Strong and Moving!

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

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Directed by Harry Lachman this is another entry in the Sidney Toler series of Charlie Chan films concerning a divided treasure map, a planned trip to a remote island, a ghost of a pirate and a couple of murders solved of course by Charlie Chan with the doubtful help of his number two son, Jimmy. The story is not much really, the usual red herrings, but it satisfies. What is really good are the excellent detailed sets and the atmospheric black and white photography. Some of the framing is gorgeous to look at, thanks to Charles G. Clarke, cinematographer. Sidney Toler is fine as always as the quotable Chan and Sen Yung as son Jimmy has an active time in support. The running gag of him falling into water amused me. The rest of the cast are adequate. It does definitely benefit from having the easily recognisable Milton Parsons as Gene LaFarge, whose unique voice and features add greatly to the entertainment.Another solid movie in the series.

A ship is going on a trip to find a treasure. A lady had a treasure map, cut it in four pieces and sent them to 3 different people invited to this treasure hunt trip. Later she dies on the ship frightened to death by someone she thinks is from the pirates curse. Chan's son sneaks on the boat he wants to go on this treasure hunt. Later his father comes looking for him. Chan's son is supposed to call the police about the death of the woman on the ship,he tells a reporter to do it who does not.He then goes into a bar looking for someone with a wooden leg and trips over a guy with a wooden leg. Chan's son is so funny he gets into all kinds of trouble thinking he is so smart. He ends up in the water a lot. He blind folds himself and tell a man he can walk a straight line anywhere. Not nothing the man takes the chain off of a plank and Jimmy Chan walks straight almost to the end of the plank above the water. When he takes the blindfold off he gets scared by what he sees and falls in the water.Someone on board is scaring the others pretending to be Black Hook, a pirate with a hook for a hand and a wooden leg who left scratch marks on the door with his hook where the woman died. Strange music starts playing when danger is expected. People start getting killed and someone is trying to collect all the pieces of the treasure map.George Reeves/Superman is in this young and handsome. There is also a thin man who looks nuts and comes on board with a doctor to get rid of some of his fears. His name is Milton Parsons and he plays Gene LaFarge. He is also funnyNice mystery most of the passengers have a reason to knock everybody off.

***SPOILERS*** Our hero Charlie Chan, Sidney Toler, gets involved in this murder case when his bumbling #2 Son Jimmy, Sen Young, gets himself involved in a treasure hunt by sneaking on the ship "Suva Star" that's taking a group of passengers to far off Cocos Island in the Caribbean. It's there at Cocos where 60 million in gold has been buried by pirate Black Hook Nodbury in the 18th century for safe keeping. Black Hook's descendant Patience Nodbury, Ethel Griffies, who's financing the treasure hunt had cut the map leading to the treasure into four pieces and sent it to the four persons who on on the trip. That so that none of then can have an advantage in finding it unless the four decide to put the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle. As for #2 Son Jimmy he's determined to find the treasure himself even though he wasn't invited on the cruse.Right for the start things go wrong before the ship "Suva Star" sets out to sea. With Mrs. Nodbury dropping dead from fright when she sees the long dead Black Hook Nodbury show up at her cabin waving his hook at her. Charlie who's only looking for his #2 son Jimmy ends up getting involved in solving Mrs. Nodbury's death as well as one of the passengers escaped murderer posing as a newspaper man Bill Lydig's, Gerorge Reeves, murder after he was found suffocated in a diving bell. ***SPOILERS**** With all the evidence now pointing to passengers psychoanalyst Dr. Anne Bonny, Lenita Lane, and her ultra neurotic patient Gene La Farge, Milton Parsons, who had earlier tried to get #2 Son Jimmy to walk blindfolded off the plank something else, out of left field, pops up to make to plot more interesting: Revenge!. Charlie finds out that the skipper of the "Suva Star" Capt. Kane, had taken advantage of the treasure hunt not to find the treasure but the person who some 20 years earlier tried to kill him and left him stranded on Cocos Island to die of starvation. Now with him in charge of the treasure hunt and his intended victim not knowing who he is Capt.Kane plans to pay back in spades!P.S As for #2 Son Jimmy he spent so many times falling or diving into the water that with all that experience he can easily qualify for the US Olympic diving team!

This is an often overlooked Chan film that deserves more attention! It is short at an hour running time. But it is loaded with great atmosphere and a good cast of interesting and eccentric characters. This is a good mystery and has many humorous parts, too. Sen Yung is quite good in this one. How can you get better than a ghost pirate named Black Hook on a treasure hunt? Another one that's lots of fun. TV Superman, George Reeves is in it too. This is one to see and see again!