Castle in the Desert (1942)
Charlie Chan, with son Jimmy on a week's pass from the Army, takes up a request for help at a castle-home, miles from anywhere in the American desert south-west and inhabited by an eccentric, reclusive historian and his wife, a descendant of Lucrezia Borgia. Once there, he finds the request's legitimacy denied by all who are present, but still necessary as one houseguest has already been murdered, the other guests are at each other's throat, and the Borgia-related chatelain is suspected...
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Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is summoned to a mysterious castle in the Mojave Desert where a bizarre masked man (Douglas Dumbrille) lives with his wife, a descendant of the famous Borgia family. There are also several other guests at the castle. When one of them is poisoned, Charlie must investigate with meddlesome son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung).The last of the 20th Century Fox Charlie Chan films is one of the weirdest. The plot, at its heart, is a simple old dark house mystery. But the setting here, a castle in a desert, is different enough to keep things somewhat fresh. Also the eccentric characters help out a lot. It's an enjoyable entry in the Fox series. Not the best or worst but somewhere in the middle. Sadly, the quality would drop considerably when the series moved to Monogram a couple of years later.
As another commenter mentioned, this Chan does not end well. If you're a Chan fan, you'll enjoy it - it's done quite wellbut the reveal at the end leaves the attentive viewer scratching his/her head. The truth is that loose ends are very common in murder mysteries - only the best are well thought out and sewed up at the end. In this case, we're left wondering how in the world a British detective/sculptor came to be hired by Mrs Manderley in the California desert. And oh, by the way, how did her evil step-brother replace or become that detective? And the guy in the suit of armor? Charlie refers to his law-breaking, but no to his motive. If you watch Charlie for the atmosphere, sit back and enjoy. If you're a mystery fan, don't take this plot too seriously.
This is my sixth review of a Charlie Chan movie in which I go through them in chronological order of when they were made for these consecutive days. This was also the last one made for 20th Century-Fox before the series moved to Monogram, two years later. In this one, Chan goes to the title place after a couple of murders had occurred. One of the family members there is a descendant of the infamous Borgias...Starts off well enough but by the end, I was a little confused by some of Charlie's explanations of what happened. Also, I didn't find many of his exchanges with "No. 2 son" Jimmy all that funny though his wisdom proverbs are still pretty amusing. So on that note, Castle in the Desert is worth a look and nothing more. P.S. I actually noticed a blooper when one of the "statues" moved when Jimmy came closer to him!
Considered by many as the best of the Chan's this is possibly the one I like the least. The plot has Chan answering a call from someone needing his services and going alone to the title location. When he arrives he finds that a poisoner is on the loose. For me the film is all about the location, the huge sets of the castle are spectacular, however the plot gets lost in the empty halls. Its not that the plot is bad, its just there isn't enough to sustain the running time of about an hour. Even Jimmy Chan's appearance fails to add any sort of life to the proceedings. As much as I watch and rewatch the other films this is one I watch the least, doing so when ever it happens to come up on its no infrequent TV airings.