Dark Alibi (1946)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is asked to prove the innocence of a man already convicted of murder and scheduled to be executed. So Charlie tries to get to the bottom of how the man's fingerprints could have been at the scene of the crime if he was innocent. He's got help from incompetent son Tommy (Benson Fong) and trite comic relief Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). There's a moronic scene where Tommy and Birmingham wander around a prison with no guards even noticing. It's a typically cheap Monogram movie with shoddy writing. Moreland's old vaudeville partner Ben Carter returns for the second time in the series to do one of their old vaudeville routines. It's amusing but essentially the same bit they did the last time. Janet Shaw, Joyce Compton, Teala Loring and Chan regulars Milton Parsons and John Eldredge also appear. The script is particularly weak. One of the biggest flaws in the Monogram series versus the Fox one is that the scripts are so bad. Often Sidney Toler seems to be padding his lines in an effort to make the scene work. In the older series, particularly throughout the Warner Oland years, Charlie seemed wise beyond his years. In the Monogram films he just seems smug. Don't even get me started on the lack of good aphorisms that Charlie Chan is known for. Here he spouts nonsense about "if tooth is missing, gap will tell us much" or some such baloney. If you've seen some of the Monogram Chans and liked them, you will probably enjoy this more than I did. If you're new to Charlie Chan movies, do yourself a favor and start with the Fox films. Don't let your first Chan film be from Monogram or you might never want to try another.

*Spoiler/plot- Dark Alibi, 1946. Charlie Chan mysteries. The famous Honolulu Hawaii based Asian detective gets called in to another mystery and solves it with great deduction, humor, and charm.*Special Stars- Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland & Ben Carter, Benson Fong.*Theme- A detective's observation and deductive power can solve mysteries.*Trivia/location/goofs- B&W. Made during WW2. This is the 40th of 47 Charlie Chan films made.*Emotion- Non-Asian playing Asian roles? Although this series has become a victim of Politically Correctnesses and racial matters in recent years, the entertainment value and charm of this series still holdup. There have been many actors playing Charlie Chan, but Mr Sidney Toler seems to have captured the essence of the polite yet strong detective in his Chan portrayals. This film still provides great entertainment and charm of a by-gone era.

Although the premise was way far-fetched Dark Alibi is nicely done and one of the better Charlie Chan features coming from Monogram. Sidney Toler as Chan takes on a case where time is essential, the life of Edward Earle who was convicted for a robbery/homicide is at stake, he's scheduled to go to the chair in nine days.Ironically technology has caught up to the events of this film. The idea of forging fingerprints and leaving them at the scene of a crime as a false clue is not anything startling today. In fact it's fairly simple if you want to take the time and trouble to do same. Still in 1946 I'm sure it was a shock to many.Poor Earle in order to be freed has to find out who put him in the jackpot. And it doesn't take long for Charlie to be convinced of his innocence when on the way to state prison someone takes some sniper shots at him. That by the way was the weakness of the film. No reason to shoot at him yet as he wasn't on to anything yet.There are more than one individual involved in this, in fact it's quite a list of conspirators. And in fact there is one real big connection to the state prison where Earle is counting down his last hours.Ben Carter plays one of the prisoners and an old friend of Mantan Moreland playing the Chan family chauffeur Birmingham. These two had a nice comic act before going into films involving them in a conversation where they constantly interrupt each other's words. They know what they're talking about, but poor Tommy Chan played by Benson Fong is standing there without a clue. Wonderful comic timing all around.Good Charlie Chan film and a masterpiece coming from Monogram.

While the quality of this Charlie Chan film isn't quite up to the exceptional quality of most of the Twentieth-Century Fox Chan films, it does rank among the better films of the series produced by Monogram Pictures. Most of this is because the mystery itself is more interesting--more of a real mystery than you find in most of the films.As usual, one of the Chan clan is on hand to provide help for their father. Tommy Chan (Benson Fong) actually is a bit more helpful and resourceful than usual. However, the acerbic tongue of Sidney Toler (as Charlie) is as cutting as ever as he makes many amusing comments about the "help" usually provided by Tommy and their driver, Birmingham.This film begins with a man being convicted of robbery and murder. However, the man swears he didn't do it. Charlie is called in my the family to try to sort out how the man's finger prints could be at the crime scene and yet he be an innocent man. While the technology to fake prints isn't apparently possible, how Chan is able to piece it all together is pretty interesting and makes for an excellent plot.By the way, Mantan Moreland and his old stage partner Ben Carter do a couple old comedy routines together throughout the film. They also did a similar scene in another Chan film, SCARLET CLUE. Many might find this and the antics of Moreland throughout the film an offensive Black stereotype in film, though they are pretty entertaining despite their political incorrectness.