The Chinese Cat | |
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Directed by | Phil Rosen |
Written by | Earl Derr Biggers (characters) George Callahan (screenplay) |
Produced by | Phillip N. Krasne James S. Burkett |
Starring | Sidney Toler Joan Woodbury Mantan Moreland |
Cinematography | Ira H. Morgan |
Edited by | John Link |
Music by | David Chudnow |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Monogram Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 66 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Chinese Cat (also titled Murder in the Funhouse) is a 1944 mystery film starring Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan.
Mr. Manning is murdered in his study while the door is locked from the inside. Police close the case after 6 months. A girl contacts Charlie Chan to have a look before he leaves in 48 hours. Twins are involved in a diamond-smuggling ring after the Kohinoor Diamonds are stolen; one twin is killed and the other living twin masquerades as a ghost tricking Birmingham Brown. Mr. Manning had the largest stone stored in the secret compartment of a Chinese cat statue, and doublecrossed his associates. Movie ends in a carnival funhouse with police arresting the diamond-smuggling ring for three murders. Rival author of Manning Murder Solved book must now pay $20,000 to Chinese War Relief after a lost bet with Charlie Chan about the murderer's identity.
The film was the second Charlie Chan movie from Monogram. It was originally called Charlie Chan and the Perfect Crime and filming started on 4 January 1944. [1]
This is the film where Birmingham Brown is permanently hired as Charlie Chan's chauffeur. He is looking for a new job after the guilty criminals blow up his taxicab with a bomb.
Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes and villains like Fu Manchu. Many stories feature Chan traveling the world beyond Hawaii as he investigates mysteries and solves crimes.
Benson Fong was an American character actor.
Victor Sen Young was an American character actor, best known for playing Jimmy Chan in the Charlie Chan films and Hop Sing in the western series Bonanza. He was born in San Francisco, California to Gum Yung Sen and his first wife, both immigrants from China.
Sidney Toler was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second European-American actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his portrayal of the Chinese-American detective in 22 films made between 1938 and 1946. Before becoming Chan, Toler played supporting roles in 50 motion pictures, and was a highly regarded comic actor on the Broadway stage.
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Shadows Over Chinatown is a 1946 American mystery film directed by Terry O. Morse and starring Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung and Tanis Chandler. It is the second-to-last film starring Toler as Charlie Chan.
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Black Magic, later retitled Meeting at Midnight for television, is a 1944 mystery film directed by Phil Rosen and starring Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan.
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City in Darkness, also known as Charlie Chan in City in Darkness is a 1939 American drama film directed by Herbert I. Leeds and starring Sidney Toler, Lynn Bari, and Richard Clark. It is one of the films in the Charlie Chan film series, the fourth starring Toler, and was released on December 1, 1939.