Dead Men Tell (1941)

I love this movie so much

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There is murder on board a ship that is taking its customers to an island where there is a 60,000,000 dollar treasure (or so we're told). The map has been divided into fourths to be distributed once they reach the island. Jimmy Chan stows away (what else is new) and while there an old lady is murdered (she has one of the pieces) by someone dressed as a pirate. Meanwhile, Charlie Chan comes aboard, looking for his number two son. As it turns out there are all sorts of people who could be responsible, including the captain of the ship who hates people and would rather have nothing to do with them. Jimmy, who is in this episode too much, starts investigating. He ends up dropping the water on at least four occasions. He muddles up the case again. This is fun because of the locale. There are numerous misleading clues. By the way, George Reeves appears in this one. He is the one who starred in "The Adventures of Superman" back in the fifties. This is a decent mystery.

***SPOILERS*** Our hero Charlie Chan, Sidney Toler, gets involved in this murder case when his bumbling #2 Son Jimmy, Sen Young, gets himself involved in a treasure hunt by sneaking on the ship "Suva Star" that's taking a group of passengers to far off Cocos Island in the Caribbean. It's there at Cocos where 60 million in gold has been buried by pirate Black Hook Nodbury in the 18th century for safe keeping. Black Hook's descendant Patience Nodbury, Ethel Griffies, who's financing the treasure hunt had cut the map leading to the treasure into four pieces and sent it to the four persons who on on the trip. That so that none of then can have an advantage in finding it unless the four decide to put the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle. As for #2 Son Jimmy he's determined to find the treasure himself even though he wasn't invited on the cruse.Right for the start things go wrong before the ship "Suva Star" sets out to sea. With Mrs. Nodbury dropping dead from fright when she sees the long dead Black Hook Nodbury show up at her cabin waving his hook at her. Charlie who's only looking for his #2 son Jimmy ends up getting involved in solving Mrs. Nodbury's death as well as one of the passengers escaped murderer posing as a newspaper man Bill Lydig's, Gerorge Reeves, murder after he was found suffocated in a diving bell. ***SPOILERS**** With all the evidence now pointing to passengers psychoanalyst Dr. Anne Bonny, Lenita Lane, and her ultra neurotic patient Gene La Farge, Milton Parsons, who had earlier tried to get #2 Son Jimmy to walk blindfolded off the plank something else, out of left field, pops up to make to plot more interesting: Revenge!. Charlie finds out that the skipper of the "Suva Star" Capt. Kane, had taken advantage of the treasure hunt not to find the treasure but the person who some 20 years earlier tried to kill him and left him stranded on Cocos Island to die of starvation. Now with him in charge of the treasure hunt and his intended victim not knowing who he is Capt.Kane plans to pay back in spades!P.S As for #2 Son Jimmy he spent so many times falling or diving into the water that with all that experience he can easily qualify for the US Olympic diving team!

If many of the other 'Charlie Chan' movies are real gems, some smaller, some quite big (like "The Black Camel" or "Charlie Chan's Secret"), this much lesser known film is perhaps the 'Golden Jubilee' among them all - and among mystery movies in general. With moderate, but immensely effective means, this mixture between a scary ghost story and a solid whodunit goes way beyond the general line of the 'Charlie Chan' series: there are elements of horror that can compete with any horror classic of the time, while the atmosphere is overall Noirish, with everything from the characteristic lighting effects to the feeling of doom that seems to hang over the protagonists as much as the fog on deck...Strange, but very determined elderly Miss Nodbury, the ancestor of a notorious pirate who was hanged for murder, has organized a 'treasure hunt' on the island where the pirate's treasure is hidden - worth 60,000,000 dollars! But she wants to call off the trip on board the old pirate ship 'Suva Star' the last minute, because the night before somebody tried to steal the pirate's map that was in her possession - but the old lady is clever: she has divided the map into four parts and kept only one part to herself, while she sent the other three to members of the expedition. Still, somebody obviously is craving for ALL of the pieces, and so, on the same night, pirate captain "Black Hook" himself, in whose ghost Miss Nodbury has always believed, seems to come in order to claim them and summon Miss Nodbury to her ancestors...Now don't believe that this is just another whodunit with only a little bit of 'ghost hokum' in it - there are moments when the strange, melancholy melody that 'means death', as Miss Nodbury insisted, and the sound of the pirate's wooden leg approaching ACTUALLY make not only the expedition members, but also us think our conviction that there ARE no ghosts over again...But then, of course, there's a VERY real murder to solve; because while you COULD explain Miss Nodbury's death as a natural one, due to her heart problems and her strong belief in ghosts - you certainly can't put the blame for the suffocation of a man in an old diving bell on supernatural powers! And there's a really illustrious group of suspects on board, from a numismatist who doesn't seem to know his occupation's scientific name to a neurotic and his woman psychiatrist to the hardened, taciturn captain himself...This movie is indeed perfect in EVERY way: the eerie atmosphere the direction creates with all means from the settings to the sound effects to the shadows and the fog is completed by a marvelous cast - in particular Ethel Griffies as the pirate's heiress is simply MAGNIFICENT. In order not to scare the wits out of the audience completely, of course some humor is added as always (with Jimmy falling into the harbor basin with every opportunity) - but all ye who are about to watch this movie for the first time, be prepared for some VERY creepy moments! But speaking seriously now, as a long-time fanatic of classic B movies: to my knowledge and in my opinion, this is about the MOST underrated B mystery movie of all times.

A "treasure hunt cruise" is all lined up—but the ship never leaves the dock in this mystery featuring a pirate ghost, a treasure map, a couple of murders, and the usual lineup of suspicious characters. Jimmy Chan helps get the action started by sneaking aboard the darkened ship to investigate, his imagination fired by news about the expedition to retrieve $60 million of hidden treasure. Pop Charlie Chan comes looking for Jimmy, intending to take him home—which is how both Chans happen to be on the ship when the first murder occurs.Sidney Toler is fine as always as the elder Chan; Sen Yung has a larger role than usual as Jimmy, and gives an energetic—practically manic—performance as the would-be detective whose curiosity is matched only by his enthusiasm. Toler and Yung, by now veterans of several films in these roles, complement each other perfectly. The plot concerns an alleged treasure map, divided into four pieces and distributed among the would-be passengers. When the map's owner (and tour sponsor) is murdered and her map portion disappears, it becomes apparent that someone else on board is out to grab all four sections. Not surprisingly, practically all of the passengers and crew seem to harbor secrets of one kind or another….The entire film is set inside the ship, outside in the harbor, or in a neighboring waterfront bar…and it all takes place at night. Nicely designed sets and good shadowy photography create an atmosphere that is sinister and just slightly spooky. Jimmy Chan can't seem to keep out of the water in this one….And my favorite line from the picture is the elder Chan's response to Jimmy's apology for falling in yet again: "Please. Save alibi for autobiography."