User Reviews

In a break from the typical Chan pattern Charlie is aide by his daughter this time. Interestingly he treats much better than he he ever did any of his boys.

This concerns a murder at a seance and more following. Its far from the best of the Chans, but at the same time its far from the worst, especially in light of there not being a son to get into mischief. Its the atypical nature that lifts it up from being a purely run of the mill story. Granted if you've not seen a good number of the Chan films the small differences may not seem like much, but for those of us who've seen every appearance its the little things that count.

7 out of 10 for those looking for a break in the Chan formula, 6 out of 10 for everyone else.

This late-entry Charlie Chan movie gets marks simply for the entertainment, not for a deep-thinking suspenseful "whodunnit." It's just fun to watch with an always-smiling daughter (played by Frances Chen) replacing number-whatever-son and the eyes-popping-out-of-the-head Mantan Moreland adding humor, although of his humor is a bit stupid (and insulting to black folks, I'm sure). However, Moreland is a likable guy so it's hard to get annoyed at his silliness.

The story is a familiar one of the day, about the occult (seances) and, thankfully, another that exposes the mediums as crooks.

These Sidney Toler-Mantan Moreland collaborations, as opposed to the early Warner Oland/Charlie Chan movies, replied more on comedy and gimmicks rather than brains, and once you accept that, you just go along with an entertaining hour of lamebrain fun, especially when Chan starts to put people down with his sarcasm.

This installment of the Chan series is more light-hearted than many, with daughter Frances replacing her brothers in the family sidekick roll, and Birmingham Brown getting a lot of screen time. The séance is another of the classic murder mystery settings used in the series - for the second time, in fact. The complaints by other reviewers about Frances Chan's acting boggle the mind - she's an appealing character, and this ain't Shakespeare, folks. It's nice to have the woman's - or girl's - touch in the series, and Sidney Toler is more affectionate towards her than to sons one and two. Hypnosis and plastic surgery are overworked gimmicks in mysteries, but hey, this is B-movie-land. Mantan Moreland is given plenty of time to clown, and he does his usual great job of it. Yes, he plays the fool, but no more so than my beloved Three Stooges, and folks, they were as white as you can get. If you can't see the difference between Stepin Fetchit and Mantan Moreland, that's a you problem.

Considering it was made in a few weeks with a minimal budget, this Chan was a fun hour of entertainment. Charlie is Charlie - one step ahead of the police he helps - Frances is a breath of fresh air, and Birmingham entertains with his comic acting. Black Magic is exactly what it set out to be - not Citizen Kane, and not trying to be.

Average Monogram Chan potboiler, in the Mongram House with some of the Monogram staff - but then, I've always liked this one! The surviving print (in Chanthology) is in excellent condition, lending a nice overall atmosphere to the proceedings and helping a lot in following the story. One of the things that always makes me smile watching Monogram's is that the plots usually involve dispensing with some or a lot of accepted social conventions - they weren't meant to be analysed and mulled over decades later. In this Moreland and Frances Chan are in and out of the house like yo-yo's, and creeping all over the place unseen - it wasn't their house but as in a lot of Monogram's you weren't supposed to dwell on ownership issues which obstructed juvenile frisson or slapstick.

At a séance a man is apparently shot dead with what turns out to be an invisible bullet, as Charlie jocularly puts it. The quest is on to find out which of the clients around the table did it and how. The way in which Charlie solved it is depressingly familiar and trite, but everything was wrapped up nicely anyway. As usual Moreland was acting scared witless, in fact with "gremlins galloping up and down his spine" this time - a fantastic image! Frances Chan couldn't act very well but she certainly looked like she was enjoying the experience of making a movie with her constant smiles - her sunny disposition seemed to be rubbing off on Toler too who was enjoying his own aphorisms more than ever.

Overall, nice to watch once in a while especially in a Chan season. And I prefer big shoes to big corns.

