The first film in the Monogram Studio's Charlie Chan series after 20th Century-Fox had given up the the franchise. A scientist is killed and the plans of his torpedo stolen just before he could greet several people who have come to his house for a cocktail party. The head of the Secret Service (who sits in an office with 'SECRET SERVICE' written on the door!) tasks Charlie Chan to solve the crime and find the plans. Which he does of course. Apart from some plot holes it is a fair mystery mainly set in the scientist's house and passes the time nicely.Sidney Toler as Chan is his usual urbane self, slowly prodding and pushing to get to the truth. He is supported by his No. 2 daughter Iris and his No. 3 son Tommy played respectively by Marianne Quon and Benson Fong. The film also sadly introduces into the Chan series Mantan Moreland as Birmingham Brown, which I thought was a retrograde step as this fine actor and comedian is reduced to unfunny mugging and rolling of eyes. It would have been better to utilise one or two of Chan's numerous offspring instead of Brown. In this film Quon and Fong are fine as the comic relief as were previous actors in the series like Keye Luke and Victor Sen Yung. With fourteen Chan children there were plenty to choose from!

Charlie Chan (Sydney Toler) is an agent of the United States government assigned to investigate the mysterious death of an inventor.I have to wonder, how did they make dozens of these films without being called out as racist? I mean, there is nothing downright anti-Chinese in the picture, but having a white man play Chan... Why? This was the first film made by Monogram Pictures after the series was dropped by 20th Century Fox, and it marked the introduction of Number Three Son (Benson Fong) and taxi driver Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). Moreland is incredible, from "King of the Zombies" up through "Spider Baby". I wish he had been more than a background character in most of his films.

This one is mostly of curiosity value for Chan fans, as the first film where Charlie takes a job with the Federal government, to ferret out spies and saboteurs. Its also the first Chan movie to feature Mantan Moreland as the well-meaning but nervous Birmingham Brown, who later becomes Charlie's chauffeur and assistant. The storyline is simple enough, but with an unusually large group of suspicious characters gathered in the home of a prominent scientist, any one of whom could be the murderer, when the inventor meets his untimely demise. Ranging from a talkative society woman to a grumpy Washington economist, a controlling South American politician who does all the talking for everyone in his party, a surly businessman who doesn't like to answer questions about his background, a no-nonsense housekeeper, the suspects run the gamut from average to pretty peculiar. Throw in the unwelcome " help" from two of Charlie's offspring, Number Three Son Tommy and pretty daughter Iris, and the reluctant assistance of Birmingham, plus assorted cops and federal agents, and this is a pretty lively household.It's really not a bad picture, though arguably there's more plot and characters than truly necessary. The moment when Charlie realizes that crashing sounds and yelling in the basement mean some of his children have arrived to add their contribution to his problems, is classic Chan, as beautifully played by Sidney Toler.

During World War Two, spies come in all shapes and forms. America's Number One Chinese detective, Charlie Chan(Sidney Toler), is called upon by the Secret Service to find who murdered the scientist/inventor of a top-secret weapon to protect the U.S. forces from German U-boats. Chan arrives to a house party full of guests that contains a spy that has stolen the assembly plans of the newly invented weapon. The guests are quite eccentric, if not just plain suspicious. Chan is followed by one of his sons(Benson Fong) and daughters(Marianne Quon)good for getting in the way of the investigation. Not one of the best Chan movies I've seen, but still good enough to hold interest. Absolutely comical is Mantan Moreland that plays a chauffeur named Birmingham Brown. Others in the cast: Gene Roth, Lelah Tyler, Gwen Kenyon, Arthur Loft and Sarah Edwards.