Chinatown Squad (1935)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

In the 1930s and into the 40s, Hollywood made a million B mystery movies and, apart from westerns, were about the most popular sort of low-budget picture. And, in most, the formula was very, very similar...a murder occurs and the cops are mostly idiots, so it's up to an amateur to come in and show everyone how to solve the case. Because I love Bs so much, I must have seen at least a few hundred films like "Chinatown Squad"...and this one is very typical. It has the dumb cops, the baffling murder and the talented amateur, though in this case Ted Lacey (Lyle Talbot) WAS a cop but somehow got in trouble....and this case might help him get back on the force. The case involves a dead guy who is discovered in Chinatown and it all involves money for the Chinese communist cause (an unusual subject matter for the time, actually). In many ways, this film is exactly like the products from all the other studios--particularly Monogram, who seemed to have made the most B murder mysteries. The acting is a bit better than usual and the cops just as dumb...so dumb you wonder why Ted would WANT to be back on the force! Worth seeing but far from a must-see.

1935's "Chinatown Squad" was one of the handful of non genre titles included in Universal's popular SHOCK! package issued to television in the late 50s. I never encountered it on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, but it probably rates as one of the better ones, all 'B' programmers of little distinction, most of which dealt with spies or sabotage. This is a welcome whodunit with Lyle Talbot, still in the leading man phase of his career, getting most of the humorous lines, at the expense of Hugh O'Connell's bumbling police sergeant. The murder victim is conniving embezzler Earl Raybold (Clay Clement), who gets stabbed to death by fork (!) in a Chinatown cafe where all the suspects have conveniently shown up. The busy Valerie Hobson, fresh from "WereWolf of London" and "Bride of Frankenstein," is the main asset, playing a mysterious woman in black, trying to retrieve some incriminating letters from the dead man, while others search for a valuable ring which has disappeared. While monster loving urchins like myself would have turned up their noses at viewing this picture on local 'Creature Features,' this now adult movie buff found it most agreeable.

I first saw this as a broadcast movie in the late 1950s and have never forgotten how enjoyable was the experience. Considering the talents involved in the production (Schary and Blochman, for example) that is not surprising. Good ensamble cast including Talbot, O'Connell, Warren and Devine. Humorous reparte between Talbot and O'Connell adds to the enjoyment already supplied by the fast pace of the plot and the effective use of exterior shots of San Francisco's streets. Even if you are not a fan of this genre of 1930s B films, check it out. You will be rewarded!

This minor entry in the Universal Studios canon has mystery, comedy and romance in the Thin Man vein. After a murder in a Chinatown cafe, ex-policeman and Chinatown tour guide Ted Lacey decides to investigate in spite of the objections of his former sergeant. The mysterious Woman in Black, Chinese communists and a missing $70,000 is not going to deter our hero from discovering the real killer. A pity that there aren't more unknown gems like this one around.