Castle in the Desert

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Russ G An OK entry in the long series featuring the Oriental Sleuth, but like most of them, the clues and suspects become rather muddled in the last twenty minutes leading to the big reveal. I'm rating it a half decent hour's plus light entertainment. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/09/25 Full Review Ted B 3.5 stars; This was the last of the Charlie Chan series in a big-budget (Fox) movie studio. They did a good job of creating an eerie background using lighting and shadows, giving a scary effect. Sydney Toler did his usual excellent portrayal of the Asian sleuth. Victor Sen Yung added a modicum of needed humor as Jimmy Chan to break up the periods of eerieness. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/02/25 Full Review Audience Member After Warner Oland's death, Sidney Toler took over the role of Charlie Chan in the popular series (although Fox dropped it after this film and the series slid further into lower budgets after this, still with Toler). Here we find the sleuth from Honolulu in the Mojave Desert where a reclusive millionaire has built a castle -- of course, there is a murder and Chan is mysteriously invited to the castle. Probably, a truism for the series is that there will be a host of characters, all possible suspects. The art of screenwriting for such an enterprise involves keeping the characters straight, giving them enough backstory to make them identifiable (and interesting), and, of course, deluding the viewer as to who the real killer is until the last possible moment. In this film, I'll admit that I got a little confused between the characters and didn't quite catch who was the long lost half brother. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Better-than-average Charlie Chan outing. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member The last of the Fox Chans and one of the best--A desert delight!! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review bill t Another fun Chan actioner here (can't stop saying that when I enjpy em!) Chan (with #2 son back!) goes to, yes, a castle in the desert to figure out a mystery, if there is one! of a genealogist's (!!) death. Plenty of clues and false clues and red herrings in this one. Actually more fun than usual. One of the best! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Castle in the Desert

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