SYNOPSIS: A film star is murdered whilst making a movie on location in Honolulu. (Of course, there is no black camel anywhere in the plot, but you can't have everything).COMMENT: This, the 5th movie in the Charlie Chan series is one of the best. To begin with, it boasts a great cast. True, Bela Lugosi is often photographed from somewhat unflattering angles, but this, if anything, makes his characterization more interesting. Another point in the movie's favor, of course, is Warner Oland, here giving a more rounded interpretation before Chan became stereotyped. Otto Yamoaka tends to overdo the comedy relief, but his scenes are brief and even, at times, mildly amusing. As the female lead, Sally Eilers is cast in the shadow of Dorothy Revier, who, although she has a much smaller role, is the girl you remember. And although not always photographed to his advantage, Robert Young, also makes a lasting impression despite the fact that the sub-plot in which he is cast is ho-hum conventional. Another character everyone always remembers from this entry is the beach bum so convincingly yet charismatically played by Murray Kinnell. And of course a final point which stays in everyone's memory is the appearance (in both senses of the word) of Hamilton MacFadden as the film-within-the-film's director and Daniel B. Clark as the location cameraman.

I'm surprised to see so many people praising this film. If you're a Chan fan, of course you want to see it, but in this early entry in the series, the appeal had not quite been worked out. As noted by others, the asistant is a major annoyance. Sometimes the sons can be a bit over the top in later films, but this Japanese sidekick is played as a clown, without the familial excuse of the sons. It's almost as if one smart Asian was enough. As someone discussed in a spoiler, the working out of the mystery makes no sense - I realized it as I watched, and it puzzled me at the time. There is also a knife that comes out of nowhere. It was good to see Charlie in Honolulu and in charge - so often in later movies he's in another city, and humbly helping another police department. Here, he's the boss, and people do what he says - definitely more assertive.

I really love these old time movies. The atmosphere warrants attention alone, but the plot is quite good, too. Of course it follows the cliché of the 'round all suspects up and follow the leads', but I found it pretty entertaining...much more than today's gory 'crime scene' bunk serials. The storyline is entangled enough to keep interest sustained until the end of an otherwise short movie (about 1h10mins). Hollywood actress filming in Hawaii is stabbed to death while her ex-husband, her fortune-teller and her betrothed are around...much like the ghost of a deceased actor she knew too well but doesn't want anybody to know about. Turns out the chambermaid killed the actress, but watch the movie to know why. Acting is fine, although there are bits of overacting and the 'clumsy Japanese attendant' bits are annoying. Good movie.

Almost all the earliest Charlie Chan films have disappeared over time--probably the result of fires in storage facilities. Because of this, all that remains of the earliest Chan films is a Spanish language version of CHARLIE CHAN CARRIED ON (ERAN TRECE) and BEHIND THAT CURTAIN--films that only have Chan in the last portion of the film. He is truly a supporting character, not the star. The oldest true Charlie Chan film is THE BLACK CAMEL and fortunately it was released a couple years back in THE CHARLIE CHAN COLLECTION VOLUME 3. The film stars Charlie and has all the expected plot elements. Why they put this film in volume 3 is beyond me, but at least it's now available to the public once again.While this one is very early, it at least fits the familiar formula. Of the plots I have read about earlier Chan films as well as ERAN TRECE, Chan was more of a minor character. Here, he is definitely the star and has settled into a role very familiar to die-hard fans. In addition, he has excellent supporting actors (especially Bela Lugosi) but there are no Chan children on hand to aid (or hinder) his investigation. Instead, there's a super-stupid and annoying Japanese-American sidekick who was best replaced in subsequent films! The plot involves a murdered starlet and the case is actually not too convoluted and makes more sense than many of the later entries. In fact, had #1 son been on hand instead of the Japanese-American idiot, the film would have probably earned a 9--it was THAT good compared to other films in the series. Good writing, acting and direction--this film is well worth seeking.