Good movie but grossly overrated

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The classic whodunnit with all kinds of interesting character actors posing as suspects. A woman is murdered. She has been seen by a psychic-psychologist who uses caffeine and special cigarettes to make her tell the truth about having committed a murder. There are clues all over the place and Chan, his son, and a police detective attempt to get to the bottom of things. While so much of the byplay among a group of socialites is interesting, I can't take my mind off the cigarette thing. No one commenting on this seems to be wary of such a thing. What are these cigarettes? If they don't exist in some context, then the whole plot is, as number one son says, "Hooey!" I was interested to see Truman Bradley appear. He was the host of "Science Fiction Theater" which was one of my favorite shows as a child. Victor Jory is also in this as the aforementioned psychic. Good cast. Good acting. Cigarettes..........

The film gets off to a good start with some nice south-of-the-border music and atmosphere, set in a Rio nightclub. Here we meet the future murder-ee and most of the suspects. Eventually, the plot shifts to a spacious mansion, where a party for the murder-ee brings forth all the nightclub suspects plus a couple of others.The story gives us an interesting puzzle. Despite the large number of suspects, (approx. nine), I correctly guessed the identity of the killer, but for the wrong reason. Clues are rather subtle, which is good. To correctly guess both the murderer and the motivation, a viewer will need to employ his or her powers of inference. A cigarette, a cup of coffee, and the sharp pin of a lady's broach give Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) what he needs to solve the case. But the clues do not explain the killer's motivation.B&W visuals are quite good. But there are no menacing shadows, nor are there other elements that create spine-tingling suspense. Casting is acceptable, as is most of the acting. Prod design is more detailed here than in other Chan films.In addition to lack of suspense, another problem is the presence of some filler scenes involving number 2 son Jimmy Chan. I suppose he's included for comic relief. But he overacts. And I find him annoying.Jimmy Chan aside, "Charlie Chan In Rio" makes for a pleasant way to spend an hour, as the production values and story are pretty good.

Almost all the Chan movies made by 20th Century-Fox starring Sidney Tolier were well-made films. Indeed, Fox made extremely few under-par movies in the 1930-1960 era. This one is the exception. The good news is that it's on a double DVD with Dead Men Tell, a much better Chan movie.Nothing effective is done to make anything or anyone in the movie look Brazilian or anything like Rio. Sets look very much like Los Angeles and everybody looks like main street Americans. There is one musical night club number using false-Latin music, just annoying. Also, no reason is hinted at as to why Honolulu based Chan and Number 2 Son are in Rio. Flying Pan Am to South America in 1941 cost an arm and a leg, not for casual travel by humble detectives.Unlike the great majority of Chan films, the mystery was clumsily tossed together and will interest only hard core murder fans. Just nothing clever for Chan to work on.So, OK, male viewers can gawk at the selection of female suspects; pretty boring bunch. But Hu Wong as Lilly certainly caught my eye. She made few films, but was better in Charlie Chan in Reno and Alan Ladd's China.The majority of viewers scored this one as 10. Even hard core fans ought not dishonor the great Chan by labeling this weak effort as Excellent.

in Rio, but a really well thought out Chan film. A very interesting and familiar array of characters.One can almost feel the breeze coming in off the S.Atlantic.One of the better films for Jimmy Chan (Victor Sen Yung).It's easy to watch over again.