Not one of the best in the Charlie Chan series, but still good. Charlie is now seen with is daughter, played by Frances Chan. Unfortunately, she doesn't knows how to act. Her character is not too inspiring either. But Birmingham Brown, played by Mantan Moreland, brings fun to the screen! He sees spooks all around and never wants to be involved... but always is: "this is strictly a private murder to which I wasn't invited". Once again, he makes us laugh with his gimmicks.

74/100 (**½)

Seen at home, in Welland, November 24th, 2001. And again at home, in Toronto, on February 14th, 2007.

Nervous and bug-eyed Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) "assists" Charlie Chan and his daughter at the murder investigation in the home of a woman who has a séance business. During one of her sessions, a man is killed, and one of six people at the séance table appears to be the murderer.

Moreland was a great comic actor with tons of talent, and he is one of two reasons to watch this film. The other reason is the high-contrast B&W lighting, that reminds me of some 1940's noir films.

Other than Moreland and the film's lighting, "Black Magic" has little to offer. With a runtime of just 67 minutes the story is razor thin and poorly developed, suggestive of a sketchy, hastily written screenplay. There are several plot holes, and the killer's modus operandi is rather far-fetched.

As in many Chan movies, production design is minimal. And the sets here are a little too familiar. The entry hall in the séance house looks exactly like the entry hall used in the Chan movie "The Jade Mask". And the elevator set here looks like the elevator set used in the Chan movie "The Scarlet Clue". But Monogram Studios had the reputation for being cheap. And in this film ... it shows.

Even so, I can see how this film might have appealed to viewers in the 1940s, particularly as a Saturday afternoon matinée feature. In its time it probably was delightfully entertaining and a welcome diversion from the grim business of WWII.

I must confess a rather soft spot in my movie heart for the Chan(as well as Wong and Moto) mysteries of the 30's and 40's. They have some great stories to tell, inventive if not too logical puzzles to solve, some gifted supporting acting in most cases, and a friendly kind of spirit inflamed within. They also have some poor, wooden performances, harbor some of the most offensive stereotypes of OUR day, and seem hurriedly put together at times. Charlie Chan and the Meeting at Midnight(version which I saw) has qualities both with negative charges and positive. Sidney Toler always does a nice, wry job of playing Honoloulou's #1 detective, though I much prefer Warner Oland. This vehicle for Toler seems to be rather substandard. I'll chalk that up as it was made by Monogram. The story is a bit too far-fetched about a couple being killed...one at a séance table by a bullet that disappeared. The story of the bullet was intriguing, but some loose ends were not tied all too convincingly for me. No #1 son or #2 son or even #3 son here. We get Frances Chan(both her character's name and her name in real life). Frances plays Charlie's #1 daughter. Plays may be a bit generous as her performance certainly was wooden. Mantan Moreland is back as Birmingham Brown. I know he caught a lot of flack later in his life for his portrayals of being scared and so forth, but, for me, he is easily the best thing in this movie. All his gags don't work, but he keeps trying. Moreland was a natural comic presence and he should be viewed as such. Period. Not a bad Chan film but by no means one of the better ones.

The newer films were filled with more silliness. Mantan Moreland became more and more a part of the series. While he was a very funny man, he really only played one note. In this one, a psychic is shot while performing a phony séance. Chan's daughter happens to be at the event and that's how Charlie ends up on the case. The police actually extort him into staying and solving the murder. Mantan, Birmingham Jones, and the daughter are the real investigators. There is a kind of hypnotic drug used and once again we must put aside our beliefs and accept this. Part of the fun is the chicanery that goes on behind the scenes as the credibility of the medium comes tumbling down. I have to admit that our detective has numerous close calls but seems to land on his feet. If you've seen the movie, you'll know how important this is in this film. About average as Chan movies go.

