Charlie Chan in Paris

Directly from solving successfully the London murder mystery, Charlie Chan goes on to Paris - on account of a British bank, who's discovered there's some strange business with bonds going on at a Parisian bank, with huge sums of money involved, of course. In Paris, Charlie has got an undercover helper who's been working on the case for a while and has gathered quite some information; and they agree that he and the beautiful young dancer meet right after her performance - but, there's a pretty gruesome beginning to this new case: at the end of her magnificent dancing performance, pretty Nardi is brutally stabbed before she can give any information to Charlie.

At least, he finds something in her apartment: a notebook with everything she'd found out, which contains the name of one of the bank's employees, Dufresne, who's been spending surprisingly high amounts of money lately... But Dufresne is soon murdered himself, and the suspicion falls on the bank director's daughter Yvette, who once had an affair with him; then there is Victor Descartes, now Yvette's fiancée and also an employee at the bank, their friend, painter Latouche - and a mysterious, crippled beggar who always seems to turn up near the scene of every crime...

Sounds complicated? In fact, it IS, and it requires absolute attention by the audience - and of course of by Charlie, who's in constant danger... To his good fortune, his 'number 1 son' Lee (Keye Luke, in his first appearance in the series) appears in Paris to assist his father! Another VERY well done classic crime mystery, absolutely worth watching and still fresh after 80 years...

... as he appears as someone who Charlie thinks is at first an intruder in his hotel room, but emerges from the bathroom in a hotel robe, hotel towel covering his hair and face. When he uncovers his face we get his trademark - "Hi Pop!" as Charlie's number one son. This is not only his first appearance in a Chan film, but his first credited film role. Keye Luke is actually in his early thirties at this point, but plays early twenties quite effectively.

But back to the story. Charlie's appearance in Paris is a mystery for about twenty minutes. He makes a call to a colleague who says she has crucial evidence and will talk to him after her dance number at the club. Charlie gets a message soon afterwards saying his reason for being here is known and his life is in danger. There are not the usual red herrings. Instead there is a sinister looking man, a beggar, on crutches, who seems to be making it obvious he is up to no good. Charlie spots him at several places, making his presence known. Why??? Watch and find out.

It turns out all of the secrecy is because some forged bonds have been found in London that were issued by a bank in Paris and Charlie is keeping his investigation under wraps so as to not start a panic. John Miljan is in the cast, and he always played the bad guy, even in MGM shorts, so he is not up to any good here either, but believe me I am not giving anything away by telling you that. He does manage to get the bank president's daughter involved in a scandal in what turns out to be a significant side plot.

Once again Charlie solves the mystery with his sharp powers of observation in this very atmospheric entry. He is very polite considering how Paris law enforcement is acting. At one point, the police are allowing witnesses and passer-bys to trample all over a murder scene, and they are also allowing witnesses to talk amongst themselves rather than isolating them somewhere that is NOT the crime scene.

Excellent mystery with Warner Oland on trail of bond forgers who would undermine the Banque Lamartine. Aided by Lee Chan (Key Luke), Chan methodically unravels fraud and murder and ducks an attempt on his life. As with other entries in this series, the viewer cannot figure out the solution because key evidence is only revealed at the end. Chan knows more than the police and the viewer. If you know this and just sit back and enjoy, you will have a pleasant time. Of note is a dance apache done by Nardi at the Cafe du Singe Blue -- apache signifying a member of the Paris underground and not an American Indian tribe. Racial slurs grate us today but reflect the times. Lots of clues but as Chan says, "must turn up many stones to get to hiding place of snake." Recommended.

As in, 'Charlie Chan in Egypt', this little gem reeks with early film atmosphere and sustains itself with the wonderful portrayal by Warner Oland. Warner Oland has more stage presence than a dozen actors of today. It's really a shame, for if one generation could really bridge another generation and look at the whole, they might see what a let down the films of today really are.

In one of the few times that another Charlie Chan film made reference to its immediate predecessor, Charlie Chan In Paris notes that Warner Oland is in Paris having picked up a client in London. Fans of the series will remember that Oland was in London solving the murder in a stable on an estate, a fact also specifically mentioned.

The clients who hired Oland are some bondholders who have bought what looks forged bonds from a respected Paris bank. These bonds have flooded the European market and threaten to bring financial panic on the alleged issuing bank run by Henry Kolker.

I have to say that the conspirators really had a clever scheme of forgery and a pretty good method of committing murder to protect the enterprise. Two murders are committed, one of them of John Miljan who has played a slew despicable villains on screen. In fact Miljan is branching out into a racket all his own when he's killed. That other racket though manages to cast suspicion on a false perpetrator.

Charlie Chan In Paris is one of the cleverest films in the Chan series and fans of Charlie should not miss this one.