The Sky Dragon (1949)

On a plane trip, Charlie Chan and the passengers are drugged, and when they wake up a quarter million dollars is missing.

Director:

Lesley Selander

Writers:

Oliver Drake (story), Oliver Drake (screenplay),

Stars:

Roland Winters, Keye Luke, Mantan Moreland

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Roland Winters	...	Charlie Chan
Keye Luke	...	Lee Chan
Mantan Moreland	...	Birmingham Brown
Noel Neill	...	Jane Marshall
Tim Ryan	...	Lt. Mike Ruark
Iris Adrian	...	Wanda LaFern
Elena Verdugo	...	Connie Jackson, alias Marie Burke
Milburn Stone	...	Capt. Tim Norton
Lyle Talbot	...	Andrew J. Barrett
Paul Maxey	...	John Anderson
Joel Marston	...	Copilot Don Blake
John Eldredge	...	William E. French
Eddie Parks	...	Jonathan Tibbetts
Louise Franklin	...	Lena Franklin - Maid

Storyline

All the passengers on an airplane headed for San Francisco are drugged, and when they wake up, it is discovered that a quarter-million dollars is missing. Charlie Chan--and, of course, his #1 son--must discover the identity of the person who doped the passengers and stole the money.

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Plot Keywords:

passenger | airplane | drugged | investigation | airliner | 

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Taglines:

Death rides the clouds

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Charlie Chan and the Sky Dragon

Company Credits

Production Co:

Monogram Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

64 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This would be the final film in the Charlie Chan series of 17 lower-budgeted features at Monogram (Sidney Toler in the first 11, Roland Winters in the last 6).

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Connections

Followed by The Return of Charlie Chan (1973)

User Reviews

Murder and robbery in the sky

The Charlie Chan series ended with The Sky Dragon in which murder and a robbery are committed in a passenger airline while in flight. The ultimate of locked room homicides. Unfortunately for the ones who did this caper they had Charlie Chan and son Lee on board. After that they hadn't a chance.

Roland Winters and Keye Luke bring in Tim Ryan of the SFPD who is more than happy to assist the local authorities. Pilot Milburn Stone and co-pilot Joel Marston and hostesses Noel Neill and Elena Verdugo are also suspects. Gracing the cast as she always does is Iris Adrian playing a burlesque queen who was a passenger. She's traveling with brother-in-law Lyle Talbot on a mission of her own.

The guilty party is one who is rather quick on the trigger. In that it's easy to figure out who it is. How the robbery was done was a bit more clever and it involves an accomplice or two.

Keye Luke who was number one son while Warner Oland was Charlie Chan returns for the final film. I had the pleasure of seeing Keye Luke on Broadway in the original cast of Flower Drum Song, my first Broadway show. Ironically he played a traditional Chinese father in that show.

If they had only put a real surprise in the ending this would rate a notch or two higher. As it is The Sky Dragon is a fine film to conclude the series.