IMDb > Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)

Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.6/10   684 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 44% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Lynn Shores
Writer:
John Larkin (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
6 September 1940 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller more
Tagline:
Death in the electric chair faces Charlie Chan... at the hands of a murderer twelve years dead! more
Plot:
An escaped convicted murderer hides out at a New York wax museum where he hopes to get plastic surgery, which will help him revenge himself on Charlie Chan. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
Not great, but far better than the later Chan flicks more (12 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Sidney Toler ... Charlie Chan
Victor Sen Yung ... Jimmy Chan (as Sen Yung)
C. Henry Gordon ... Dr. Cream
Marc Lawrence ... Steve McBirney
Joan Valerie ... Lily Latimer
Marguerite Chapman ... Mary Bolton
Ted Osborne ... Tom Agnew (as Ted Osborn)
Michael Visaroff ... Dr. Otto Von Brom
Hilda Vaughn ... Mrs. Joe Rocke
Charles Wagenheim ... Willie Fern
Archie Twitchell ... Carter Lane
Eddie Marr ... Grenock
Joe King ... Inspector O'Matthews
Harold Goodwin ... Edwards
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
63 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA High Fidelity Recording)
Certification:
Australia:G | USA:Approved (PCA #6383)
Company:
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The wax head near the mummy case appears to be modeled after Clark Gable. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Inspector Matthews comes in through the museum window, his coat is wet from the thunderstorm outside. Seconds thereafter, although his face still has rain dripping from it, his coat is now dry. more
Quotes:
Inspector O'Matthews: I think I'll catch your act tonight, Charlie. In fact, I'll go with you.
Charlie Chan: No, please. Mice only play when cat supposed to be in bed.
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Movie Connections:
Follows The Chinese Parrot (1927) more

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User Comments

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2 out of 5 people found the following comment useful.
Not great, but far better than the later Chan flicks, 11 January 2007
7/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

This was one of the better Charlie Chan movies that starred Sidney Toler. While I am a bigger fan of the earlier films with Warner Oland, these later films following the death of Oland were still pretty good, though they lacked some of the freshness since by then they'd already made a HUGE number of these films. As a result, the films have become a little bit formulaic and predictable. Now this isn't all that bad, though, as there were many devoted fans and they are charming in their own way. PLUS, this film is a huge improvement over the later Chan films starring Mantan Moreland as "Birmingham Brown" and much of it was because the basic formula of the series was changed. Moreland was at times funny as comic relief, but all too often, the humor was based more on the notion of "let's laugh at the scared Black guy"--a cliché widely accepted back then but something that SHOULD make you at least a bit uncomfortable today. Plus, by the time he came to the series, this may have been Monogram Pictures' attempt to "jump the shark"--a reference to a desperate move to change the formula for a series due to lagging ratings or attendance. So, without Moreland, the film is a bit better and sticks with the original tried and true formula.

As for the plot itself, this one has a lot of "red herrings". Despite there initially appearing to be one person with a reason to murder (a convicted criminal wanting to kill Chan), it turns out that practically everyone had reason to murder someone in this film. This definitely kept me guessing, though at times, it also seemed a bit unfair--as the evidence the writers dropped into the script and the direction the film ended up going seemed totally unrelated at times! Not a bad little film, though, and the creepy setting of the wax museum was a big plus.

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