James S. Burkett Movies
- 1950
Young David Bruce plays Young Daniel Boone in this above-average Monogram actioner. Taking time off from hunting and settling, Young Daniel attempts to rescue two white girls from their Indian captors. He also hopes to expose a French spy on behalf of the colonial British government. One of the kidnapped ladies is Rebecca (Kristine Miller), who later becomes Mrs. Daniel Boone. Playing fast and loose with the facts, Young Daniel Boone nonetheless serves its purpose: to thrill and entertain the audience. In addition, the film is lensed in the eye-pleasing Cinecolor process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Bruce, Kristine Miller, (more)
- 1949
Film historian Leonard Maltin has labelled this final entry in Monogram's "Charlie Chan" series as "embarrassing," but it's not quite as bad as its reputation would indicate. True, star Roland Winters steadfastly refuses to take his characterization of Charlie Chan seriously, but that's part of the fun. Much of the action takes place on an airliner, where someone has drugged the passengers and crew and killed a courier who was carrying a quarter of a million dollars. The suspect list is a dream-come-true for movie buffs, populated with such reliable supporting players as Iris Adrian, Eleana Verdugo, Tim Ryan, Milburn Stone, Lyle Talbot, Paul Maxey and John Eldredge. Noel Neill, everyone's favorite Lois Lane, is also on hand as a stewardess. And of course, Charlie Chan is aided and abetted by Number One Son Lee Chan (Keye Luke) and pop-eyed chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). Though out of favor with dyed-in-the-wool Charlie Chan fans, Sky Dragon opened to good business and better-than-average reviews. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roland Winters, Keye Luke, (more)
- 1949
Dauntless Navy intelligence officer Richard Travis is dispatched to the Frozen North to smash a spy ring. By a fortuitous circumstance, Travis is the exact lookalike of a recently deceased enemy agent. This plot contrivance is given surface credibility by the film's semi-documentary style. Onetime child actress Helen Westcott is second-billed in a cast busting to the seams with familiar faces, ranging from saturnine James Griffith to dignified Jason Robards Sr. Alaska Patrol was released by Film Classics, a reissue firm of the late 1940s that dabbled in production from time to time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Travis, Helen Westcott, (more)
- 1948
16 Fathoms Deep was a curious choice as the first effort from Arthur Lake Productions. Heretofore known best as Dagwood Bumstead in Columbia's Blondie series, Arthur Lake not only elected to produce this remake of the 1934 melodrama of the same name but also to play the film's comedy-relief character, a camera-crazy tourist named Pete. The story concerns a former Navy frogman who takes a job as a sponge fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico. The job proves more hazardous than expected, due to the dirty tactics perpetrated by a rival sponge dealer. Lloyd Bridges, still eight years away from TV's Sea Hunt, stars as the frogman-turned-fisherman, while Lon Chaney Jr., who played the hero in the 1934 version of 16 Fathoms Deep, is here cast as the villain. Filmed in Anscocolor, the 1948 16 Fathoms Deep paid its way, but wasn't successful enough to allow Arthur Lake to quit his day job as Dagwood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lon Chaney, Jr., Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1948
Docks of New Orleans was Roland Winters' second appearance as aphorism-spouting oriental sleuth Charlie Chan -- and like the first (The Chinese Ring) the film was based on an earlier "Mr. Wong" series entry. This time out, Chan attempts to solve a case involving a stolen shipment of chemicals. When murder enters the picture, the most likely suspect is a chap who claims that the victim had stolen his secret chemical formulas. Naturally, this fellow can't be guilty, which Chan proves in due time. Offering their usual ham-handed assistance are Charlie's son Tommy (Victor Sen Yung) and chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). Roland Winters is totally unsuited for the role of Charlie Chan, but at least he seems to be having fun in the part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Andrews, Virginia Dale, (more)
- 1948
The Golden Eye is a Charlie Chan mystery set on a Southwestern ranch. A once-dormant mine mysteriously begins to yield gold, bringing out the worst characteristics of several people involved. When murder enters the picture, Charlie Chan interrupts his vacation and investigates, with the dubious aid of his son Tommy (Victor Sen Yung) and his perennially frightened chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). The script for this film lifts many elements from several earlier sources, including the "high-heeled nun" bit from Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (38). The fourth Monogram "Charlie Chan" film to star Roland Winters as the soft-spoken Chinese sleuth, The Golden Eye is salvaged by the effortless expertise of comic relief Mantan Moreland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roland Winters, Mantan Moreland, (more)
