Dead Men Tell (1941)

Very well executed

The Worst Film Ever

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Fortunately, director Harry Lachman's interest in the Charlie Chan series was revived by "Dead Men Tell". Lachman had considerable input into designing the elaborate sets. Alas, although his work is wonderfully eerie, not a great deal of it is actually visible on the screen because, when actual filming began, he encouraged photographer Charles G. Clarke to shoot the picture mostly with spooky close-ups. However, it must be admitted that this ploy is highly successful and that all the players acquit themselves well.In fact, there are fans who regard this entry with all its noir effects and intriguing plot, as actually the very best of the whole series.

Where else could you see Hop Sing (Sen Yung) get decked (well...almost) by Superman (George Reeves)? A flying fish you say SuperDude?, 'Confuses' say "Club in hand don't look like no flying fish"Yes, number 3 son Jimmy Chan is on board a spooky ship scheduled to sail off on an adventure trip in search of treasure. Well...he's on board some of the time, but he's mainly in the water is this above average entry in the 'Charlie Chan' series. But 'Pop' Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is there to bail him out once again.Chan has to deal with the ghost of a peg-legged pirate, a small, but mysterious group of passengers, and the ship's brooding Captain. Never fear, Chan is here.The movie has a nice 'feel' to it, with plenty of atmosphere...salty, dark, and mysterious. The story itself is pretty much what you'd expect from this type of movie, but it's good enough to carry you along for the cruise. Fun little mystery.

If many of the other 'Charlie Chan' movies are real gems, some smaller, some quite big (like "The Black Camel" or "Charlie Chan's Secret"), this much lesser known film is perhaps the 'Golden Jubilee' among them all - and among mystery movies in general. With moderate, but immensely effective means, this mixture between a scary ghost story and a solid whodunit goes way beyond the general line of the 'Charlie Chan' series: there are elements of horror that can compete with any horror classic of the time, while the atmosphere is overall Noirish, with everything from the characteristic lighting effects to the feeling of doom that seems to hang over the protagonists as much as the fog on deck...Strange, but very determined elderly Miss Nodbury, the ancestor of a notorious pirate who was hanged for murder, has organized a 'treasure hunt' on the island where the pirate's treasure is hidden - worth 60,000,000 dollars! But she wants to call off the trip on board the old pirate ship 'Suva Star' the last minute, because the night before somebody tried to steal the pirate's map that was in her possession - but the old lady is clever: she has divided the map into four parts and kept only one part to herself, while she sent the other three to members of the expedition. Still, somebody obviously is craving for ALL of the pieces, and so, on the same night, pirate captain "Black Hook" himself, in whose ghost Miss Nodbury has always believed, seems to come in order to claim them and summon Miss Nodbury to her ancestors...Now don't believe that this is just another whodunit with only a little bit of 'ghost hokum' in it - there are moments when the strange, melancholy melody that 'means death', as Miss Nodbury insisted, and the sound of the pirate's wooden leg approaching ACTUALLY make not only the expedition members, but also us think our conviction that there ARE no ghosts over again...But then, of course, there's a VERY real murder to solve; because while you COULD explain Miss Nodbury's death as a natural one, due to her heart problems and her strong belief in ghosts - you certainly can't put the blame for the suffocation of a man in an old diving bell on supernatural powers! And there's a really illustrious group of suspects on board, from a numismatist who doesn't seem to know his occupation's scientific name to a neurotic and his woman psychiatrist to the hardened, taciturn captain himself...This movie is indeed perfect in EVERY way: the eerie atmosphere the direction creates with all means from the settings to the sound effects to the shadows and the fog is completed by a marvelous cast - in particular Ethel Griffies as the pirate's heiress is simply MAGNIFICENT. In order not to scare the wits out of the audience completely, of course some humor is added as always (with Jimmy falling into the harbor basin with every opportunity) - but all ye who are about to watch this movie for the first time, be prepared for some VERY creepy moments! But speaking seriously now, as a long-time fanatic of classic B movies: to my knowledge and in my opinion, this is about the MOST underrated B mystery movie of all times.

It seems as if "Dead Men Tell" is over just as it's about to get interesting, with Inspector Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) solving two murders in virtually record time. The action takes place aboard a docked sailing vessel, The Suva Star, which has been chartered to host a treasure hunt cruise for sixty million dollars hidden on Cocos Island. Miss Patience Nodbury (Ethel Griffies) has divided the treasure map into four pieces, and has distributed them to members of the cruise party without each others knowledge. Miss Nodbury becomes the first victim, frightened to death by the "ghost" of the pirate Black Hook, an ancestor who escorts members of the Nodbury family into the "other world".Victor Sen Yung again helps his "Pop" as Number #2 Son Jimmy, and spends much of his time falling into and climbing out of the harbor, adding to the perception that as an aspiring detective, he's all wet. Before becoming the second victim, future TV Superman George Reeves makes an appearance as an escaped murderer and bank robber, posing as of all things, a newspaper reporter! Milton Parsons plays his part as an anxiety suffering neurotic well, and skulks in and out of shadows enough to be considered a likely suspect. There are other characters as well, and as with most Charlie Chan films, a scorecard helps to keep track of who's who, but this one moves along so quickly that it's almost a moot point. So too do the pieces of the treasure map wind up in more places than a pea in a shell game. When Charlie finally reveals the killer, it comes rather quickly out of left field, with the generally obligatory Chan exposition left out.Nevertheless, "Dead Men Tell" offers a rather atmospheric setting and enough bumps in the night to keep one's interest for it's quick pacing. The pairing of Griffies and Parsons in the film also worked well enough to recommend them for another Chan movie the following year, "Castle in the Desert".