He finds the Chinese Cat, he finds the famous stolen diamond, then what does Charlie Chan do? He intentionally heads directly over to the murderers' hideout without first calling the police. Why?! What was to be gained? Only so that he could be put in a situation that the would have to escape from.
The rest of the movie had some fun aspects. There were the twins, the Chinese Cat, secret passageways, the wonderfully engaging and extremely personable cab driver, etc., but when Chan starts doing incredibly stupid stuff, then what's the point? Since he and his son can't die, you have to expect some Deus Ex Machina, which comes in the form of all the crooks running out of the room but leaving Chan and his son alone with a gun.
Then running through a funhouse at the end made this more of a Bowery Boys movie than Charlie Chan.
This movie proves the point that if you're going to cut the budget, cut the writing budget last. I can accept poor sets, unknown supporting actors, and other low budget actions, but Charlie Chan doing stupid stuff is something you just can't have.
The rest of the movie had some fun aspects. There were the twins, the Chinese Cat, secret passageways, the wonderfully engaging and extremely personable cab driver, etc., but when Chan starts doing incredibly stupid stuff, then what's the point? Since he and his son can't die, you have to expect some Deus Ex Machina, which comes in the form of all the crooks running out of the room but leaving Chan and his son alone with a gun.
Then running through a funhouse at the end made this more of a Bowery Boys movie than Charlie Chan.
This movie proves the point that if you're going to cut the budget, cut the writing budget last. I can accept poor sets, unknown supporting actors, and other low budget actions, but Charlie Chan doing stupid stuff is something you just can't have.