- 1948
Even after three appearances as oriental sleuth Charlie Chan, Roland Winters showed no interest in taking the role seriously. Shanghai Chest finds Charlie in the employ of the U.S. government, assigned to solve a series of puzzling murders. The victims all appear to have died by snakebite, which would have been impossible under the circumstances. Further confusing the issue is the fact that all fingerprints at the scenes of the crime have been left by a man who's supposed to be dead. Even with the dubious assistance of son Tommy (Victor Sen Yung) and chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland), the clever Mr. Chan cracks the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roland Winters, Mantan Moreland, (more)
- 1948
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Chan must find out who has been killing people over rare antiques. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Bells of San Fernando was advertised as a romantic adventure, but it plays more like a Western. Donald Woods plays an Irish immigrant who teams with Mexican gal Gloria Warren to combat land baron Anthony Warde. Whenever the plot lags, Warren sings. Catch the name of "Renault Duncan" in the screenplay credits of Bells of San Fernando. It's really actor Duncan Renaldo, aka "The Cisco Kid" -- which may explain why the film looks like a thinly disguised "Cisco" episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Woods, Gloria Warren, (more)
- 1947
Roland Winters takes over the role of wily oriental sleuth Charlie Chan in the so-so Monogram programmer The Chinese Ring. The film is a remake of 1939's Mr. Wong in Chinatown, right down to dialogue and camera angles. Charlie Chan gets dragged into the story when a beautiful Chinese princess (Jean Wong) drops dead in his living room. Chan's only clue to the murderer and his motives is the letter "K," leading him to such likely suspects as Captains Kelso (Thayer Roberts) and Kong (Philip Ahn). Aiding and abetting Chan at every turn are his erstwhile "assistants," son Tommy (Victor Sen Yung) and chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland), not to mention loud-mouthed police sergeant Davidson (Warren Douglas) and perky gal reporter Peggy Cartwright (Louise Currie). The fact that Roland Winters refuses to take his role seriously greatly enhances the film's enjoyment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roland Winters, Warren Douglas, (more)
- 1947
In this mystery, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) helps out an actress justly terrified for her own life after her fellow actors slowly begin to die horrible deaths. The homicides transpire at a Malibu beach house; Chan gathers all of the clues into one location and hones in on the killer. This marked Toler's last film appearance; Roland Winters inherited the role from him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1946
Sidney Toler seems listless and barely awake throughout the intrigues of the Monogram "Charlie Chan" opus Shadows over Chinatown. This time out, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) and his erstwhile assistants, son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) and chauffeur Birmingham (Mantan Moreland), investigate a clever insurance scam. The crooks are using a series of brutal "torso murders" to rip off an insurance company by claiming that the long-missing Mary Conover (Tanis Chandler) is a victim of the unknown murderer. Actually, Mary is in hiding from the insurance hucksters themselves, forcing Chan to race against time (if "race" is the correct word) to save the girl from certain doom. Perennial movie drunk Jack Norton has all the film's best lines as a garrulous boozer who isn't quite what he seems. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, (more)
- 1946
In this episode of the popular detective series, Chan learns that fake fingerprints have caused innocent people to go to prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1946
In this episode of the popular detective series, Chan, along with Number Two Son, are aboard a ship bound for Pago Pago. On route a federal agent is murdered. The two sleuths investigate. The film is also titled "Charlie Chan in Dangerous Money." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1946
In this adventure, set in Old California, a Spanish nobleman journeys to California to claim an inheritance. He soon discovers that his greedy cousin has laid claim to the wealth by declaring the Spaniard legally dead. The resourceful nobleman decides to trap his wicked relative by posing as a peon. He enlists the aide of the local mission priests. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Colby
- 1946
Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) heads south of the border in this so-so series entry. With the help of Mexican police official Luis (Fortunio Bonanova), Chan looks high and low for a stolen atomic-bomb formula. The oriental detective is also "aided" by his son Tommy (Benson Fong) and his chauffeur Chattanooga (Willie Best, subbing for Mantan Moreland) two of the most inept assistants in the history of the movies. The gimmick in this film is a mysterious murder weapon which seemingly disappears from the face of the earth the moment it has been used. Though more expensive looking than most of Monogram's Charlie Chan films, The Red Dragon isn't one of the series' more exciting efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Fortunio Bonanova, (more)
Just as Edgar C. Ulmer would at PRC around the same time, young Phil Karlson turned Monogram's almost nonexistent production values to his advantage in two Charlie Chan whodunits: The Shanghai Cobra (1945) and Dark Alibi (1946). Karlson added touches of film noir to the usual hoary Chan melodramatics and the result was arguably the best of the Monogram "Chans." In The Shanghai Cobra, Charlie (Sidney Toler) is investigating several murders connected with the manufacture of wartime radium. The employees of a bank connected with the radium experiments have an unfortunate tendency to get themselves killed by the injection of cobra venom. Charlie remembers a similar case back in Shanghai in 1935, but the suspect in those murders escaped. Since his face was damaged in an explosion, the only tell-tale sign to identify him is by a streak of white in an otherwise jet-black mane -- unless of course the murderer has heard of hair dye. As always, Charlie's faithful if bumbling companions, Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) and Tommy, the Number Three Son (Benson Fong), are along for the ride, offering their now patented sidekick humor. Toler, whose fondness for imbibing on the job was legendary, could basically sleepwalk through his role by 1945 and does so here. As for director Karlson's noir-ish touches, they quickly give way to business as usual, but the opening scenes of The Shanghai Cobra remain quite evocative. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, James B. Cardwell, (more)
- 1945
This tale of two tugboats focuses upon the rivalries between two operators competing to win a major shipping contract. Meanwhile a tugboat office secretary and an ex-con who wants to go straight, fall in love. Tugboat Annie is put in charge of a child violinist. When a waterfront fire breaks out, the two warring captains join forces to put it out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Darwell, Edgar Kennedy, (more)
- 1945
More tightly scripted than most of the Monogram Charlie Chan whodunits, The Scarlet Clue is set in a radio station that, rather fortuitously, is located in the same building as a government research lab. It's wartime, and the Chinese master detective (Sidney Toler) is searching for the killer of an enemy agent. The trail leads to the aforementioned radio station, where the owner of a soap opera, Mrs. Marsh (Virginia Brissac), is terrorizing her hard-working actors. The sneaky-looking station manager, Ralph Brett (I. Stanford Jolley), is reporting back to an unknown boss; a blackmailing actress (Janet Shaw) is poisoned; and the halls are haunted by a former Shakespearean star turned horror actor, Horace Carlos (Leonard Mudie, whose character is obviously patterned after Boris Karloff), and a Swedish char woman (Victoria Faust), who, so help her, says "yumpin' yimini!" As always, Chan's detective work is interrupted on occasion by the antics of manservant Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) and dense Number Three Son, Tommy Chan (Benson Fong). One of the villains literally "gets the shaft" and Monogram fearlessly flirts with a potential new media rival: television. The pièce de résistance is a couple of very funny vaudeville turns by African-American comedians Mantan Moreland and Ben Carter. All in all, The Scarlet Clue makes for an entertaining enough hour or so. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Benson Fong, (more)
- 1944
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Having ended its 11-year run at 20th Century-Fox, the "Charlie Chan" series set up shop at Monogram with the singularly uninspiring Charlie Chan in the Secret Service. Sidney Toler returns as the famed oriental detective, who, per the title, is now a government agent. His first assignment is to solve the murder of an inventor and recover the victim's secret plans. Two reels into the picture, all action grinds to a halt as Chan wearily interrogates the suspects. The identity of the murderer might have caught some filmgoers by surprise in 1944, but seasoned mystery fans will beon to the game the minute the culprit is introduced. The one saving grace of Charlie Chan in the Secret Service is the stereotypical but undeniably funny comedy relief of Mantan Moreland, making his first appearance as pop-eyed chauffeur Birmingham Brown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Gwen Kenyon, (more)
