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City in Darkness

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Detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) goes to Paris and solves the murder of a munitions magnate.

Critics Reviews

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Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews This was one of the poorer Charlie Chan episodes. Rated: C- Sep 16, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Charlie G It was fun to see Leo G Carroll and Lon Chaney Jr in diverse roles. Other than that the movie has no redeeming value. They decided to insert a bumbling wanna be detective in place of one of Chan's sons. Seems the more they make in this series, the worse they get. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/08/25 Full Review Ted B 3.5 stars; The title, *City of Darkness*, refers to Paris prior to the German invasion of World War II. All lights were required to be extinguished so as not to give German bombers any targets. With this as a backdrop, Charlie solves the murder of a munitions manufacturer who may have been a collaborator with the Germans. Interestingly, none of Charlie's family or Birmingham Brown-type characters were present in this film. They were not missed! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/07/25 Full Review Russ G The good: No Birmingham Brown, no son of any number. Harold Huber does a prequel to Inspector Clouseau. The bad: a totally unfathomable plot. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/02/25 Full Review 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 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 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 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
City in Darkness

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Movie Info

Synopsis Detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) goes to Paris and solves the murder of a munitions magnate.
Director
Herbert I. Leeds
Screenwriter
Robert Ellis, Helen Logan
Production Co
20th Century Studios
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Feb 12, 2008
Runtime
1h 15m