How do you shoot someone with no gun and no bullets? That's the mystery Charlie Chan has to solve in Black Magic (a.k.a. Meeting at Midnight). Helping him (sort of) are his assistant Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland), and for a change, his number one daughter (played by Frances Chan?). William and Justine Bonner make a living holding seances, where people can "contact" their recently departed loved ones. During one of these seances, William Bonner (Dick Gordon) is shot. Yet there is no gunshot and no bullet, only a bloodstain on his shirt. But our killer has more than one way of disposing of his victims. When Charlie finds one of the woman at the seance, Norma Duncan (Helen Beverly) in a deep trance, he suspects foul play. Consulting with police lab chemist Dawson (Edward Erle), he finds she was given a drug which will make a victim do anything her killer suggests. However, there is an antidote, which Dawson gives Charlie. All of this comes too late to save Justine Bonner (Jacqueline DeWit), however, who, under the influence of the drug, jumps off the roof of a building when told to do so by the killer. Charlie himself is kidnapped and forced to take the drug, but tricks the killer and takes the antidote as well. He comes to his senses standing on the ledge of the same building.

This is the best Chan movie I have seen among the Monograms. It has a strong storyline which rivals anything that Fox ever did. The acting is poor, but Monogram didn't have the money to hire great character actors.

Of course, it's also got something to offend everyone. Mantan Moreland was a talented comedian, but his performance will not endear himself to many black people. If they appeared in movies at all, black actors could only play butlers and porters, and the actresses were maids. An unwritten rule of the 30's and 40's was that black men all had to be afraid of their own shadow. Mantan is no exception, fearful of being attacked by spooks, and snapping his fingers to try and disappear.

Charlie Chan is perhaps the ultimate Asian stereotype, the inscrutable but always-polite Chinaman. But even in the Fox films there is racism. In Charlie Chan At the Opera, Charlie receives a message in Chinese. Dumb detective William Demerest: "What's that? A laundry list?" The fact that Charlie is bilingual in English and Chinese has no value. But Chan gets the last laugh in the end, solving the crime while the other detectives remain clueless.

Monogram was considered "the lowest of the low" among Hollywood studios. A director could put fear into many an actor's heart by threatening to sell his or her contract to Monogram. (When it happened to Lauren Bacall at Warner's, the story goes, she ran to Humphrey Bogart in tears.) Along with bad acting, you're going to see some extremely cheap sets. But if you can ignore all this and watch it for what it is, a 40's B-picture, you will enjoy it.

Okay, I must admit that I generally DO like B-movies and series films from the 1940s. I like to watch The Falcon, The Saint, Sherlock Holmes and even Charlie Chan--they are escapist fun. Predictable and occasionally poorly written? Sure,...but still fun. So, despite my love for the genre, I am still in complete shock that so many people gave this ordinary little film a 10 on IMDb!! Come on, people, this is NOT "high art" or even an especially memorable film and the IMDb ratings become irrelevant if such a film is given ridiculously inflated scores! I would really LOVE to know what scores the people that give this movie a 10 gave to OTHER films. Do they give them all 10s or are they scoring films like GONE WITH THE WIND, BEN HUR, CHARIOTS OF FIRE or ORDINARY PEOPLE with lower scores?! I'm just dying to know.

Okay, as for the movie itself, it's pretty much what you'd expect from a later Charlie Chan movie from Mongram Studios. Unlike the original Chan movies (which featured higher production values, better scripts and Warner Oland), this movie was made by a "Poverty Row" studio (Monogram)--known for exceptionally low budgets and a quick turnaround on the films (completing many in just days--regardless of the aesthetics). While a little more interesting because of its plot involving phony psychics and mind control as well as an unusual appearance by one of Chan's daughters instead of the ubiquitous #1, 2 or 3 son, it is still an essentially low-budget formulaic film. And, as usual, Chan is supported by the moronic antics of Mantan Moreland--a Black actor sure to offend many modern viewers due to his stereotypical characterization (as a scared and rather dim-witted Black man as "comic relief"). Despite this MAJOR problem with all the Monogram films, I try to overlook it and understand it was typical of the 1940s (sadly). The film, while occasionally very interesting, isn't well-written or produced and probably will satisfy Chan fans but fail to convince others of the merits of the series.

Loosely based on novels by Earl Derr Biggers, 20th Century Fox's Charlie Chan series proved an audience favorite--but when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the studio feared audiences would turn against its Asian hero. This was a miscalculation: actor Sidney Toler took the role to "poverty row" Monogram Studios, where he continued to portray the character in eleven more popular films made between 1944 and his death in 1947.

