing a plot device from a novel by Merton K. Kibble (played by Red Skelton), the enemy agents pretend to be working for the U.S. government and enlist Winters to help them with their plans. A series of misunderstandings and confusions ensue, including a baggage mix-up that leaves Kibble unwittingly in possession of the mine. Eventually Winters discovers that she has been duped and works to set all things right. Ship Ahoy takes advantage of the talents of its musical stars -- including Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford -- to offer a nice spread of musical numbers, including "Last Call for Love," "I'll Take Tallulah," "Poor You," and "On Moonlight Bay." ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eleanor Powell, Red Skelton, (more)
Set soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Let's Get Tough! opens with the East Side Kids -- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, David Gorcey, Sammy "Sunshine" Morrison, and Bobby Stone -- trying to enlist in the armed forces and getting turned down because they're not yet 18 years old. Eager to contribute and frustrated at not being allowed to help out in the national emergency, they decide to take action on their own when they see an argument between Kino, a Japanese dealer in antiques, and a local boy named Fritz Heinbach (Gabriel Dell). They try to run Kino out of his own store but instead, the shopkeeper runs them off, and the boys get a warning from "Pop" Stevens (Robert Armstrong), the local cop on the beat, to stay out of trouble. That night, however, they return intent on trashing Kino's store, only to find the man at his desk, stabbed to death. When they're pulled in by the police, the boys find out that Kino was a Chinese agent impersonating a Japanese, and trying to uncover a cell of saboteurs. The boys decide to investigate on their own after they hear rumors that Bill (Tom Brown), the brother of one of them, has been thrown out of the army for his un-American beliefs and has been seen hanging around Matsui, who is considered a potential suspect. They end up infiltrating a meeting of Japanese saboteurs and spies, and find an alliance between them and German immigrant Fritz Heinbach; Bill turns out to be an American agent working the same case as Kino, but they're all trapped, until one of the gang escapes to summon the police. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1942
Bob Hope's first starring vehicle for producer Sam Goldwyn borrows the title of Bob's 1942 autobiography They Got Me Covered and very little else. Co-scripted by Leonard Q. Ross (aka Leo Rosten), Leonard Spigelgass and Harry Kurnitz (among many others!), the film casts Hope as Robert Kittredge, the Moscow correspondent for a major American news service, who is fired when he neglects to file a report about Hitler's invasion of Russia. Hoping to get back in the good graces of his boss Norman Mason (Donald MacBride), Kittredge steals another reporter's story about a Nazi spy ring operating in New York. Though officially a comedy, the film is curiously unfunny at times, with Hope playing an unsympathetic, unappealing character who'll step on anyone -- including his long-suffering sweetheart (Dorothy Lamour) and a hysterical kidnap victim (Phyllis Povah) -- to get ahead. Otto Preminger is funnier (perhaps intentionally) as the head Nazi. A few good gags notwithstanding, They Got Me Covered is nowhere near as satisfying as Hope's second Goldwyn effort, The Princess and the Pirate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, (more)
- 1942
Mercenary taxi driver Joe Tracy (Barry Nelson) is the Yank on the Burma Road in this MGM second feature. For strictly monetary reasons, Joe agrees to shepherd a caravan of medical supplies through Burma and into China. Going along for the ride is Gail Farwood (Laraine Day), who'd been stranded in Burma without passport when the Japanese invaded the country. Ultimately, Joe's patriotism takes precedence over his greed, and he begins striking back at any and all enemy soldiers with a vengeance. The hero's conversion takes place in a scene obviously added after the film's completion: hastily reading a letter from home, Joe mutters "So they bombed Pearl Harbor, did they?" Shoehorned in though it may have been, this little scene turned out to be the very first mention of Pearl Harbor in any American feature film, earning A Yank on the Burma Road a niche in the overall history of the cinema. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laraine Day, Barry Nelson, (more)
- 1941
They Met in Bombay is a typical MGM star vehicle, in which the leading players are called upon to carry a pencil-thin plotline on the force of sheer personality. Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell play Gerald Meldrick and Anya Von Duren, a pair of rival jewel thieves at large in India. Both parties are after the same prize, a priceless diamond owned by the Duchess of Beltravers (Jessie Ralph). To inveigle their way into the Duchess' confidence, Gerald poses as a Scotland Yard detective, while Anya pretends to be an aristocrat. After several reels of cross-purposes, hero and heroine decide to team up, keeping one step ahead of a diligent police inspector (Matthew Boulton) and mercenary freighter captain Chang (Peter Lorre). Both Gerald and Anya betray the nobler sides of their natures in the final reels, participating in a pitched battle against invading Japanese military forces. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell, (more)
- 1939
Idealism vs. Practicality is the Disputed Passage in this lavishly mounted soap opera. Based on a novel by Lloyd C. Douglas (The Robe, Magnificent Obsession) the film stars John Howard as young medical student John Wesley Beaven. In the course of his education, Beaven is torn between two philosophies: the cold pragmatism of Dr. Forster (Akim Tamiroff) and the humanistic attitudes of kindly Dr. Cunningham (William Collier Sr.), who of course is author Douglas' alter ego. The crisis within Beaven comes to a head when he must choose between his career and his impending marriage to Audrey Hilton (Dorothy Lamour). A literally explosive climax in war-torn China brings the story to a logical and satisfying solution. Kudos again to director Frank Borzage for bringing warmth and credibility to the most sloppily sentimental of storylines. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Lamour, Akim Tamiroff, (more)
