Runtime: 65 minutes
Directed by: Phil Rosen
Starring: Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Frances Chan, Joseph Crehan, Helen Beverley
From: Monogram
My first time seeing Sidney Toler as the detective Charlie Chan; in the past, I’d seen Warner Oland in the role. He passed away and Toler (another white guy cosplaying as a Chinese man) took over the role. By this point, the franchise had moved from 20th Century Fox to Monogram Pictures.
Charlie Chan’s daughter Frances is at a séance where a man is murdered; this is why Charlie accepts the case and explores the house where the murder takes place. The plot isn’t much more complicated than that. Now, I did miss the number of silly fortune cookie sayings that Oland uttered in his films, as stereotypical as they were; only a few were scattered throughout Black Magic. The actual detective work seemed better in the earlier pictures. However, Toler wasn’t bad in the role.
The highlight for me in this decent mystery film w/ some horror elements was the supporting role played by Mantan Moreland, a Black actor who appeared in many B movies. His impact on the plot wasn’t all that great yet despite it being a stereotypical Black role of the time, his Birmingham Brown (a great name) at least made me laugh… through the cringing of his acting dumb, thinking he can disappear via snapping the fingers & saying “abracadabra!” and bugging his eyes out. If he had more dignified parts, presumably Moreland would have done well in those roles also.
It won’t be fair for me to make the blanket statement that Toler in the role or his movies automatically were inferior to Warner Oland and his time in the role. Yellowface aside, those pictures were still decent breezy entertainment and stands a good chance to entertain those that dig the mystery pictures of the 30’s/40’s.
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