20th Century Fox had regarded the Chan films as inexpensive "B" movies, but even so the studio took considerable care with them: the plots were often silly, but the pace was sharp, the dialogue witty, and the casts (which featured the likes of Bela Lugosi and Ray Milland) always expert. The result was a kindly charm which has stood the test of time. Monogram was a different matter: Chan films were "B" movies plain and simple. Little care was taken with scripts or cast and resulting films were flat, mediocre at best, virtually unwatchable at worst.

Released in 1944, MEETING AT MIDNIGHT (also known as BLACK MAGIC) is often described as one of the best Chan films made at Monogram--but the term "best" is comparative. It is certainly better than such Monogram Chan films as THE TRAP, but it is a far cry from the 20th Century Fox films of the 1930s. Although it has a running time of little more than a hour, it drags; the plot is profoundly unoriginal; the dialogue is not in the least memorable; and the cast, for the most part, is merely marking time.

The story concerns a spiritualist whose séance draws Chan's daughter Frances--who finds herself a witness to murder when the medium dies under very suspicious circumstances. In order to spare his daughter any unpleasantness, Chan agrees to take the case and soon uncovers fraud, strange drugs, hypnosis, wire-rigged skeletons, and a revenge murder plot. It is always nice to see Sidney Toler reprise Chan, but in truth he is less entertaining than Mantan Moreland, who played Chan's nervous servant in the Monogram films; although changing times have led us to look upon his performances as demeaning to African-Americans, he was an expert comic, and taken within the context of the era his performances have a certain innocent likability.

Fans of the 20th Century Fox series are likely to find Monogram's Chan a significant disappointment and newcomers who like the Monogram films will probably consider them third-rate after encountering the Fox films. Like other Monogram Chan films, MEETING AT MIDNIGHT is best left to determined collectors. Three stars, and that's being generous.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

This is my eighth review of a Charlie Chan movie in series chronological order on these consecutive days. In this one, someone is murdered during a séance of which one of the witnesses is Chan's daughter, Frances (Frances Chan). Oh, and the newly hired butler is one Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland)...So instead of one of his adult sons, here Charlie is assisted by his lovely daughter who doesn't get any wisecracks aimed at her unlike her sometimes bumbling brothers, just compliments on her beauty and brains (though hearing the actress occasionally repeat others' lines can be somewhat annoying). With the mystery treated a little more serious here then the previous one called The Chinese Cat, Moreland's antics are also not as frequent but you still get plenty of it in the beginning and the end. As I've said before, his characterization borders on a stereotype that wouldn't do in today's social atmosphere but if you just think of him as a harmless clown that wouldn't hurt anybody, his shenanigans should be amusing enough. Anyway, I highly enjoyed Black Magic (or Meeting at Midnight), and if you love Charlie Chan, you'll probably enjoy this. P.S. Ms. Frances Chan actually appeared as the youngest Chan daughter in a previous entry, now considered lost, called Charlie Chan's Greatest Case. And supporting player Geraldine Wall-who's Harriet Green here-is another one in these series entries I'd like to cite as being born in my birthtown of Chicago, Ill. and that she was originally cast as Dolly Tate in the movie version of Annie Get Your Gun when Judy Garland was cast (in fact, I have a CD of the soundtrack album with her voice tracks on maybe one or two songs) but was replaced by Benay Venuta when Betty Hutton replaced Ms. Garland.

This is mostly a routine Charlie Chan mystery with only a couple of points in its favor. While there are a couple of interesting clues to the crime, the characters, dialogue, and action are all stereotyped or dated, and often dull. The beginning seems to hold some possibilities: a man is murdered at a seance, and although he was apparently shot, no trace of the bullet can be found. The police are baffled, and of course call in Charlie Chan to solve the crime. Charlie is assisted this time not by one of his sons, but by his daughter Frances. Unfortunately, it never really takes off from there.

