A handful of men are involved in a kind of pact, a multiple partnership, in which they've pooled some of their money to be divided later. If one dies, his part stays in the pool. Don't ask me for details. I understand that similar arrangements are common among the traditional Chinese but that's as far as I go.
A member of the pact is shot to death while feeding his canary. The inspector, Basil Sydney, and his sergeant, Alistair Sims, rush to the house and call the other pact members to gather there. Everyone is hectored by one of those ambitious and impudent young reporters looking for a scoop. In this instance it's Judy Gunn, a cute blond. One by one, the other pact members are shot at or picked off. Sydney is at his wit's end trying to keep up with the fast-moving events as shots ring out and people dash through doors.
It's all very talky and stagy. There appear to be about four sets. Of course, this is 1935. The British film industry isn't exactly prospering. (One scene takes place in a movie studio and the director is clearly an American.) And of course, budget limitations aside, no one expects elaborate computer-generated images, Squibbs, or other special effects.
Despite the rushing around, the result is a rather static film in which murders are unraveled in a routine way. Slow it all down, replace Basil Sydney and Alistair Sim with Sidney Toler and Key Luke, and you've got "Charlie Chan and the Secret Pact."
Yet it's not without its felicities. They're subtle but clever. Sydney is irritated at the constant distractions of Judy Gunn so he handcuffs her to a banister for a few minutes. As he's releasing her, she says, "You ARE taking me to dinner, aren't you?" Not a chance. "That's fine," she snaps. "You give a girl a bracelet and then won't take her to dinner. I'm compromised." Quick cut to the same couple smiling at one another over a cafeteria buffet. "How about a sweet?", asks Sydney. Well, I found it cute, given all the stale conversation. "Aye -- three murders." "And the answer to it all is somewhere in this house."
Alistair Sim does a good number on his Scottish accent. Keep an eye open for Tom Helmore. He was Kim Novak's murderous husband, Gavin Elster, in Hitchcock's "Vertigo."
A member of the pact is shot to death while feeding his canary. The inspector, Basil Sydney, and his sergeant, Alistair Sims, rush to the house and call the other pact members to gather there. Everyone is hectored by one of those ambitious and impudent young reporters looking for a scoop. In this instance it's Judy Gunn, a cute blond. One by one, the other pact members are shot at or picked off. Sydney is at his wit's end trying to keep up with the fast-moving events as shots ring out and people dash through doors.
It's all very talky and stagy. There appear to be about four sets. Of course, this is 1935. The British film industry isn't exactly prospering. (One scene takes place in a movie studio and the director is clearly an American.) And of course, budget limitations aside, no one expects elaborate computer-generated images, Squibbs, or other special effects.
Despite the rushing around, the result is a rather static film in which murders are unraveled in a routine way. Slow it all down, replace Basil Sydney and Alistair Sim with Sidney Toler and Key Luke, and you've got "Charlie Chan and the Secret Pact."
Yet it's not without its felicities. They're subtle but clever. Sydney is irritated at the constant distractions of Judy Gunn so he handcuffs her to a banister for a few minutes. As he's releasing her, she says, "You ARE taking me to dinner, aren't you?" Not a chance. "That's fine," she snaps. "You give a girl a bracelet and then won't take her to dinner. I'm compromised." Quick cut to the same couple smiling at one another over a cafeteria buffet. "How about a sweet?", asks Sydney. Well, I found it cute, given all the stale conversation. "Aye -- three murders." "And the answer to it all is somewhere in this house."
Alistair Sim does a good number on his Scottish accent. Keep an eye open for Tom Helmore. He was Kim Novak's murderous husband, Gavin Elster, in Hitchcock's "Vertigo."