Like several other reviewers, this is my first Charlie Chan film with Roland Winters cast as the detective. I have to be honest; I've always enjoyed Roland Winters in every role I've seen him in, so I'm a bit biased in his favor. IMHO, he brings a certain gravitas to the role that had been missing since Warner Oland's untimely passing. In his defense, Sidney Toler deserves much credit for purchasing the rights to the character, so that the film series could continue, but his health problems and age contributed to the energy draining from his later performances. I also liked that Mr. Winters' Chan appreciated the support of his son Tommy, finely portrayed by Victor Sen Young. It was a refreshing change from the condescension and sarcasm of the Sidney Toler portrayal toward any of his male offspring. Mantan Moreland, who I always enjoyed as Birmingham Brown, was also more subdued in this film. Now, to what dawned on me toward the end of the film... What I realized was that this could very well have been a Hopalong Cassidy movie, replacing Charlie Chan with Hoppy, and Tommy and Birmingham with Lucky and California. That's not necessarily a bad thing; plots, stories and scripts have been recycled for decades. The trouble here was that I realized it as I was watching the film. There was nothing about the plot that was noteworthy. Other drawbacks to this film are that the supporting cast was adequate, but that's about all that can be said. The budget was minimal. As other reviewers have indicated, the series was running out of steam. I sincerely believe that had Roland Winters assumed the role of Charlie Chan a few years earlier, the quality of the series would have improved, and more money would have been invested into the film series. All in all, not a terrible film, but it is noticeable where improvement could have been made. 6/10.
