Charlie Chan in The Jade Mask (1945)

Pretty Good

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

One of the more creative Monogram Charlie Chan movies, The Jade Mask involves the murder of a scientist named Harper who developed a gas that can turn wood into a substance as tough as steel. Naturally this would be very useful for the government to have for the war effort (World War II that is). Harper's entire family become suspects and it is up to Charlie Chan, his number four son Eddie and Birmingham Brown to figure out who did it.The thing that sticks out most about this film is the fact that there is no jade mask, and no reference is ever made to a jade mask. Rather, Mr. Harper had plaster life masks made up of his family in order to be able to identify them should they ever try to steal from him. The masks do play a role in solving the crime.As with all the Monogram Charlie Chan's, the budget for this movie was very low, and the set where the film takes place is reused throughout many of the Monogram Charlie Chan films. The acting is not entirely the best either, Number Four Son is well below the quality of Number One Son, and is somewhere on par with Number One Daughter. Mantan Mooreland steals the show as usual. This is essentially a typical mid to late run Charlie Chan film. Entertaining, but of low quality.

A marvelously spooky beginning, with a shadowy figure in black, stealthily approaching a mansion in the fog, sets the tone for this odd, but entertaining Charlie Chan adventure. A secretive butler, a sarcastic lab assistant, various disgruntled relatives, and unknown suspects are all candidates for the murder of a scientist working on a secret formula for the war effort.Charlie is called in to investigate and finds himself in a house full of strange devices and stranger characters. Well meaning assistance is provided by nervous chauffeur Birmingham and son Eddie Chan, the formal, intellectual member of the family. The slow talking but sharp witted Sheriff Mack is played delightfully by well known character actor Alan Bridge, who engages in friendly banter with Charlie and is only too glad to let him do most of the investigating.There are some clever twists and unexpected angles that make the increasingly improbable story a lot of fun, even if it gets a little far fetched at the end.The film is no masterpiece, but is thoroughly entertaining, with a kind of naive charm so often found in old movies.

I don't this one needs that much elaboration on the previous comments, but thought I would add my few for what it's worth, as a series of observations more than anything else.*Toler wasn't as good or convincing as Oland. Not close. The make-up was kinda bad too.*I find Mantan Moreland to be funny in these, but I do recognize the Spook character he portrayed was def. offensive to many. The catching up to the car gag at the end is a hoot.*Ed Luke is a block of wood.*Puppets as killers was a neat twist.*You couldn't keep the characters straight at times as they're brought in with a bare minimum of intro, and well-there you are.*The acting was pretty clunky for the most part.*Enjoyed the Scooby-Doo breakaway mask ending.*You couldn't really buy the gal in question was 'Strong as a man' but fine, Toler as Chinese is less valid.*Movie was only 67 minutes long, but so leaden paced it seems to go longer.*So that's what a Dictaphone/belt looked like.....

Loosely based on novels by Earl Derr Biggers, 20th Century Fox's Charlie Chan series proved an audience favorite--but when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the studio feared audiences would turn against its Asian hero. This was a miscalculation: actor Sidney Toler took the role to "poverty row" Monogram Studios, where he continued to portray the character in eleven more films made between 1944 and his death in 1947.20th Century Fox had regarded the Chan films as inexpensive "B" movies, but even so the studio took considerable care with them: the plots were often silly, but the pace was sharp, the dialogue witty, and the casts (which featured the likes of Bela Lugosi and Ray Milland) always expert. The result was a kindly charm which has stood the test of time. Monogram was a different matter: Chan films were "B" movies plain and simple. Little care was taken with scripts or cast and resulting films were flat, usually mediocre at best, virtually unwatchable at worst.Released in 1945, THE JADE MASK is one of the very few Monograms that approaches the quality level of the 20th Century Fox series. This largely due to the expert cast and witty script, both of which are a bit unusual for Monogram. In this particular tale, Chan--who now works for the government during World War II--is called upon to investigate the murder of a scientist working with potentially beneficial but distinctly deadly gasses. Sidney Toler's Chan is always enjoyable, and he is aided in this by the local sheriff (Alan Bridge, who has the best lines in the film) and the inevitable Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland.) Fans of the 20th Century Fox series are likely to find Monogram's Chan a significant disappointment and newcomers who like the Monogram films will probably consider them third-rate after encountering the Fox films. Even so, THE JADE MASK is unexpectedly good, and I think most Chan fans will find it enjoyable.GFT, Amazon Reviewer