Plot
Charlie Chan is brought in when an archaeologist disappears while excavating ancient art treasures in Egypt. Charlie must sort out the stories of the archaeological team, deal with the crazed son of the missing scientist, learn why priceless treasures are falling into the hands of private collectors, and battle many seemingly supernatural events. Chan's initial journey begins with a rickety biplane ride and then a desert trip by pack mule("Offspring of Satan";mutters Chan at his animal). But there are more creature comforts at Professor Arnold's mansion, where Chan meets his beautiful daughter Carol. The Professor has been missing two weeks, and Carol vehemently defends him against charges of dishonesty. And her boyfriend Tom vehemently defends the daughter.
Dr.Racine has loaned the expedition a large amount of money when it began to run out of funds; and Professor Thurston confesses that the items that turned up in museums had been sold by him; also to replenish funding. Carol's brother Barry has been rendered lame by an accident at the site, and is prone to playing sad songs on his violin. Servant girl Nayda is in the background,unsuspected. Butler Edfu Ahmed says the family is "marked for death" for violating the tomb. And the other family servant, Snowshoes, can be described as "weak but willing" when it comes to danger.
There is a complete scientific laboratory in the basement, to catalogue discoveries. Chan notices the seal on a sarcophagus has been broken. They X-Ray it and discover a 20th-Century bullet lodged in the "Mummy", which turns out to be Professor Arnold's corpse; drained of blood and mummified to remove giveaway decay.
Carol has suffered unexplained attacks of sleepiness and anxiety---Chan discovers her personal cigarettes had been laced with a hallucinatory drug. While playing his violin, Barry suddenly keels over dead. Butler Ahmed flees rather than be questioned, which throws suspicion on him. Local policeman Inspector Soueida is overly formal but competant; and requests Chan's assistance.
Chan discounts the supernatural, as the murders have been committed by someone with sharp knowledge of modern science.He discovers that Barry had been killed when a high note from his violin shattered a glass vial filled with poison gas.
Exploring the tomb at night with an eager Tom Evans, they discover a secret room that can be reached only while swimming underwater. The contents are many looted treasures and some elaborate "ghost" disguises. It also contains the murderer, who shoots Tom point blank. Chan and Snowshoes manage to get Tom back to the mansion, where he hovers between life and death. Chan says since he was shot from the front, he must know the killer's identity and will reveal it when he recovers. This is the cue for the murderer to try to finish the job---but Chan and a small brigade of Egyptian police are waiting and take the killer into custody.
Spotting Carol and Tom embracing, Chan declares this is all the reward he requires for his efforts.
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.
The Mummy is a 1932 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed by Karl Freund. The screenplay by John L. Balderston was adapted from a treatment written by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer. Released by Universal Studios as a part of the Universal Monsters franchise, the film stars Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan and Arthur Byron.
Kazimierz Józef Marian Michałowski was a Polish archaeologist and Egyptologist, art historian, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, professor ordinarius of the University of Warsaw as well as the founder of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology. He coined the term "Nubiology" to refer to the study of ancient Nubia.
Edfu is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the Nile River between Esna and Aswan, with a population of approximately 60,000 people. Edfu is the site of the Ptolemaic Temple of Horus and an ancient settlement, Tell Edfu. About 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Edfu are remains of ancient pyramids.
Giovanni Battista Belzoni, sometimes known as The Great Belzoni, was a prolific Italian explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities. He is known for his removal to England of the seven-tonne bust of Ramesses II, the clearing of sand from the entrance of the great temple at Abu Simbel, the discovery and documentation of the tomb of Seti I, including the sarcophagus of Seti I, and the first to penetrate into the Pyramid of Khafre, the second pyramid of the Giza complex.
Victor Sen Yung was an American character actor, best known for playing Jimmy Chan in the Charlie Chan films and Hop Sing in the western series Bonanza.
The Sittaford Mystery is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1931 under the title of The Murder at Hazelmoor and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 September of the same year under Christie's original title. It is the first Christie novel to be given a different title for the US market. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).
"Jewels of Gwahlur" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard. Set in the fictional Hyborian Age, it concerns several parties, including Conan, fighting over and treasure hunting for the eponymous treasure in Hyborian Africa. The tale was first published in the March, 1935 issue of Weird Tales. Howard's original title for the story was "The Servants of Bit-Yakin".
Pat Paterson was an English film actress. Although she made more than 20 films, she is best known as the wife of actor Charles Boyer.
She-Wolf of London is a 1946 American mystery and horror film directed by Jean Yarbrough. It stars June Lockhart and Don Porter. The film is set in London in the early 20th century, where a series of murders have recently occurred. An aunt then tells an innocent young lady that the blood of a werewolf runs in her family and that she is responsible for the deaths. The woman then immediately ends her engagement, leading to her partner to begin investigating the strange case on his own.
The Vesuvius Club is a 2004 historical spy story by Mark Gatiss. It is the first novel in a series featuring the spy, Lucifer Box.
"The Crate" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the July 1979 issue of Gallery. In 1982, the story was adapted as a segment in the movie Creepshow, and included in comic-book form in the Creepshow graphic novella.
The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, Volume 1: Manetho's Papyrus by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the fourth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series, first published in Tintin magazine from March 23, 1950 to February 21, 1951. It appeared in book format in 1954, then was reprinted in a single-volume edition with Part 2 in 2011 (ISBN 9782870971697).
The Temple of Edfu is an Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in Edfu, Upper Egypt. The city was known in the Hellenistic period in Koine Greek as Ἀπόλλωνος πόλις and in Latin as Apollonopolis Magna, after the chief god Horus, who was identified as Apollo under the interpretatio graeca. It is one of the best preserved shrines in Egypt. The temple was built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237 and 57 BC. The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth and religion during the Hellenistic period in Egypt. In particular, the Temple's inscribed building texts "provide details [both] of its construction, and also preserve information about the mythical interpretation of this and all other temples as the Island of Creation." There are also "important scenes and inscriptions of the Sacred Drama which related the age-old conflict between Horus and Seth." They are translated by the Edfu-Project.
Mary Katherine Linaker was an American actress and screenwriter who appeared in many B movies during the 1930s and 1940s, most notably Kitty Foyle (1940). Linaker used her married name, Kate Phillips, as a screenwriter, notably for the cult film The Blob (1958). She is credited with coining the name "The Blob" for the movie, which was originally titled The Molten Meteor.
The Autograph Hound is a 1939 Donald Duck cartoon which features Donald Duck as an autograph hunter in Hollywood. Many celebrities from the 1930s are featured. This is the first cartoon where Donald Duck is featured in his blue sailor hat.
The Feathered Serpent is a 1948 mystery film, the fifth of six in which Roland Winters portrayed Charlie Chan. It is the only Chan film which featured both Keye Luke and Victor Sen Yung together. Luke had been cast in the later Warner Oland Chan films while Yung appeared primarily in the Sidney Toler Chan movies. This was Yung's last Chan movie. Luke appeared in one more with Roland Winters, the last of the Chan films, Sky Dragon (1949).
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island is a 1939 American film directed by Norman Foster, starring Sidney Toler as the fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan, that takes place on Treasure Island during San Francisco's Golden Gate International Exposition (1939-1940).
William Stack was an American actor who began his acting career in Great Britain. Over the course of his career he appeared in over 50 films in the United States and United Kingdom, including such notable films as Mary of Scotland, Captains Courageous, and Gone with the Wind.
