The doorbell rings. A woman wants to see Mr. Chan. She gives no name but hands an ornate ring to the butler and says, "Take this to him." While waiting for Chan in his study, she is shot through the window with a poison dart. Who was she and why was she killed? Charlie Chan investigates. The plot of this late series entry is about as original as that opening scene. Clues include an inscription on the ring and an unfinished note scrawled by the dying woman. Mr. Chan is assisted by handsome young police sergeant Warren Douglas, who chews gum all the time. Also on the case is perky newspaper reporter Louise Curry, who climbs in Chan's study window looking for clues. Douglas spends most of his time trying to keep Curry out of his way...and of course they have one of those love-hate romances that is totally nauseating. Roland Winters makes his debut as Charlie Chan and he is not bad, though he takes some getting used to. He moves more quickly than poor Sidney Toler did in his last few pictures; this Chan is more vigorous, less grandfatherly, and ultimately less interesting, too, since unfortunately his stock of wise old sayings in this picture is practically nil. Mantan Moreland is fine as Birmingham Brown. The one-time chauffeur seems to have taken on butler duties as well. Sen Yung helps out as number two son Tommy Chan--he's energetic as always but for some reason he is absent (and missed) during a long middle section. The story moves at a decent pace but it's really just too predictable, and generally weak dialog probably makes the familiar plot seem worse. Interesting for Chan fans but not one of the series' highlights.

This remake is very good, much better than the 1st movie; it has Winters, Moreland, Louise Currie, Ahn, W. Douglas, and it's directed by Beaudine. It's a regular whodunit. It also has the good look of many others made in the 2nd half of the '40s.Louise Currie and W. Douglas are better than their precursors in these roles, but by the late '40s the roughness of her treating by the disrespectful sergeant had already become indigestible; she punches him, yet it doesn't become her, as the coarseness doesn't become the mild sergeant.Ahn and Roberts are the two Ks.Barbara Jean Wong has a bit part as the princess.The dumb dwarf from the 1st movie is replaced by a dumb boy, which enhances the drama.Winters is great in the scene of the denouement. He certainly enjoyed the role. This was his 1st time as Chan, he doesn't overplay his part, and has a dependable idea of the character, the player isn't as much cautious, as assured and confident.This whodunit is one of the director's best.

During all the time I was watching The Chinese Ring I kept thinking I saw it before and then I learn that this was indeed the plot of an old Mr. Wong film also put out by Monogram. As the Wong series was before World War II started in Europe only the politics were changed and they got a little vague in this one.Barbara Jean Wong, a Chinese princess who is in America to purchase war airplanes for what I presume is the Kuomintang air force against the Communists is shot and killed by a dart fired from an air rifle almost immediately after entering Charlie Chan's home. With a murder right in his own home Roland Winters in his first film as Charlie Chan is kind of forced to help the authorities who in this case are represented by homicide detective Warren Douglas. Tagging along is Louise Currie who is a reporter looking to scoop her rivals on who killed the princess.The Occidentals who the princess had to deal with are one scurvy lot who saw a cash cow and were milking it for all it was worth. But one of them is scurvier than the rest that one murders the princes, her maid and a small mute Chinese boy who's only crime was that he was a witness.The story did not translate that good to a post World War II political situation. Still the players do their best with it and Roland Winters slips nicely into the tradition of Warner Oland and Sidney Toler as our fortune cookie aphorism speaking Charlie Chan.

A mysterious princess arrives at the Chan home, where she is shot. Collapsing, she manages to write, "Captain K," on the desk pad. "Are you sure she's dead, Pop?" Tommy asks. "Death, my son, is the reckoning of heaven. In this case, most complicated reckoning," states philosophical Charlie, lifting a line from Biggers' Behind That Curtain.This one, Number 42 in the series and the first with Roland Winters in the title role, does not augur well for the remainder of the Monogram efforts in this inept re-make of Mr Wong in Chinatown. Mr Winters is a poor substitute for Sidney Toler (not to mention Boris Karloff). He moves stiffly, and his accent is poor stuff indeed. A less inspired actor to play the part of Chan could not possibly be imagined, although I should mention that Winters was to improve considerably in his later Chan characterizations.Scott Darling has done very little to update his Wong script and changing the dwarf to a small boy is just about the last straw. Also, Beaudine's direction does not compare well with Nigh's. Admittedly, this entry has obviously been made on an extremely tight budget.