I've been re-watching my Charlie Chan movies again, and I'd have to rate this as one of the VERY BEST! It starts out in Honolulu at the police station, moves to a hotel, then continues on a cruise ship, before finally concluding in a jaw-dropping way at the coroner's office.
Along the way there's a whole host of suspects and familiar actors that would do a "POIROT" story credit. As my Dad might have put it, the suspects include Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill), Mr. Waverly (Leo G. Carrol), Bruce Wayne (Robert Lowery), Dr. Huer (C. Montague Shaw) and Ming The Merciless (Charles Middleton). What a line-up!
As usual, Jimmy Chan (Victor Sen Yung) provides much of the comic relief, especially when his pop at one point insists he's deranged and has him locked up for pretending to be his son. When we next see him, the stowaway has been conscripted into working as a steward.
The finale blew my mind, because even when I figured I'd finally found out who the killer was, Chan had one more twist up his sleeve.
"CHARLIE CHAN'S MURDER CRUISE" is actually the 3rd film version of the novel "Charlie Chan Carries On". While the only known print of the original with Warner Oland was apparently destroyed in a fire, the SPANISH version, made at the same time, "ERAN TRECE" (THERE WERE THIRTEEN), which stars Manuel Arbo as Chan, DOES still exist for comparison. I've seen it on Youtube! It's available as a bonus feature on the "Charlie Chan In Shanghai" DVD.
Along the way there's a whole host of suspects and familiar actors that would do a "POIROT" story credit. As my Dad might have put it, the suspects include Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill), Mr. Waverly (Leo G. Carrol), Bruce Wayne (Robert Lowery), Dr. Huer (C. Montague Shaw) and Ming The Merciless (Charles Middleton). What a line-up!
As usual, Jimmy Chan (Victor Sen Yung) provides much of the comic relief, especially when his pop at one point insists he's deranged and has him locked up for pretending to be his son. When we next see him, the stowaway has been conscripted into working as a steward.
The finale blew my mind, because even when I figured I'd finally found out who the killer was, Chan had one more twist up his sleeve.
"CHARLIE CHAN'S MURDER CRUISE" is actually the 3rd film version of the novel "Charlie Chan Carries On". While the only known print of the original with Warner Oland was apparently destroyed in a fire, the SPANISH version, made at the same time, "ERAN TRECE" (THERE WERE THIRTEEN), which stars Manuel Arbo as Chan, DOES still exist for comparison. I've seen it on Youtube! It's available as a bonus feature on the "Charlie Chan In Shanghai" DVD.