Dangerous Money

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Dangerous Money
Dangerous Money FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Terry O. Morse
Written by Earl Derr Biggers (characters)
Miriam Kissinger
Produced byJames S. Burkett
Starring Sidney Toler
Gloria Warren
Victor Sen Yung
Rick Vallin
Cinematography William A. Sickner
Edited by William Austin
Music by Edward J. Kay
Production
company
Distributed byMonogram Pictures
Release date
  • October 12, 1946 (1946-10-12)
Running time
66 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Dangerous Money
Victor Sen Yung and Willie Best in Dangerous Money (1946) Dangerous Money (1946) - Yung & Best 1.jpg
Victor Sen Yung and Willie Best in Dangerous Money (1946)

Dangerous Money is a 1946 American film directed by Terry O. Morse, featuring Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan.

Contents

Plot

Aboard an ocean liner bound for Samoa, United States Treasury agent Scott Pearson confidentially asks Charlie Chan for help; he is on the trail of stolen currency and art treasures plundered from Philippine banks during the Japanese invasion. Two attempts have been made on his life. Chan rescues him from a third, but not the fourth (a knife in the back). The ship's captain asks Chan to complete the dead man's mission.

Cast

Production

The film's working title was Hot Money. [1]

The role of Chan's chauffeur Birmingham Brown was traditionally played by comedian Mantan Moreland, but not in this film. Mantan Moreland and Ben Carter, seen in the 1945 Chan mystery The Scarlet Clue , became so popular as a comedy team that they embarked on a coast-to-coast personal-appearance tour for eight weeks, [2] which is why Moreland was missing from the next two Chan pictures, The Red Dragon and Dangerous Money. Veteran African-American comic Willie Best substituted for him as Chattanooga Brown, Birmingham's cousin.

Sidney Toler was seriously ill during filming. Diagnosed with cancer, the 72-year-old Toler could hardly walk but insisted on seeing the project through. Monogram hired Toler's original foil, "Number Two Son" Sen Yung (now billed on screen as Victor Sen Young), easing the burden on Toler and relieving him of some of the action.

Reception

Thalia Bell of Motion Picture Daily thought Dangerous Money was par for the series: "Typical murder mystery in typical Chan style. Sidney Toler portrays the Chinese detective in familiar fashion, while Victor Sen Young and Willie Best contribute their usual style of comedy." [3] Showmen's Trade Review commented, "Entire locale of the story takes place aboard a ship, which naturally confines the action and makes the picture a little slower than most, but this shouldn't hinder its acceptance. Smooth and able in a role that seems to have become second nature to him, Sidney Toler is again the brilliant Chinese sleuth." [4]

The film is presumed to be in the public domain, due to the omission of a valid copyright notice on its original-release prints.

Notes

  1. ↑ Film Bulletin, Aug. 5, 1946, p. 33.
  2. ↑ Boxoffice, "Moreland and Carter Booked for Tour", June 9, 1945, p. 92.
  3. ↑ Thalia Bell, Motion Picture Daily, Oct. 11, 1946, p. 6.
  4. ↑ Showmen's Trade Review, Oct. 12, 1946, p. 42.
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