I wanted to but couldn't!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Pauline Moore comes to Reno staying in a hotel specializing in divorces owned by Kay Linaker in which Phyllis Brooks is the social director. Pauline is divorcing husband Kane Richmond, who is engaged to be married to Louise Henry. While at the hotel lounge, Henry is escorted by Ricardo Cortez to Moore's table to rub her nose in the fact that she is marrying her husband. Robert Lowery, also present during the confrontation, is stunned that Henry is engaged since he thought that Henry was his girl. Brooks is jealous that Cortez is escorting Henry since she has a thing for him! Later that evening Moore is found in Henry's room standing over Henry's dead body. Charlie is enlisted by Richmond to fly with him to Reno to clear his wife of the murder. It's hard to believe but the plot gets even more complex and convoluted the more the movie goes on! Sen Yung falls for Iris Wong, in the role of Henry's maid, and the two of them hinder more than help the investigation. Aside from the aforementioned actors and actresses who were marvelous, Slim Summerville is wonderful as the local sheriff who is always several steps behind Chan in the investigation. Charles D. Brown as the Chief of Police and Sidney Toler keep a lid on the insanity and were very good also. The ending will remind you of a Thin Man finale. Very enjoyable entry in the series.

Diffuse script, slack pacing and mostly pedestrian direction make "Charlie Chan In Reno" one of the least memorable entries in the series. The supporting cast is not that memorable, either; the liveliest performer also happens to be the murder victim and is out of the picture within the first 8 minutes! Slim Summerville, as a clueless sheriff, is more of a nuisance (there is also a - white - taxi driver who plays a very similar role to "Birmingham", Chan's - black - chauffeur in the later Monogram entries). The film does do a good job of keeping you guessing who-done-it; it's certainly not short on suspects. But there is not much about it that will stay in your memory afterwards. My favorite Chan line: "When searching for needle in haystack, haystack only sensible location!" ** out of 4.

When an old friend's estranged wife is accused of murdering an evil woman, Charlie finds himself in Reno on the case. Of course, Jimmy can't keep his nose out of things and borrows his friend's car to go to Reno. On the way his car is stolen, as are his clothes. Everything now takes place in a posh hotel with Slim Summerville as an uninspired Western sheriff who has no respect for our Mr. Chan. Ms. Whitman, the accused, was found standing over the corpse and has been charged with the murder. Still, there are many other suspects, people who had reason to kill her. On is her husband, who works at a mine. Another, a slick doctor, who seems to slim his way out of any charge brought against him. One always has to weight the value of Charlie's son because he is impulsive and often on the make. Here he enlists the help of a lady's maid to investigate. The problem with him is that while he often finds interesting things, he is also a loose cannon, jumping to false conclusions. Charlie seems awfully tolerant of him. There are times here when I find too much tongue in cheek stuff. Still, it's vintage Charlie Chan and I was glad to see that none of his other kids got involved here.

The second of the Sidney Toler Charlie Chan movies made by 20th Century Fox. A young woman seeking a divorce in Nevada is suspected of murder when she is seen hovering over the dead body of "the other woman" in the triangle. Charlie and his son Jimmy work together to iron out the mess and figure who is responsible. What I liked about this entry was the way Sidney Toler and Sen Yung (as Son #2) play off each other, and there's also some good comical touches in this one, including Slim Summerville as a clueless sheriff trying to make sense of the goings-on.***/****