2hotFeature
one of my absolute favorites!
Ogosmith
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
oscar-35
*Spoiler/plot- Charlie Chan: The Chinese Cat, 1944. Eminent Chinese detective from Honolulu Hawaii solves a murder mystery when he helps clear up a police case matter that has gone unsolved for years with the help of Chan's #3 son, Jimmy.*Special Stars- Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Benson Fong, Koan Woodbury.*Theme- Family can be helpful in solving cases.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W. Enjoy the quaint and humorous Chinese sayings from this Hawaiian detective.*Emotion- Always enjoyable to see this actor (Sidney Toler)play Honolulu detective Chan with his family assistants.*Based On- Charlie Chan detective character series.
bkoganbing
The second of Charlie Chan's Monogram Pictures finds Sidney Toler and number two son Benson Fong involved in a six month old homicide of a wealthy businessman and chess expert. As he dies the victim leaves the telltale clue of a lone bishop standing on the chessboard.What brings Charlie into the case is Joan Woodbury on behalf of her mother Betty Blythe who was married to the deceased. A new book written by Ian Keith is casting aspersions on Woodbury and Blythe and as the case remained unsolved for six months there's lots of room for speculation.Of course Keith has the facts all wrong and the case centers around a statue of a cat done by a noted artist who Charlie knows to put secret compartments in his product. That makes them useful for hiding things, stolen things.This also makes the second appearance of Mantan Moreland who was introduced in the first Monogram Chan feature, Charlie Chan In The Secret Service. No wonder Charlie Chan had to hire Birmingham as a chauffeur, Birmingham's cab gets blown up when the crooks think Charlie is getting too close.Fans of the series should appreciate it though when the series left 20th Century Fox and was picked up by Monogram, as Bob Hope would have said it was like exchanging filet mignon for hog's livers.
Celticnationalist
It's no great shakes, but this, the second Charlie Chan movie released by B-movie studio Monogram Pictures is an enjoyable enough time-passerThe time around Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates the seemingly unsolvable murder of Businessman Thomas P.Manning (Sam Flint) who was shot dead in a room locked from the inside - which has baffled Police. His Stepdaughter Leah (Joan Woodbury) asks Chan's son Tommy, Son no.3 for help which leaves Charlie with little choice but try to solve the Murder.The Chinese Cat of the title refers to a statue which has a secret compartment that all the bad guys are after.Mantan Moreland is back as Birmingham Brown, this time as a Taxi Driver and Chan's Chauffeur, again he's here for comic relief - but again as the stereotypical African American from that era - which many may find distasteful over 65 years later.The budget again is low which being from a Poverty row studio you have to expect that, The Acting is just about passable, The dialogue is somewhat better than the the last outing (Charlie Chan in the secret service) but still pretty bad and The Mystery (which is what you enjoy most about these) is decent.Come into it with realistic expectations as you should enjoy.**1/2 out of *****
dbborroughs
Monogram's Charlie Chan films tended to suffer towards the end by lack of caring. The plots ended up confused and messy aimed more at Birmingham Brown and the Chan son of the film being silly while Charlie said wise things. Here, thankfully, the film is blessed with a decent mystery, different sets than most of the others, and several good supporting performances, in particular by the always wonderful, and sadly not well known John Davidson.Here we have the death of a chess expert and assorted other goings on that make this one of the better later Chan films. I don't want to say too much since the joy here is in the watching, and this film is certainly worth watching.7 out of 10
