Charlie Chan in The Jade Mask (1945)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It is obvious that as the Charlie Chan series moved from 20th Century Fox over to Monogram that quality diminished a great deal both in the technical and in the actual storyline content. It is obvious that the screenwriters were putting in many twists and turns into the short running times of these programmers because it is not always easy to remember who is involved in what scheme and who was there or not around when the murder took place. The actual murder here is quite chilling, almost like an old-dark house theme as it is set up, but the list of suspects are entirely all too stereotypical, with the acting not up to par as previous entries in the series. Chan has gone onto #4 son (Edwin Luke) as his sidekick here, more intellectual here and less of a "Gee pop" All American guy who happens to be of Chinese descent. Mantan Moreland gets his usual number of malapropisms and cowardly desires to flee from danger, some funny, some not. It appears here that Monogram simply left one of its Z-grade horror movie sets up so they could rush through another Chan film to collect some easy profits. Such a shame they didn't spend more time on the script.

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates the murder of a scientist in a spooky mansion. This is one of the better Chan films made at Monogram. There's plenty of atmosphere and the claustrophobic setting of the mansion helps keep the suspense up.Thankfully, Mantan Moreland's Birmingham Brown character doesn't louse it all up with his fear of spooks and bug-eyed double takes. He's actually kind of subdued in this one, which I appreciated. No Benson Fong as Tommy Chan here (yay!) but also no Frances Chan (boo!). Instead, we get Eddie Chan (Edwin Luke). I forget what numbered son he is. He's about as exciting as watching paint dry. The part seems like it could have been pretty good with a better actor. Eddie's supposed to be a nerdy kid with long-winded textbook explanations for simple things. It could have been funny but in wooden Edwin Luke's hands, it's not. He recites a lot of his lines like he's reading them off of cue cards. Anyway, despite the presence of Eddie and Birmingham , it's still a watchable and often enjoyable Chan film. There's no jade mask anywhere in the movie, though.

Eccentric and rich scientist Frank Reicher is working on a poison gas formula and he's got the usual collection of servants, relatives, and colleagues in his mansion. That mansion also contains a room where Reicher does his work, keeps his secrets, and can only be opened or closed with a voice command. Should someone not authorized get in, good chance they'll trip a trap that will lock them in and kill them with poison gas.Despite all this security Reicher winds up murdered and in a most exotic way. Before this Charlie Chan film is concluded four more victims will die. And they'll die in the same exotic way most of them. The method I won't reveal because it's way too good.Sidney Toler plays the all wise Charlie Chan in this and despite help from number 4 son Edward Luke and Mantan Moreland, Toler solves the case. As for the title, where Jade comes in I don't know, but life masks are an integral part of the case allowing the murderer to whatever evil is planned.For a Monogram Picture,The Jade Mask wasn't too bad and Charlie is at the top of his game.

A marvelously spooky beginning, with a shadowy figure in black, stealthily approaching a mansion in the fog, sets the tone for this odd, but entertaining Charlie Chan adventure. A secretive butler, a sarcastic lab assistant, various disgruntled relatives, and unknown suspects are all candidates for the murder of a scientist working on a secret formula for the war effort.Charlie is called in to investigate and finds himself in a house full of strange devices and stranger characters. Well meaning assistance is provided by nervous chauffeur Birmingham and son Eddie Chan, the formal, intellectual member of the family. The slow talking but sharp witted Sheriff Mack is played delightfully by well known character actor Alan Bridge, who engages in friendly banter with Charlie and is only too glad to let him do most of the investigating.There are some clever twists and unexpected angles that make the increasingly improbable story a lot of fun, even if it gets a little far fetched at the end.The film is no masterpiece, but is thoroughly entertaining, with a kind of naive charm so often found in old movies.