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"Tonight we'll go to the burial ground and steal the mummy of your sacred ancestor!" It's a battle of the racial stereotypes in this adventure/comedy-horror. The polite Japanese detective arrives at the Giza Plateau via Honolulu and is handed the case of a missing archaeologist. A fun murder-mystery with twists and turns. The Egyptian servent from Mississippi was the funniest part, and he wasn't even portrayed by Mantan Mooreland!
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
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The French Archaeology Society has hired Charlie Chan to fly to Egypt, where the treasures from the recently-discovered tomb of an ancient monarch, intended to go to France, instead wind up in other hands, and Chan is to find out why. Once there, he finds the head of the expedition vanished, fear among the remaining people involved, financial problems having plagued the expedition, and the presence of a drug which may be the cause of many of the problems.
Unlike the other Charlie Chan movies I've seen, his relatives have not come along, not even his number one son, the clues and suspects are few, and the solution is easy enough to predict. Stephen Fetchit, as Snowshoes the manservant, is along to provide comic relief. Many other reviews talk about his discomfiting presence, but personally I found his character no worse than I've seen in most 1970's sitcoms.
Not the best of the series.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
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Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935)
This is the second in the Charlie Chan franchise, and there is a certain amount of the science of modern X-Ray technology involved in the solution of the crime. This is great movie as it features 17 years old Rita Hayworth (who was using her real name Cansino at the time) playing an exotic servant, Nayda.
It goes a little low-brow with Stepin Fetchit, well, and Warner Oland's "Yellow Face" routines, but if you let that slide, it's still a fun little movie.
Taking advantage of the craze of The Mummy (1932), this mystery is about catching a thief of Egyptian relics, and covering up a murder with a mummy's curse. But, Inspector Chan was brought in by the French Archeological Society to look into things and he's on the case.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/16/23
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The stock shots of the pyramids and the Sphinx shot from the air do set a rather mysterious tone for this Warner Oland Charlie Chan outing in which the bad guys use the cursed tomb ruse to cover their actions (not unlike a Scooby Doo episode). Controversially, Stepin Fetchit is here, for no apparent reason, as a lackey to some of the archaeologists. The character/caricature is incredibly racist but the actor himself (Lincoln Perry) became a crossover star in the 1930s. Rita Hayworth also makes an early appearance. Charlie doesn't round up the suspects here but the script allows suspicion to fall more naturally on the characters (or at least on the doctor). Nevertheless, this time the ending isn't really a surprise.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
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A treasured artifact from the age of the ancient Americans--Great horror-mystery!!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
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Audience Member
This house is marked for death.
A missing archeologist turns up dead in a tomb that he was researching. He is found with a bullet in the heart and inside a sarcophagus. Charlie Chan immediately begins investigating and is met with some aid by a family as well as pushback from a family cursed by the tomb. Can Charlie uncover the killer and his motive?
"Can I go now?"
"No. Get busy."
Louis King, director of Massacre, The Lion and the Horse, Thunder in the Valley, Moon over Burma, and Murder in Trinidad, delivers of Charlie Chan in Egypt. The storyline for this picture is just okay but the script and characters are fascinating. The acting is also very good and the cast includes Warner Oland, Rita Hayworth, and Pat Paterson.
"From life to death is the of reach a man."
I randomly DVR'd this picture off Turner Classic Movies (TCM) since I had never seen a Charlie Chan picture. The story/mystery was nothing special but the characters and script were so stereotypical and playfully written. But the characters had charm and the lines were often funny. I recommend watching this picture once and may watch additional Charlie Chan films.
"The circumstance is very mysterious."
Grade: B-
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
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