Dead Men Tell

"Dead Men Tell" is an enjoyable Charlie Chan mystery from 1941.

People gather for a treasure hunt via ship to an island, based on a map an elderly woman, Patience Nodbury, inherited from her ancestor, a pirate named Black Hook. Since someone has attempted to steal the map, she's divided it into four pieces and gives three pieces to three passengers.

Patience says that Black Hook visits each relative before they die, and Black Hook visits her, all right, but in this case, he kills her.

Charlie and Jimmy want to solve her murder, and they have plenty of suspects. There's a man posing as a reporter, Bill Lydig (George Reeves), a neurotic man, Gene LaFarge, who has a psychiatrist with him, and the captain, Captain Kane, whose ex-partner left him to do on a deserted island.

Dark, atmospheric film with Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) in trouble most of the time. Toler has an authoritative presence as Charlie. He's less whimsical than Warner Oland, and his gruff voice gives his line readings a nice sarcasm. He tells Jimmy "Save alibi for your autobiography."

One thing I noticed is, though these films have been criticized for not being politically correct, in the bar scene, no one calls Jimmy derogatory names. They make fun of him, but no one acts as if he looks different.

In fact, I have never picked up anything like that in any film, directed at Charlie or one of his children. It seems to me that these are films of their time, which make them un-p.c. By today's enlightened standards, but the writers never meant to be deliberately insulting.

Just an interesting thought, as the days of casting someone Chinese as Chinese were a long way off.

This is an often overlooked Chan film that deserves more attention! It is short at an hour running time. But it is loaded with great atmosphere and a good cast of interesting and eccentric characters. This is a good mystery and has many humorous parts, too. Sen Yung is quite good in this one. How can you get better than a ghost pirate named Black Hook on a treasure hunt? Another one that's lots of fun. TV Superman, George Reeves is in it too. This is one to see and see again!

Patience Nodbury has a treasure map worth $60,000,000 that has been handed down from her pirate ancestor `Black Hook.' Someone has already tried to steal it and she cuts it into four, sending three pieces to other members of the Cocoas Island Treasure Hunt Cruise. As Charlie Chan arrives on the sailing ship Suva Star, Patience meets her long-departed ancestor (complete with peg leg and hook for a hand) and she succumbs from a weak heart. `Trouble like first love, teach many lessons.'

Most of the rest of the film is set aboard the Suva Star (in port) where Charlie and his `favorite son' Jimmy set about to discover who would frighten a little old lady to death. The set is well constructed and presents an eerie location. Good camera work with lots of spooky shadows.

A good array of possible suspects includes George Reeves (later Superman on TV) and since the old sailing ship used to be a pirate museum, it provides an interesting array of props. Jimmy Chan provides good comic relief and spends a good deal of the film in the harbor having even walked the plank. When Jimmy offers to help guard and wants Charlie's gun, Pop responds with `Bullet from killer much easier to take than bullet from #2 son.' Milton Parsons skulks around as an interesting character that is trying to over come psychoses. A talking parrot `Gerdy' helps Chan unravel part of the mystery.

There are plenty of clues and they come fast, but this is the first Chan film that I have seen where the detective does not neatly wrap it up at the end and tell you what you should have seen or at least what he knew that you did not know. Unless the version I saw was cut (it might have been), Chan does not reveal how he knew the identity of the killer at the summation. But, there is one good clue and you might catch it. Fair but I liked this one better when I saw it as a kid.

Very nice cinematography in this installment of the Chan series - beautiful lighting that really does the most with black and white film. The story is a nice one, but for me there's just too much of son Jimmy playing the fool. This is one of those Chans where the son is really a co-star in the film, with a resulting comic-relief drag on the mystery. I know the sons were very popular back in the day when the formula was a little drama, a little comedy, a little action, a little romance and maybe a little music, but for me the bug-eyed, bumbling Jimmy just stops the story in its tracks over and over. Watching the DVD on my laptop, I find myself pausing the film every time Jimmy jumps to the front of the scene and surfing the web for a while.

If Jimmy doesn't bother you like he does me, then I'd give it a 7. For me, it's a 5 in the world of Chan.

This is an interesting Chan in several ways. First, the DVD print looks great! Our setting is a classic type old sailing ship and the adjacent docks, tavern, etc. Tons of fog, so I guess we are in San Francisco, though I don't recall anyone specifying that.

This film is also notable, for the action all taking place in a few sets: sailing ship deck, cabins, docks, tavern, a few others. Think of an old mansion story--like Castle in the Desert--but here we are on a ship at dock. I imagine this saved a lot on the budget. The sets are A-1; just about anything nautical is crammed on that old ship!

I was a bit surprised by the acting styles in this film; a lot of the actors play it very broad, with long, big visual reaction takes, more like an early 1930's film. The pace of the film is very deliberate, almost slow at times, but I enjoyed it. There is good humor with Number Two Son. Toler underplays very effectively; he owns the part, at this point. This is a good one; recommended.