Such a frustrating disappointment

hyped garbage

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I thought THE MANDARIN MYSTERY was a rather middling murder mystery with a good premise and weak story progress. The film features the character of master detective Ellery Queen himself as he hunts for a priceless Chinese stamp that a murderer has got his hands on.The early parts of this thriller are a locked room murder mystery which is portrayed in an interesting way. Unfortunately, the rest of the film has a sluggish pace and a strictly ordinary denouement. Eddie Quillan can't make much of the leading role and the supporting characters are too clichéd to be really believable. The film has a lightness of touch which works in its favour but is too bogged down with romance and peripheral character play to really be entertaining.

This adaptation of an Ellery Queen mystery concerns the theft of a rare Chinese stamp (the Mandarin of the title), which takes place in a hotel with several shifty characters and an hysterical manager (the priceless Franklin Pangborn). The mystery, such as it is, concerns both the stamp theft and two murders, and shows Ellery and his father the Inspector as a team rubbing together just enough to solve the case.As Ellery Queen, Eddie Quillan is all wrong - he was more at home in light comedy and musicals, and this is the way he plays the character. As the heroine/chief suspect, Charlotte Henry (only remembered nowadays as 'Alice in Wonderland') isn't too bad, while others who have some impact in the cast include Rita Le Roy and Kay Hughes as sisters, and Wade Boteler as Queen senior.

Eddie Quillan was an odd choice to play the lead in this detective film because he was essentially a small smart-allecky little pip-squeak--not the brilliant or studly hero you'd expect to see in this type of film. Because of this, the film certainly IS unusual. The problem is that even with this novel portrayal, the film isn't all that interesting or well-done. At best it's a mediocre time-passer and not the equal of other series detective B-films from the period. For my time, I would much rather watch a Charlie Chan, Saint or Sherlock Holmes film--they seemed to have better production values and writing as well as a leading man that was more likable. Sorry,...I just didn't particularly care for this film.Oh, and by the way, there is no such thing as the Chinese Mandarin stamp that is worth a fortune--this was made up for the film.

Nice little mystery, with a good deal of comedy mixed in. Eddie Quillan is not my favorite Ellery Queen, but he has an interesting twist to the character. I though Wade Boteler did a great job as Inspector Queen and Franklin Pangborn did a great job as comic relief as Mellish, the hotel manager.Overall, a nice film, I was quite pleased with it.