The second of the Monogram 'Charlie Chans' is a pure 'old-fashioned' murder mystery again, without spies (although the War was still going on, as Charlie reminds us when he accepts a bet and offers to pay the money to the Chinese War Relief Funds if he loses), but a classic 'murder behind locked doors' - with the exception of a secret panel which leads to the room of the murdered man's wife, so she's the only suspect, but due to lack of evidence and motive the case is dropped. But then, months later, a criminologist writes a novel about the murder, clearly pointing out the wife of businessman Manning as his murderer.Manning's stepdaughter in her despair calls on the unique abilities of Charlie Chan to find the real murderer; during the investigations, she'd fallen in love with Detective Dennis and wants to marry him, but now the shadow of murder keeps hanging over her family... And since son Tommy once again beat his Pop to accepting the case, Charlie can't break a family promise, of course, and starts recreating the whole case - which very soon leads him to a whole collection of diamonds hidden in various Chinese decoration figures, and to the conclusion that Manning and his business partner Deacon were crooks involved in a big diamond theft months earlier. But when Charlie and Tommy, accompanied again by Birmingham (who's become a cab driver now, and just happened to get Charlie as a passenger - which made him feel immediately that he's in for murder again...), enter the 'lion's den' disguised as a fun house, the 'fun' very soon stops, and they're being treated just like any other detective in any Film Noir of the time...Monogram's 'new Charlie Chan style' unfolds here in a most effective way: this movie actually manages to combine successfully murder mystery (complete with hints for crime solving fanatics, like the lone chess figure) with tough, gloomy and foggy Noir elements - and of course comedy! One example: there are twin brothers involved in the gang, and one of them is murdered - and every time the other identical twin brother turns up, Birmingham and Tommy think they're seeing ghosts...!High-quality crime entertainment, providing fun as well as suspense, and at the same time certainly NOT to be overlooked for its cinematic value!

Son Tommy replaces his brother Jimmy, and for the better. Jimmy's bug-eyed, constantly interrupting persona was somewhat over the top, and Benson Fong's Tommy plays the role of sidekick just straight enough to take the cringe out of the character. Much of the comic relief is transferred to Mantan Moreland's Birmingham Brown, and Moreland was the man to carry it off. Unlike most of the Chan comic relief characters, Birmingham's antics are generally set apart from Charlie's detective work, and don't interfere so much with the unfolding of the mystery. And Moreland himself was just a better actor than the Chan sons or the various other characters who played the role.The fun house is a classic crime setting, and its use here - though done on the cheap - fits right in to the series. The plot doesn't play out like many Chan movies - a good guy isn't revealed to be a bad guy, As a result, the end is less a reveal than a long action/danger scene. Nice change-up from the usual Chan. And while many prefer Warner Oland, Sidney Toler is Chan to me in this episode - one step ahead, as always.

There are so many wonderful bits in this picture that make it a delight to watch. A nervous Birmingham Brown waits outside the deserted fun house in the fog, and turns on the car radio for some music, and instead tunes in an eerie voice advising him to turn the lights out, and laughing maniacally. Later, he runs into the twin brother of a dead criminal and takes him for a ghost. Tommy Chan, Number Three Son, deliberately sabotages the jigsaw puzzle he gave to his father. When Charlie discovers the trick, he warns, " Next time you pull stunt like this, you experience sudden collision in rear end of pants!"A classic locked room mystery, multiple suspects, a gang of crooks using an abandoned amusement pier for their hideout, smuggled gems, a cryptic doctor who might be involved in the crimes, a love affair, a cat statue that conceals a vital clue, and many more elements are all crammed into a running time of little more than an hour. Corny humor, politically incorrect stereotyping, and cheap sets abound, but these very things are what make the Monogram Chan pictures so much fun to watch. This movie is sheer entertainment from beginning to end.

This second Charlie Chan offering from the Monogram Studios is an improvement over "Charlie Chan in the Secret Service". Back again are Sidney Toler in the Chan role, Benson Fong as #3 Son Tommy, and Mantan Moreland as Yellow Cab driver Birmingham Brown. Monogram remained true to the 20th Century Fox sense of continuity from film to film, as Birmingham refers to the last time he met the Chans in the previous movie.What starts out as an unsolved murder case eventually winds up with two additional corpses. A few elements we haven't seen in prior Chan films occur - Charlie takes one on the chin from one of the baddies, and later gets physical himself, knocking out one of the villains with the butt of a gun. Additionally, Charlie places a bet on the outcome of the case, liking the odds of 10 to 1 given him by the doctor/author who claims to have solved the mystery himself in a book published following the original murder. The ending is rather lame, as son Tommy subdues two bad guys with nothing more than a fire extinguisher; I sure wouldn't want those two in my corner, good or bad!The title of the film comes from a large statue of a black cat, which conceals a secret compartment with a stolen diamond. All in all, The Chinese Cat is a worthy addition to the Chan series, made more entertaining by the amiable presence of Mantan Moreland.