The phony medium setting offers some opportunities for comedy, but most of those do not work too well. The climax has a bit of suspense to it, and the eventual solution has a couple of creative points in it, but there are a lot of listless stretches to sit through before you can get there.

Overall, "Meeting at Midnight" (or, "Charlie Chan in Black Magic") is not one of the better mystery films around.

"Black Magic" or "Meeting at Midnight" from 1944 is a Charlie Chan film from a Poverty Row studio, Monogram. It's pretty good and definitely fun, as it involves séances. There is a lot of opportunity for floating skulls, disembodied voices, and dead apparitions.

En route back to Honolulu after a vacation, Charlie (Sidney Toler) decides to get involved with a murder when his daughter Frances (Frances Chan) is going to be detained unless he helps. The murder victim is a psychic medium, shot during the séance. Alas, there is no gun or bullet found on the premises.

There are no Chan sons this time, only Frances Chan, an attractive young woman and bad actress who did a lot of smiling throughout the film. Mantan Moreland is back as Birmingham, hilarious as usual. The story has a neat twist, and for what it is, it's enjoyable.

'Black Magic' otherwise known as 'Meeting at Midnight' is yet another 1940's Charlie Chan B-movie produced by B-studio Monogram Pictures.

This time around Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates a seemingly impossible murder at a Seance, one where his daughter Frances (Frances Chan) is attending and also his friend & Chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) has just started a new job as a Butler leaving them both as suspects along with many of the others at the Seance table.

The DVD case which I bought says that 'Black Magic' is regarded as one of the best Chan Movies of the series..Not quite sure whether they include the 20th Century Fox produced episodes which I haven't yet seen or merely the Monogram produced ones.

Having seen a few of the Monogram Produced Episodes now, I have to agree that 'Black Magic' is probably the best that I've seen so far, The Acting and dialogue is better and not so stilted, there is also more Comedy than in previous Chan episodes of the Monogram era, some of it again rather distasteful especially portraying African American Moreland as an Idiot for laughs.

The budget is still low, and the production is still rather creaky but again you have to expect it from a B-Studio, just take it for what it is and you should Enjoy.

There is a lot of grumbling by some Chan fans that the Monogram films were cheap and inferior. That is nonsense! The Monogram films had a much lower budget than the Fox films, but they are still very entertaining.

Mr. Toler does his usual outstanding job of portraying Charlie Chan in this movie. He underplays beautifully, and the viewer can enjoy watching the master detective at work.

A daughter of the Chan family figures in this outing. She has charm though she also comes across as not a polished actress. Mantan Moreland adds much enjoyment to the picture. The gruff police sergeant is good and convincing. All fans of the Chan movies should be so grateful that Monogram made these pictures possible for us to see and appreciate.

What makes this Charlie Chan movie the best of the Monogram series? Well, there's a decent cast for a change, some nice atmosphere and supernatural elements to the story, and the lovable Frances Chan as Charlie's daughter of the same name. The plot is about a murder at a séance that Frances is present at. Charlie is reluctant to investigate but the police force him to by holding his daughter as a witness until the case is solved.

Frances Chan is such a breath of fresh air for this series, which has been stagnant since it left Fox. She's a welcome relief from Benson Fong's Tommy Chan, who was a lackluster replacement for Jimmy Chan. Like Jimmy (and Lee before him), Frances has lots of charisma and an enthusiasm that is missing from the dull Benson Fong. In addition to this, she's very pretty and has a smile that brightens every scene. She really is a treat to watch. Sadly, this was her only Chan film, proving that Monogram didn't know what the hell it was doing.

It's not all good in this one, however. We still have bug-eyed Mantan Moreland with his double takes and "feets don't fail me now" nonsense. The plot here involves séances and ghosts so, of course, this means lots of stereotypical cowardly black man stuff from Moreland. If you're easily offended, this will probably give you conniptions. Personally, I don't care for Moreland's routine even beyond the dated offensive aspects of it. He's very much a walking cartoon with no subtlety or range. He seems like a nice guy but he just doesn't make me laugh. One thing I will say, though, is that in some scenes Frances Chan is clearly amused by Moreland and her smile is so infectious it actually made me enjoy some of his scenes.

