While Sidney Toler is the star of this Charlie Chan series, he is forced to remain in the background every time Cora Witherspoon steps onto the set. A feisty matron who goes nutty when she sees a scary face at her ship stateroom, Witherspoon objects to being slapped out of her hysteria by ship detective James Burke, slapping him back. The character players in fact makes this confusing mystery a bit better, with humor added by Victor Sen Yung as the limber Jimmy Chan who may not be smart amateur detective, but faster than menacing Charles Middleton.
Longer than the average Chan film of the early 40's and temporarily stepping out of a war theme to become more traditional. Lionel Atwill, fresh from the previous entry in Panama, is here suspect rather than victim, and there are plenty of red herrings among other characters played by Robert Lowery, Marjorie Weaver and Halliwell Hobbes. But no one can out ham Witherspoon here, absolutely delightful even though nobody should ever try to mess with her.
Longer than the average Chan film of the early 40's and temporarily stepping out of a war theme to become more traditional. Lionel Atwill, fresh from the previous entry in Panama, is here suspect rather than victim, and there are plenty of red herrings among other characters played by Robert Lowery, Marjorie Weaver and Halliwell Hobbes. But no one can out ham Witherspoon here, absolutely delightful even though nobody should ever try to mess with her.