Now, I may be biased, but IMO "Charlie Chan's Secret" is one of the VERY best movies of the whole series. It masterfully mixes supernatural experiments, complete with Ouija-boards, mediums, séances in darkened rooms with ghastly 'apparitions' with a very REAL murder case - where the culprit finally isn't too hard to find out for an experienced crime fan; but it's the AMTOSPHERE that counts.
And without being a horror movie, this unique film has some exceptionally scary moments for which many a 'real' horror movie could certainly envy it. On the other hand, though, there's also the clear, logic reasoning of Charlie Chan and his co-star, Henrietta Crosman as Mrs. Lowell, who is a fervent believer in the communication with the dead, but also shows quite remarkable guts!
The murder victim is millionaire Allen Colby, who'd been away for years, but suddenly turns up again - much to the chagrin of his aunt's (Mrs. Lowell's) family, who had hoped to inherit his fortune, as well as to Mrs. Lowell's trusted psychic couple, which has already earned quite a nice sum from their obviously faked séances. Then there is janitor Ulrich, who'd hated Crosby ever since he'd seduced his daughter and then dropped her like an old glove, and the poor girl committed suicide, and Colby's lawyer and trustee Phelps... So, as we see, there are QUITE a lot of suspects to choose from! But since Charlie realizes that he'll never get a confession out of any of them, he decides to catch the murderer red-handed - and for that purpose, he applies a VERY clever trick: his 'secret', as the title suggests...
This movie REALLY holds you in its spell from the first to the last moment - and when there are moments without the creepiness of dark séance rooms in the old house especially prepared for those procedures, or the even darker secret passageways behind its walls, there are surprisingly welcome comical sequences provided by the ever-scared butler Baxter (Herbert Mundin)... Hollywood entertainment at its VERY best!!
And without being a horror movie, this unique film has some exceptionally scary moments for which many a 'real' horror movie could certainly envy it. On the other hand, though, there's also the clear, logic reasoning of Charlie Chan and his co-star, Henrietta Crosman as Mrs. Lowell, who is a fervent believer in the communication with the dead, but also shows quite remarkable guts!
The murder victim is millionaire Allen Colby, who'd been away for years, but suddenly turns up again - much to the chagrin of his aunt's (Mrs. Lowell's) family, who had hoped to inherit his fortune, as well as to Mrs. Lowell's trusted psychic couple, which has already earned quite a nice sum from their obviously faked séances. Then there is janitor Ulrich, who'd hated Crosby ever since he'd seduced his daughter and then dropped her like an old glove, and the poor girl committed suicide, and Colby's lawyer and trustee Phelps... So, as we see, there are QUITE a lot of suspects to choose from! But since Charlie realizes that he'll never get a confession out of any of them, he decides to catch the murderer red-handed - and for that purpose, he applies a VERY clever trick: his 'secret', as the title suggests...
This movie REALLY holds you in its spell from the first to the last moment - and when there are moments without the creepiness of dark séance rooms in the old house especially prepared for those procedures, or the even darker secret passageways behind its walls, there are surprisingly welcome comical sequences provided by the ever-scared butler Baxter (Herbert Mundin)... Hollywood entertainment at its VERY best!!