Like I said, this is the best of the Monogram Chans. If they had kept Frances around, perhaps the series would have been better overall. Of course, getting rid of Moreland would help a lot too. As it is, it's a good B picture that fans will enjoy. If you're new to Charlie Chan, though, please start with the Fox movies first. Preferably the ones with Warner Oland.

This is yet another low budget Monogram Chan film. I find this to be a dismal attempt to try to re-capture the feeling of earlier films like "Charlie Chan's Secret". It involves seances and a far-fetched plot. In this one, Charlie is assisted by a daughter, Frances, rather than one of his sons. It doesn't add much. The original title, "Black Magic", was later changed to "Meeting at Midnight", perhaps so it wouldn't be confused with the Orson Welles film titled "Black Magic" released in 1949.

It all starts with Birmingham Brown taking over a new job as a butler at the home of a couple who holds psychic séances; and Charlie's pretty daughter Frances attends the séance that is just being held as well; and on top of it all, in the middle of the 'summoning' of a spirit, Mr. Bonner, the spiritualist, is shot dead... So, since his daughter is involved, Charlie takes over the case, of course - this time with female family help (and, like all fathers, he's much less strict with her as he is with his sons...); and very soon, some queer facts come to light: not only is there no gun found, but no bullet is found in the body either!

Now, we've got of course a nice lot of suspects who were present at the séance, and who've all got something to hide as it turns out: two of them were being blackmailed by the 'spiritualist', another one's father committed suicide because Bonner had ruined his business; and there's always the fatal question asked during the fatal séance: 'What happened in London on the night of October 5th, 1935?' Sounds pretty creepy already - but it DOES get even better: Mrs. Bonner, like hypnotized, walks from the edge of a rooftop to her death, then another one of the suspects-victims is being hypnotized and almost killed - and finally, Charlie is kidnapped, given a drug and hypnotized himself into walking to the edge of the roof of that same building that Mrs. Bonner fell from...

This entry in the 'Charlie Chan' movies may - from a technical point of view - not be one of the best works; but it CERTAINLY gives true fans of Charlie Chan the creeps, seeing their hero being under the spell of a ruthless murderer with hypnotic powers... And Sidney Toler certainly gives one of his VERY best performances here, too! The change to a daughter assisting Charlie for once also works very nicely, Mantan Moreland is hilariously funny as always; and the screenplay sure is one of George Callahan's best, containing a MOST unusual forensic explanation for the missing bullets... A MUCH underrated Charlie Chan mystery which will thrill fans of the genre to the core!

Like a lot of the Charlie Chan films that were filmed by Monogram Studios in the 1940's this short running (67 minutes)film is very low budget. Despite this, it is still a fun movie, mostly due to the comic shenanigans of Mantan Morland who played Charlie Chan's servant Birmingham Brown in several of the Charlie Chan movies. Morland was a comic genius and his bug eyed, cowardly portrayal helps add some much needed comic relief to this film.

Sidney Toler, back again as Charlie Chan, had his role down pat in this, his 14th time to portray the genial Chinese detective on screen. Unlike some of the other Chan movies he doesn't have one of his sons working with him, but his daughter Frances, portrayed by the appropriately named actress Frances Chan. Although Frances is obviously not an experienced actress, I still like her portrayal, she is obviously having a ball and her smiling persona is hard not to like.

Frances attends a séance at a house run by 2 phony mediums, Justine and William Bonner. Mr. Bonner is shot during the séance and everyone who is attending the séance, including Frances, become suspects. Being the daughter of the famous detective comes in handy as Charlie begins to investigate the crime to clear his beloved daughter's name. Mantan Morland is on the scene having being hired by the Bonners to clean and run their household and his scaredy cat act is hilarious to watch. I love this movie despite it's cheap sets and silly plot. If you are a Charlie Chan fan you need to see this, and if not, watch it to see Mantan Morland.