Charlie Chan Goes Agatha Christie

Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan.

While Warner Oland is my favorite Charlie Chan, I still enjoy many of Sidney Toler's outings as Earl Derr Biggers' Hawaiian police detective. One of Toler's best entries in the long-running film series is Castle in the Desert.

Like many Chan movies, the setting plays a critical role in the plot. The "castle" in Castle in the Desert turns out be an isolated $20 million mansion in the Mojave Desert with no electricity and no phone. It's owned by Paul Manderley, a wealthy recluse who wears a scarf over half of his face, and his wife Lucy. She is a descendant of the Borgias and, as if that wasn't bad enough, her brother stood trial for murder by poison.

In the film's opening scene, a genealogist named Professor Gleason arrives at the Manderleys' estate. He barely has time to meet his hosts and drink a cocktail before collapsing to the floor--the apparent victim of poison! Shortly thereafter, Charlie Chan receives a typed letter from Mrs. Manderley stating that her life is danger. When Charlie goes to investigate, his No. 2 son Jimmy Chan--who is on leave from military service--follows his "Pop."

Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Young, and Douglas Dumbrille.

Released in 1942, Castle in the Desert shares several similarities with Agatha Christie's classic whodunit And Then There Were None. The most notable is the isolated setting that prevents suspects from leaving. In Christie's novel, the suspects are stranded on an island. In Castle in the Desert, someone steals the distributor cap from the only automobile--thus stranding everyone at the Manderleys' desert estate. Interestingly, 1974's Ten Little Indians, an adaptation of Christie's novel, changes the novel's setting to the desert (though an Iranian desert instead of the Mojave).

Veteran villain Henry Daniell.

Unlike some of Oland's Chan films, the cast of Castle in the Desert doesn't feature any future stars like Rita Hayworth and Ray Milland. However, it does have villain extraordinaire Henry Daniell as on one of the suspects. But he's too obvious to be the murderer...or is he?

As occasionally happens in older films, there are a couple of lines about Chan's ethnicity that might elicit a groan from modern audiences. For example, when Charlie arrives in the closest town to the Manderleys' castle, someone asks if he is a chop suey salesman. Later, a guest assumes Charlie must be a servant at the house.

The Charlie Chan films aren't for all tastes, but they are among the best of the "B" movies mysteries. The quality gradually declined during Toler's run and the Roland Winters movies are best avoided. Castle in the Desert is an above average Toler outing and chock full of Chan proverbs, with my fave being: "Man without enemies like dog without fleas." Well said, Charlie.