City in Darkness

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Daryl S Great mystery which is solvable based on clues. Set just before Germany invades. Does a good job of capturing the suspense I would expect that was present then. The coming war was pervasive and effected everyone and everything. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Charlie seems virtually somnambulant here as personified by Sidney Toler. Perhaps this is because he is overshadowed by Harold Huber who is way way way over the top as a comedic French assistant prefect of police. Or perhaps it is because he realizes that WWII is about to break out. Indeed, the film explicitly mentions Chamberlain's visit to Hitler after the takeover of Czechoslovakia and the mystery revolves around the death of a munitions smuggler in Paris (working for the other side). So, it is a particularly sombre affair and the comic relief is a bit too heavy-handed. Still, this series somehow will always take me away from any real problems I might face, at least temporarily. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member "Beware of spider who invites fly into his place for tea"--City in darkness...serious crime at play!! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member 1.5: Hmm. I was prompted to watch these by an article in The New Yorker that I read a year or two ago. I wasn't expecting them to be outstanding, but I was expecting something better than this. I have now seen essentially every Charlie Chan film, or at least all that were made between 1931 and 1947 (29 films). What struck me most is that these really have more in common with a television show than a feature film. Each film is essentially the same except for the "location." I guess it makes sense as they serve essentially the same purpose. One can essentially watch every film on auto-pilot comfortable in the knowledge that one knows exactly which characters will pop up and that everything will be satisfactorily resolved in the end. They are "C" picture at best. Sidney Toler is pretty good; Warner Toland is somewhat acceptable; and the other two one picture no-names are either inconsequential or awful. It is rather ludicrous that they didn't allow an actual Asian actor to play the role, but the portrayal of African-American's is much more heinous. They certainly pale in comparison to just about every other detective picture/TV series I've ever seen. None of the films rate an individual review so this will have to suffice for all 29. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review bill t Charlie Chan is in Paris just before the war, and Paris is in Darkness because of it's fear of being bombed! What better time to commit murder! A munitions shipper is bumped off, and suspects galore abound. Aided by a bumbling french police chief, Chan looks for clues and weeds out suspects. A few problems in this one.. Too much humor given to the police chief, and none of Chan's children make an appearance, which weakens this. Seems Toler was phoning this one in. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Normally I really like Charlie Chan films. This one I could not get into at all. It started out awkward, if that makes any sense. It is not like the typical Charlie Chan formula. It was too war based. If I wanted to see a war movie, I would have rented one. Carlie's number two son, Jimmy was not in it either. I really look forward to seeing Victor Sen Yung in the Sidney Toler version of Charlie Chan films. Try another one instead. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews

City in Darkness

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