Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)

The Wax Museum is a classic murder mystery setting, so it's no surprise that Charlie Chan eventually ended up in one. The ominous lighting on the faces provides high-quality atmospherics, but the acting gets in the way in this one. Son Jimmy 'sneaks' around the Wax Museum - opening doors wide, and somehow not being seen or heard by the people within plain sight, and within spitting distance. While B movies always require that we stretch our suspension of disbelief, Jimmy folds, spindles and mutilates our credulity to the point of breaking. While the sons were a popular part of the Chan series, I find that all to often, any camera time given to the sons just subtracts from our Charlie time, with negative consequences. The live radio show setting is another classic - think Poirot. I can't help but think that with more time and money, this could have been a much better movie in the Chan series. As it is, I put it in the bottom 20% of Chan episodes.

I'm surprised over the number of folks that have rated this entry as their favorite "Chan" (didn't they ever see "...at the Opera" or "...at Treasure Island?"--- the latter ironically written by John Larkin, who dropped the ball here). This plot is a train wreck and overloaded with pointless characters. First, viewers are required to recall the sordid details of Steve McBirney's (played by venerable thug and HUAC squealer Marc Lawrence) 1929's murder spree. Let's not forget he escaped a capital murder rap at the courthouse with a lone policeman on his tail. There's also a victim that was fished out of a river 11 years earlier that no one ever seems concerned about. Then there's the suspension of disbelief required when all the characters are seemingly trapped in the wax museum (although Inspector O'Matthews manages to wield his fat wet rear end inside through a window). Why is Joan Valerie (as Cream's assistant) in this movie? She can't even handle pliers properly--- I realize Chan suffers the same boo-boo but yeesh, he's 66 years old here-- (and she has less than 10 lines--- and her character's motivation is too weak to ever be adequately 'splained (excuse me, when I'm on a rant I write like Ricky Ricardo). The Mary Bolton (Marguerite Chapman) character is written to as a eager wide-eyed moron, apparently existing only for the vapid romantic interest of horndog lawyer Tom Agnew (played by the ferret-faced Ted Osborne). Why is Willie Fern a character? Why couldn't McBirney's henchman pulled the switch at 8:20? (not a spoiler, okay?!). One wonders how, with the IQ of lint, he manages to dress himself or why he hadn't stepped in front of a bus years before. Toler himself is given a little more acting rope than usual (a plus) and the real kudos go to set designer Thomas Little and cinematographer Virgil Miller who created some genuinely spooky atmosphere... but this entry has less logic than a Ritz Brothers film. I'm still boggled by how a toothpick can be used as a blow gun.

I've just seen Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum for the first time and found it rather good and creepy too.A murderer who Charlie Chan helped to convict is sentenced to death and then goes on the run, determined to get his revenge on Chan. He goes to the Wax Museum to see if he can have a new face to disguise himself. Chan turns up at the night of the radio play and strange things start happening with people being killed. Most of these killings turn out to be the responsibility of the murderer, who is arrested at the end.This movie is rather creepy in parts, especially in the Wax Museum complete with a thunderstorm.Chan is played well by Sidney Toler but I've not heard of anyone else in the cast.This is a must for all Chan fans. Excellent.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Sentenced to death for robbery and murder, Steve McBirney (Marc Lawrence) shoots his way out of court by grabbing a deputy's gun, making his way to an accomplice's getaway car. He prevails upon Dr. Cream (C. Henry Gordon), of Cream's Crime Museum to make him a new face so that he can get his revenge upon Inspector Charlie Chan, whose evidence helped put him away. Dr. Cream was once a successful facial surgeon, who now uses the cover of a wax museum to double as a mob hideout."Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum" has great atmospherics; most of the story takes place at Cream's museum with it's macabre displays of famous killers. The set is creepy and creaky, providing just the right tone for a murder mystery. One exhibit in particular portrays mobster McBirney rubbing out a former confederate, Butcher Dagan. Adding to the suspense, Dr. Cream hosts a weekly radio broadcast by the Crime League, focusing on famous unsolved murder cases with prominent guests, hoping to shed new light on old crimes. Chan is invited to participate in one such broadcast, the famous "Rock Case" - Charlie has always believed Rock to have been an innocent man framed for a murder he didn't commit, but convicted upon evidence provided by criminologist Dr. Otto von Brom. Chan accepts the invitation to square off against von Brom - "Knowledge only gained through curiosity".Behind the scenes though, mobster McBirney is pulling the strings, first having his face rearranged by Dr. Cream, and then having a chair rigged to a high voltage wire that will eliminate Chan when the detective participates in the radio broadcast. McBirney's henchman talks the dimwitted night watchman Willie into throwing the switch at exactly 8:20 P.M., but plans go awry when von Brom insists on switching seats with Chan. Von Brom dies, but not by electrocution; he's the victim of a poisoned dart, delivered by a makeshift blowgun, and carrying Tonga poison used by Dayak headhunters of Borneo - huh?The film gradually introduces the usual cast of colorful characters and suspects, notably Mrs. Joe Rock (Hilda Vaughn), out to avenge her husband's execution, Dr. Cream's suspicious assistant Lily Latimer (Joan Valerie), Crime League radio host Tom Agnew (Ted Osborne), and radio engineer Edwards (Harold Goodwin). Victor Sen Yung is also on board, taking a break from his law school studies to assist "Pop" as Number #2 Son Jimmy.As far as Chan mysteries go, this one is entertaining enough, but upon close examination reveals a number of elements that weren't very well thought out, the first of which is criminal McBirney's escape from authorities at the beginning of the film. Then, when he forces Dr. Cream to give him a new face, it's done with Cream's assistant and the night watchman present to know of the details. One would think a criminal mastermind would be a little more discreet. The Dayak tonga poison ruse comes way out of left field as a murder tool, but no more so than the ultimate revelation of the murderer - it's Butcher Dagan, believed to have been dead for many years! It was Dagan who framed Rock for murder, and presumably had a lookalike pumped with thirteen bullets by McBirney - how'd he do that? Now he's turned up as the unassuming radio engineer Edwards to exact his own revenge on Dr. von Brom and McBirney, the films's two victims, and the only parties who might conceivably reveal his identity - other than the ever perceptive Charlie Chan.It's interesting that unlucky number thirteen carries more than passing significance in the movie. As mentioned earlier, thirteen was the number of bullets fired by McBirney into supposed victim Dagan; and the airing of the Crime League's radio broadcast of the Rock Case was the thirteenth episode of that series. And one more - it's mentioned that Charlie Chan's offspring still number thirteen, although that will change as soon as Monogram Studios takes over the Chan series from Twentieth Century Fox after four more Fox films."Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum" moves along at a brisk sixty three minute pace and presents a lot of information to the viewer; keeping a scorecard helps. It does entertain, though one may have to overlook some of the inconsistencies mentioned earlier. But in the end, as Charlie Chan himself would say - "Justice, like virtue, brings it's own reward."