In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This is fast, zippy, full of wisecracking reporters and cops, in the midst of whom Charlie Chan is a model of thoughtful decorum. The same can't be said for Number One Son who peeks through keyholes and rushes about frantically. It's the kind of movie in which New Yorkers get into tuxedos and evening dress and go to night spots with names like The Hottentot Club to watch a flamboyantly overdressed women with the dancing skills of a dog trained to stand on its hind legs prance around the floor to an avalanche of applause. Get a load of her, Boss! Say, she's a swell dish! I just made up those two remarks because the screenwriters were absent-minded enough to leave them out.A brassy woman knows too much about Mister Big but returns to New York and winds up dead, along with one or two others formerly living human beings. The plot has something to do with smuggling, too, and mixed-up hotel rooms. Oh, and theft -- if swiping a towel from a hotel is a crime, in which case you are all under arrest. I guess I am too because it occurs to me I have a towel from the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in Philadelphia hidden away with the rest of my loot.I haven't gotten to the climax yet so I don't know if Charlie Chan and Enumerated Son get to Broadway to see a show or not. It's half an hour before a serious infraction takes place but it's very busy before then anyway. It's hard to imagine that it gets much busier afterward.

Charlie (Warner Oland) and Number One Son (Keye Luke) investigate a murder at NYC's Hottentot Club. It's a standard whodunit, with half a dozen or so suspects.The problem with this film is that the story is rather slight. The film's runtime is only 68 minutes. And yet, most of the film's first half is filled with plot points that relate only in a peripheral way to the murder. There's the business about Charlie getting seasick aboard a ship. Later, Charlie and his son chop logic over a missing button. At the Hottentot, quite a bit of time is spent on a floor show consisting of a chorus line and a girl who engages in a lengthy dance. The murder investigation doesn't even begin until halfway into the film.The murder plot itself is only mildly interesting, and relates more to city mobsters than to anything having to do with "Broadway". Production design, however, is quite good, at least by Charlie Chan standards. The script is rather heavy on dialogue. And we have the usual Charlie Chan aphorisms.The identity of the murderer is not hard to figure out, owing to poor film direction. Some of Charlie's logic about who the murderer is, is not consistent with the film's plot. And there's very little suspense in this film.Except for the production design, especially at the Hottentot, I found this particular Charlie Chan mystery to be disappointing. The main weakness lies in a meager script that needed more character development and a larger, more complex story.

"excuse please," but this is a straight forward top notch mystery with no gimmicks involved. Much of the action takes place in the Hottentot Club and the only dance is of a tropical variety that is more reminiscent of Charlie Chan in Rio or Panama.Warner Oland is at the top of his game playing the famous Chinese detective. Keye Luke, as usual, is excellent. Harold Huber does a fine job as Inspector Nelson and proves less silly than we'd see in future films.This must be considered one of the best.

This is better than most of the Charlie Chan. It has number one son, Keye Luke. As usual, it has the right mood, but, it also has a plot that actually almost makes sense. It is possible to solve along with Charlie on this one. Definitely, see if you can figure out who did it along with Charlie.