- 1939
The gathering war clouds in the late 1930s prompted a number of Hollywood films about recent political upheavals, one of which was 20th Century-Fox's Barricade. While fleeing war-torn China by train, two Americans-singer Emmy Jordan (Alice Faye) and journalist Hank Topping (Warner Baxter)-are attacked by Mongol bandits. United in danger, Faye and Baxter fall in love as they attempt to escape the American embassy where they're holed up. More than one reviewer noted that Barricade resembled a modern-dress western, with the Mongol hordes substituting for American Indians. Also noted was the fact that the film had been completed as a nine-reel "A" picture in 1938, undergoing drastic cutting and script revisions before it finally emerged in its present truncated 71-minute form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Faye, Warner Baxter, (more)
This sequel to Grand National's 1938 actioner Cipher Bureau once again stars Leon Ames as bureau head Major Philip Waring. In case you're wondering, the Cipher Bureau is a government agency in charge of decoding enemy messages. Teamed with agent Helen Lane (Charlotte Wynters), Major Waring is dispatched to the Panama Canal. Here the two operatives discover that an Oriental spy ring (no nationalities, please: this is still 1939) is stealing vital secrets concerning the Canal. Almost as dangerous as the spies is Abner Biberman in the role of a turncoat bureau agent. The very brief "Cipher Bureau" series was created by Arthur Hoerl and Monroe Sheff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leon Ames, Charlotte Wynters, (more)
- 1939
Akim Tamiroff plays the title role, an underworld leader who controls all illicit operations in Chinatown. Tamiroff is toppled from power by two members of his own mob (Anthony Quinn and J.Carroll Naish). He is left for dead, but is saved by a dedicated Chinese-American doctor (Anna May Wong). In gratitude, Tamiroff turns over his fortune to a Chinese war relief fund. King of Gamblers was directed with flair by the otherwise unimaginative Nick Grinde, who seems to have borrowed several artistic touches from fellow Paramount contractee Robert Florey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna May Wong, Akim Tamiroff, (more)
- 1939
Anna May Wong and J. Carroll Naish, so memorably teamed in Paramount's Dangerous to Know, are costarred once more in Island of Lost Men. Naish plays ruthless jungle plantation owner Gregory Prin, who runs his domain like a dictatorship and treats his workers little better than slaves. Into Prin's world comes Kim Ling (Wong), daughter of a disgraced Chinese general. Kim Ling hopes to clear her father's name by bringing his primary accuser, Prin, to justice. The native-uprising finale is rendered in gloriously gruesome detail. A remake of the 1931 Charles Laughton-Carole Lombard starrer White Woman, Island of Lost Men also offers early but well-rounded performances by Anthony Quinn (as a Chinese patriot!) and Broderick Crawford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna May Wong, J. Carrol Naish, (more)
- 1938
Based on Will Gould's popular comic strip, the 13-episode Universal serial Red Barry stars Buster Crabbe in the title role. Detective Barry is galvanized into action when $2,000,000 worth of bonds is stolen from an unnamed Asian country. Among the villains involved are prima ballerina Natacha (Edna Sedgewick) and criminal mastermind Quong Lee (Frank Lackteen). Forming an uneasy alliance with criminologist Vane (Hugh Huntley), Barry pursues the miscreants up hill and down alley. Also on Barry's side is intrepid girl reporter Mississippi (Frances Robinson), who makes Lois Lane seem shy and retiring. Seldom pausing for breath, Red Barry remains one of the most memorable of the Universal chapter plays. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Frances Robinson, (more)
- 1938
Though it may be difficult for modern audiences to understand or appreciate the appeal of canary-voiced boy soprano Bobby Breen, the fact remains that he was one of the most popular box-office attractions of the 1930s. Adapted from Don Blandings' novel Stowaways in Paradise, Hawaii Calls stars Breen as shoe-shine boy Billy Coulter, who in the company of his young newsboy pal Pua (Pua Lani) stows away on a Honolulu-bound ocean liner. Here he finds an unexpected ally in the form of persimmon-faced musician Strings (Ned Sparks), who conspires to hide Billy and Pua from irascible Captain O'Hare (Irvin S. Cobb). Once the ship arrives in Hawaii, Billy eludes the authorities by hiding with Pua's native family. The plot goes off on a new tangent when foreign spy Blake (William Harrigan) steals valuable Navy secrets from young Commander Milburn (Warren Hull). Billy and Pua save the day by locating the thieves' hideout and alerting Milburn. Before this happens, Bobby Breen sings ever so many Hawaiian tunes, this best of which include "Down Where the Trade Winds Blow" and the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Ned Sparks, (more)
- 1938
Sidney Toler made his first appearance as aphorism-spouting oriental sleuth Charlie Chan in 1938's Charlie Chan in Honolulu, while Victor Sen Yung likewise makes his series debut as Charlie's Number Two Son Jimmy. While awaiting the birth of his first grandchild, Chan endeavors to solve a shipboard murder on a Hawaiian freighter. Hint: the most likely suspect is played by George Zucco, so it's safe bet that he's not the guilty party. Hampering Chan's investigation is the well-meaning assistance of overeager Charlie Chan Jr. (Layne Tom), as well as the dangerous menagerie of animal trainer Al Hogan (Eddie Collins). Audiences immediately warmed to Sidney Toler as the new Charlie Chan, encouraging 20th Century-Fox to keep the series going as long as possible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Phyllis Brooks, (more)
