Best movie of this year hands down!

best movie i've ever seen.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Review - Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat, released 5-20-44 Monogram Pictures Corporation The story begins with a murder we witness as the perpetrator slips through police. The title references a statue atop the desk of the murdered man, with a secret compartment containing a stolen diamond. The murdered man had taken the gem from his partner and was killed as a result of double-crossing the partner. Subsequent killings occur because the victims were going to reveal the guilty party names to authorities. There are multiple guilty members involved in the theft of certain gems, hidden in other artifacts famous for having compartments cleverly made by a friend of Charlie Chan. The famous detective is able to round up all the guilty parties with the help from able bodied assistants Tommy Chan and Birmingham Brown. Greed plays an important factor in the murders and the capture of the guilty. Watch how Charlie moves through the sea of bad characters with help from those he is closest. A damsel is distress comes to Charlie requesting help in exonerating her widowed mother from the clutches of a crooked step-father and his business partner. A self-appointed criminologist author has accused the widow of a crime without proof, baffling police in the process, and involving a certain Detective whose father Chan had known in another time and city. That certain detective comes to Charlie's rescue at the end of the story to learn how it is done by the best of crime fighters. A large home with a secret panel entrance and a fun house arcade are the two center stages shown in the film, with some hotel action as well. There are six guilty members, two that are killed, involved in the whole plot. See how it all unfolds culminating to be at the fun house with a thorough explanation provided by the master.

"The Chinese Cat" opens with a bang (literally), which soon turns into a snooze, as the film plods its way in the typical Monogram fashion. What gives it some distinction is that it plays more like a crime movie (with even Chan himself getting into some physical action) than a mystery, though there is one good clue: the last remaining piece on the chessboard. ** out of 4.

***SPOILERS*** Charlie Chan's, Sidney Toler, bumbling and skipping classes from UCLA #3 son Tommy, Benson Fong, gets his dad involved in the unsolved murder case of Thomas Manning in promising his step daughter Leah, who mistook him for Charlie, that he'll get on it right away. With tickets for a Cleveland Indian New York Yankee double-header at stake, thats to take place over the weekend at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, Charlie has to solve the case in 48 hours something the LAPD couldn't do in six months. Which as we on see turns out to be child's play for the great Hawaiian master detective Charlie Chan. It soon turns out that Manning's murder had to do with a stolen jewelry ring that his partner Harvey Dennis, Weldon Hayburn, was involved in. The fact that Charlie took on the case lead to Dennis himself being murdered which lead to a number of major complications.Charlie also gets himself roughed up by this gang of hoods lead by Bud Kaplan who wanted to get his hands on the diamond shipments that have been hidden, in mostly Chinese novelty shops, all over L.A proper. This lead to not only Dennis' murder but also the person who the police as well as Charlie felt was responsible for it the creepy looking Karl or was it Kurt Karzos, John Davidson. Helping Charlie in this case is the goo-goo eyed and overly hyped up taxi driver Birmingham Brown, Mantan Morland, who's only reason for being there was the $5.00 or better yet, without a tip, $4.80 that he forgot to take from Charlie in him stepping on the gas and taking off with his cab before he could pay him. Who from his previous experience, in Washington D.C, with Charlie wanted nothing to do with his any of his future murder investigations!***SPOILERS***As complicated as the plot was Charlie in the end, despite a few bumps and bruises, prevails as usual by not only solving Manning's murder but the two other murders, of Dennis & Karzos, that it lead to. Working against the clock with the Yankee-Indian double-header on the line Charlie was at his best in solving this very confusing multi murder case with the local police as usual providing the muscle. With Charlie doing all the brain work and by Charlie's #3 son Tommy by keeping his mouth shut, despite being brutally worked over by Kaplan's hoods, about his dad's plan of action until the police came to their rescue!

The second of Charlie Chan's Monogram Pictures finds Sidney Toler and number two son Benson Fong involved in a six month old homicide of a wealthy businessman and chess expert. As he dies the victim leaves the telltale clue of a lone bishop standing on the chessboard.What brings Charlie into the case is Joan Woodbury on behalf of her mother Betty Blythe who was married to the deceased. A new book written by Ian Keith is casting aspersions on Woodbury and Blythe and as the case remained unsolved for six months there's lots of room for speculation.Of course Keith has the facts all wrong and the case centers around a statue of a cat done by a noted artist who Charlie knows to put secret compartments in his product. That makes them useful for hiding things, stolen things.This also makes the second appearance of Mantan Moreland who was introduced in the first Monogram Chan feature, Charlie Chan In The Secret Service. No wonder Charlie Chan had to hire Birmingham as a chauffeur, Birmingham's cab gets blown up when the crooks think Charlie is getting too close.Fans of the series should appreciate it though when the series left 20th Century Fox and was picked up by Monogram, as Bob Hope would have said it was like exchanging filet mignon for hog's livers.