An engagingly silly Charlie Chan whodunit from Poverty Row company Monogram, The Jade Mask mixed science fiction with Old House melodramatics and a generous dose of comedy. The venerable Chinese detective (Sidney Toler) is this time assigned by the government to establish the whereabouts of Harper (Frank Reicher), a scientist experimenting with a formula that may turn wood into solid steel. Harper, of course, turns up very much murdered and his strange house is virtually teeming with suspects. There is the dead man's Mrs. Danvers-like sister (Edith Evanson), a vaudeville strongwoman (short subject regular Dorothy Granger), the ubiquitous British-accented butler (Cyril Delevanti), and a mute garage mechanic (Lester Dorr). Several additional murders occur right under Chan's nose -- which nobody seems to particularly mind, least of all hayseed sheriff Al Bridge -- and corpses appear to be walking up and down staircases. Despite interference from manservant Birmingham Brown (the always welcome Mantan Moreland) and the inevitably dense Number Four Son (Edwin Luke), good old Charlie manages to catch the killer -- or killers -- within the allotted 66 minutes. Moreland and Luke, the real-life brother of Number One Son Keye Luke, perform their usual comedic asides, but the best lines are awarded to Preston Sturges stock-company regular Al Bridge as the plainspoken, homily spouting sheriff. Incidentally, although masks are indeed featured in The Jade Mask, none of them is made of jade. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, (more)
Charlie Chan's second mystery for Poverty Row company Monogram, The Chinese Cat is one of the inscrutable detective's better efforts. Director Phil Rosen keeps things moving at a reasonably expedient pace -- especially for a Monogram programmer -- and although the denouement is no big surprise, armchair detectives at least have no trouble keeping up with the redoubtable sleuth (Sidney Toler). Leah Manning (Joan Woodbury), of the San Francisco Mannings, enlists Chan's help in solving the murder of her stepfather (Sam Flint), whose slain body was found in his hermetically sealed study. The police have given up and only Charlie's deducing can refute a scurrilous book that blames Mrs. Manning (Betty Blythe), Leah's mother, for the crime. There are, of course, several worthy suspects, including a gang of diamond thieves lead by Catlen (Anthony Warde), the dead man's business partner (Cy Kendall), and even a "ghost" who isn't quite what he appears (John Davidson). A poisonous gas attack and the less than helpful efforts of Number Three Son (Benson Fong) complicate matters briefly, but Chan is, as always, on top of things all of the time and can soon reveal the identity of the guilty party. Comic sidekick Mantan Moreland has fun in a fun house, Fong is a worthy addition to Charlie's less than brainy brood (Number Three Son is, as Chan points out, "weak limb to which no family tree may point with pride"), and silent screen veterans Betty Blythe and Ian Keith do well enough with their limited assignments. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Joan Woodbury, (more)
- 1944
Meeting at Midnight is the reissue title of Black Magic, a Charlie Chan "B" effort from Monogram Studios. A murder occurs during a seance conducted by a fraudulent medium. Scared chauffeur Mantan Moreland, who happens to be on the premises when the killing occurs, summons Chan (Sidney Toler). He pokes around a bit, dispenses a bit of fortune-cookie wisdom, then suggests that the crime be re-enacted. Never was there a more likely suspect than the least likely suspect. The novelty of Meeting at Midnight is that Charlie Chan's daughter (played-no kidding-by Frances Chan) helps solve the mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Burlesque queen Ann Corio took time out of her runway activities in the 1940s to star in three Monogram features, of which Call of the Jungle was the last. Unlike the earlier Corio vehicles, Jungle is not an escapist musical but a somber drama-or at least, that was the intention. Wrapped in a fetching sarong, the star plays Tana, a South Sea damsel who doubles as an amateur detective. Unfortunately, Tana does not inform the authorities that she's taken it upon herself to track down a pair of jewel thieves, and as a result she is suspected of being a crook herself. With all the other leading man serving in WW2, Tana's romantic interest is played by James Bush, a capable if colorless character actor. Billed forth in Call of the Jungle is Claudia Dell, who once played Spanky's mom in the "Our Gang" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Corio, James Bush, (more)
- 1943
In this frothy musical, a sultan's lovely daughter finds herself courted by a handsome American. WW II erupts and her father finds himself courted by an agent from the German government for the rights to the oil fields. When that doesn't work, the conniving agent then tries to sway the Sultan's personal secretary. Songs include: "I'm Always the Girl," "The Sultan's Daughter," "Clickety-Clack-Jack," and "I'd Love to Make Love to You." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Corio, Charles Butterworth, (more)
