"The Jade Mask" has intriguing aspects in its mystery and a fairly unexpected solution, but it suffers from snail-like pacing and static direction. Charlie Chan has a few very funny lines, the one in my summary above or "Every time you open your mouth, you put in more feet than centipede. Remain here and produce nothing but silence!" made me laugh out loud. One of the supporting characters is described as "a strongwoman in vaudeville", but we never really see her perform any amazing feats of strength, we just hear about them. Mantan Moreland provides typical - for the time - easily-scared-black-guy comedy relief; his funniest scene is at the very end of the picture. ** out of 4.
Review of The Jade Mask
