When I was little, my brother and I would stay up late at night any time Charlie Chan was on the midnight movie schedule on one of the local television stations. So I've been a fan for 35 years. And even though there are a few moments I enjoy, The Scarlet Clue has always been among my least favorite of the Chan series. Far too much time is spent on Number 3 Son and Birmingham Brown and not enough is spent on Charlie interviewing suspects and gathering clues. What clues Chan does find are so obvious that any detective should have been able to piece the mystery together. The script gives the killer too much leeway in the rigging of intricate electric devices used for murder. Surely someone would have noticed a trap door being installed in the elevator. And the whole Chan working for the government against the Nazis in WWII is not my cup of tea. Give me a big old house full of suspicious looking suspects, each with a motive for murder.To each his own though. I'm sure that my list of favorite Chan films would include some that fans of The Scarlet Clue would consider among the worst.
4/10
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