A lot of fun.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Based on the last quarter of an actual Earl Derr Biggers' novel, namely "Charlie Chan Carries On", this re-make, Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940), very capably directed by Eugene Forde, is also a delight, particularly in its 76-minutes Australian release version which Fox has now made available to American viewers for the first time ever. The movie was cut to 70 minutes for both its original USA release and its American TV airings. Oddly, the cuts were made in the dramatic scenes. All the comedy remained intact, with the result that the film's cleverly engineered pacing was destroyed. Virgil Miller's atmospheric low-key photography is a stand-out as usual, and the support cast includes such favorites as Lionel Atwill, Leo G. Carroll and Kay Linaker. To judge from the surviving Spanish version, this is a much more exciting film than the original Charlie Chan Carries On (1931), even though it is missing two of that film's best scenes.

Charlie Chan hustles a whole passel of suspects aboard their cruise ship, knowing one of them is a murderer. He risks his life by staying aboard himself. At least that's what suspect Leo G. Carroll tells him—to which Chan replies, "Life has been risked for jewels far less valuable than friendship."An old friend has been murdered right in Lieutenant Chan's office, and Chan takes it as a personal challenge. The clues all point to some member of a round-the-world cruise as the murderer…but which one?A great assortment of the usual suspects keeps this Chan mystery moving along nicely. Besides archaeologist Leo Carroll, there's Cora Witherspoon, a dizzy rich lady; Marjorie Reynolds, her secretary; Robert Lowery, handsome and suddenly wealthy nephew of a second murder victim; and Charles Middleton and Claire Du Brey as a weird couple who do séances. Cruise leader Lionel Atwill wants the whole story kept out of the papers—and how suspicious a character is he? Mr. Chan is assisted in his investigation by number two son Jimmy Chan, played with energy and style by Sen Yung, who gets a couple of laughs but plays it mostly straight. Sidney Toler is excellent as Mr. Chan; very much at the center of the action, his confidence and timing are superb. The suspects snap at Mr. Chan, bite at each other, make their noise…and Chan just keeps that little smile on his face, polite, slightly mocking, letting them have their say, waiting for someone to make a mistake…. An exciting and clever climax tops this one off and clinches it as a top notch series entry.

The killer in this story appears to be a beggar, a person with a white beard, glasses, black pointy hat, and black coat. The beggar relates in some way to one of some ten suspects. In actual practice, there are about six or seven genuine suspects, since a few of them can be easily ruled out."Murder Cruise" is one of the better films in the Charlie Chan series. Production values trend above average. And the B&W lighting is quite effective.My only real complaint is the film's plot. At a certain point, the viewer can fairly easily identify the killer, despite the fact that the underlying mystery is complex and clever. It's one of those whodunits wherein the murderer is relatively easy to spot, but the motive and underlying story are rather opaque. A slight change in the plot could have prolonged the suspense a bit longer.The story's ending is amusingly hokey. The killer tries to strangle one last victim, and the woman screams and screams. Rather than killing her quickly, the murderer talks to her long enough for the police and Charlie Chan to arrive in time to save her.Despite a plot that is a bit too revealing too soon, "Murder Cruise" is an enjoyable whodunit. If only all the Charlie Chan movies were this high in quality. In the words of Charlie Chan ... "Thank you so much".

Unlike many of the Charlie Chan films, this one had quite a few excellent actors in supporting roles. Among the stellar cast are Charles Middleton, Lionel Atwill and Leo G. Carroll, so already at the outset this film had a big advantage. Fortunately, this is not all it had going for it, as the plot was exceptional--making it among the best of the Sidney Toler films about the great fictional detective.The film is set mostly aboard a cruise ship where, naturally, a murder occurs. A detective investigating a strangling maniac is killed and naturally other murders occur throughout the film. What makes this interesting, though, is that the murders vary and several times 'red herrings' are tossed in to confuse the viewer. Much of the reason this worked well is that unlike the average Chan film, this one is about ten minutes longer--and so the audience naturally thinks the film is finished when there are still a couple surprises to come. As a result, you can't help but see this film as a notch above the typical B detective series film.