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7.2/10
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Charlie's investigation of a phony psychic during the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island leads him to expose a suicide as murder.Charlie's investigation of a phony psychic during the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island leads him to expose a suicide as murder.Charlie's investigation of a phony psychic during the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island leads him to expose a suicide as murder.
Victor Sen Yung
- Jimmy Chan
- (as Sen Yung)
Douglass Dumbrille
- Thomas Gregory
- (as Douglas Dumbrille)
Arthur Berkeley
- Audience Member
- (uncredited)
William A. Boardway
- Audience Member
- (uncredited)
Jack Chefe
- Audience Member
- (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin
- First Taxicab Driver
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Treasure Island referred to in the title is a man-made island in San Francisco Bay that was built in 1936-37 in anticipation of it hosting the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939-40. After the fair closed the U.S. Navy used the site for many years. Since the 1980s the site has been used by many film and television production companies with aircraft hangars #2 and #3 converted to sound stages.
- GoofsAs Chan's airplane approaches San Francisco, we briefly see a stock shot of the uncompleted eastern span of the Bay Bridge. The bridge opened more than two years before the Golden Gate International Exposition, the film's setting.
- Quotes
Charlie Chan: We are destroying web of spider. Now let us find spider.
- ConnectionsEdited into Who Dunit Theater: Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (2021)
Featured review
what I wouldn't give if airline seats were like that today
Sidney Toler is "Charlie Chan at Treasure Island" in this delightful 1939 20th Century Fox film. Toler is more energetic here than in the later films, where he fell into ill health. This film also features Victor Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan, Cesar Romero, and Loretta Young's sister, Sally Blane, who had a strong resemblance to her sister.
The Charlie Chan films are rich in history, both in being un-politically correct and in what was going on at the time, since many of the mysteries centered around a famous event. This event is the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island. I wonder if planes ever really looked like that - big, comfortable deco chairs that looked like suede rather than leather. As one who travels often, I sighed when I saw them. On the plane is a friend of Charlie's who has recently vacationed in Hawaii and is going home to San Francisco. He's an author, but after he receives an upsetting radiogram, he is found dead, presumably from a heart attack. Charlie doesn't buy it. He thinks it might be murder or suicide. And a purported insurance man absconds with his manuscript. The radiogram had to do with "Zodiac" and as Charlie soon learns, Zodiac is a person, and Charlie sets out to expose him as a fake psychic and figure out why his clients are committing suicide.
Because Hawaii isn't yet a state, everyone has to go through customs, which I found interesting.
Very good mystery, though I had it figured out, having seen so many mysteries in my life. It's entertaining, it's fun, it moves right along. Jimmy Chan and his various disguises is a riot.
The Charlie Chan films are rich in history, both in being un-politically correct and in what was going on at the time, since many of the mysteries centered around a famous event. This event is the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island. I wonder if planes ever really looked like that - big, comfortable deco chairs that looked like suede rather than leather. As one who travels often, I sighed when I saw them. On the plane is a friend of Charlie's who has recently vacationed in Hawaii and is going home to San Francisco. He's an author, but after he receives an upsetting radiogram, he is found dead, presumably from a heart attack. Charlie doesn't buy it. He thinks it might be murder or suicide. And a purported insurance man absconds with his manuscript. The radiogram had to do with "Zodiac" and as Charlie soon learns, Zodiac is a person, and Charlie sets out to expose him as a fake psychic and figure out why his clients are committing suicide.
Because Hawaii isn't yet a state, everyone has to go through customs, which I found interesting.
Very good mystery, though I had it figured out, having seen so many mysteries in my life. It's entertaining, it's fun, it moves right along. Jimmy Chan and his various disguises is a riot.
helpful•51
- blanche-2
- Jul 10, 2013
- How long is Charlie Chan at Treasure Island?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Charlie Chan auf der Schatzinsel
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $120,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 14 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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By what name was Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939) officially released in India in English?
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