Reviews

Dumb, dumb, dumb This is not so much for this Chan film alone as for pretty much all of the Monogram Chan flicks that starred Sidney Toler. I enjoyed all 6 or seven of the original Charlie Chan novels by Biggers. And I like some of the Warner Oland entries, although they included a bit too much humor at times for my taste in mysteries. But these late movies are, for the most part, just plain stupid. And the stereotypical wide-eyed "frightened Negro" shenanigans of Mantan Moreland are repetitive to the point of perverse tediousness. I started collecting the movies after reading the books and I gotta say: I do enjoy low budget, low grade films sometimes for the simple pleasure and nostalgia they evoke. But these are not "so bad they're good" ~ they're just bad.

Just want to add my cheers for this film to the previous rater. Maltin is definitely wrong - he must have been in a bad mood when he saw it. The jungle animal perils are filmed with much more action and danger than seen in other picture, even the Weissmuller Tarzan flicks. Knowing that it was film by the crew who worked on Universal's Spanish version of Dracula (and the cast includes one of its actresses), I add that you can clearly see the Dracula set used for the jungle castle, draped with extra cobwebs and fineries. You can't miss those Gothic archways, though. This picture is great fun and can be had from the amazing Alpha Video for five bucks. Don't miss it!