The Chinese Cat

Audience Reviews

View More

Ted B @Movieaddicted Jan 6 2.0 stars; i liked it because it was a mystery, although more of a cop and robber flick. One of the lesser films in the series. See more Andy F 05/10/2023 Not the best Charlie Chan by any stretch of the imagination but number 3 son and Birmingham provide laughs. See more 05/06/2015 After Warner Oland died, Sidney Toler took over as Charlie Chan with Fox's blessing for 11 films. My dad always said he liked Toler better. However, when Fox dumped the series in 1942, it moved to Monogram Pictures, a so-called Poverty Row studio. The budget dropped from $200K to $75K. Although the Chinese Cat is thought to be one of the better Monogram Chans, the low budget shows - we've got pretty spare sets and mostly fog or murky darkness. Toler is good and a bit tougher than Oland - even K. O.-ing a few crooks near the end. Mantan Moreland provides bug-eyed (racist) comic relief as Birmingham Brown. Benson Fong is wooden as Number Three Son, Tommy. For once, the crime isn't solved by Chan identifying a suspect from a group gathered together for that purpose - instead we are treated to a bit of a chase in a funhouse before the (potentially solvable) answer is revealed. See more 02/17/2013 Good old Chan murder case--Charlie Chan is forced to race the clock!! See more 10/17/2012 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. See more bill t 05/27/2012 This Charlie Chan film takes a while to get going, but once it gets to it's final act in the funhouse, is plenty amusing and interesting. But up until then, pretty standard. See more Read all reviews

The Chinese Cat

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW