"Someone here in this room is murderer". And with those seven words, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) proceeds to unravel the story's mystery and identify the killer, in typical whodunit protocol. In this particular story, the sister of a death row inmate appeals to Chan for help. But time is not on their side, as the brother is scheduled for execution in a matter of hours.
The puzzle solution is one of the better ones in the Charlie Chan series. The killer was not even in my top tier of suspects. The surprise revelation ups my opinion of this film. However, I will say that the plot does not reveal the motive for the murder until near the end. So one could argue that the writers were not playing fair with the audience. And there's one plot point that's not explained at all. Suspects are well-defined, and not too many or too few ... seven, if I recall correctly.
Casting is all right, I guess. But the acting is a bit overdone, especially the young actress who plays a bug-eyed hysterical maid. Production qualities are above average for the series. Lighting is especially effective.
Costumes are lush, not surprising since the setting is a wealthy English estate where the main entertainment is a fox hunt. But those expensive fur wraps the ladies wear are enough to make me wish the poor animal would come back to life and strangle the lady to death; a justifiable homicide, if you ask me.
As the polite Chan would say ... thank you so much.
The puzzle solution is one of the better ones in the Charlie Chan series. The killer was not even in my top tier of suspects. The surprise revelation ups my opinion of this film. However, I will say that the plot does not reveal the motive for the murder until near the end. So one could argue that the writers were not playing fair with the audience. And there's one plot point that's not explained at all. Suspects are well-defined, and not too many or too few ... seven, if I recall correctly.
Casting is all right, I guess. But the acting is a bit overdone, especially the young actress who plays a bug-eyed hysterical maid. Production qualities are above average for the series. Lighting is especially effective.
Costumes are lush, not surprising since the setting is a wealthy English estate where the main entertainment is a fox hunt. But those expensive fur wraps the ladies wear are enough to make me wish the poor animal would come back to life and strangle the lady to death; a justifiable homicide, if you ask me.
As the polite Chan would say ... thank you so much.