Black Magic [Charlie Chan in Black Magic] * (1944, Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Frances Chan, Jacqueline de Wit, Claudia Dell) – Classic Movie Review 9054

Director Phil Rosen’s 1944 thriller Black Magic [Charlie Chan in Black Magic] [Meeting at Midnight] is a weak Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) mystery about the Oriental Detective probing a séance killing.

Toler carries on regardless, and Frances Chan has much to do as Charlie’s daughter Frances, but Mantan Moreland is back as Charlie’s regular driver Birmingham Brown and overacts dreadfully, sabotaging any realism. Interestingly, this is the only film in which a daughter (Frances) plays Charlie’s assistant role usually given to Chan’s sons Lee, Jimmy or Tommy.

Birmingham gets a job as butler to William and Justine Bonner (Dick Gordon, Jacqueline deWit), psychics who conduct occult events at their house. Frances becomes a murder suspect when she attends a séance and Mr Bonner is shot.

Also in the cast are Jacqueline deWit, Claudia Dell, Edward Earle, Ralph Peters, Joseph Crehan as Police Sgt. Matthews, Helen Beverley, Geraldine Wall, Dick Gordon, Harry Depp, Charles Jordan and Frank Jaquet.

Black Magic [Charlie Chan in Black Magic] [Meeting at Midnight] is directed by Phil Rosen, runs 67 minutes, is made by Monogram Pictures, is released by Monogram Pictures (1944) (US) and Associated British Film Distributors (1944) (UK), is written by George Callahan (original screenplay), is shot in black and white by Arthur Martinelli is produced by James S Burkett and Philip N Krasne, and is scored by Alexander Laszlo, with Art Direction by Dave Milton.

The 33rd of 47 Charlie Chan movies, it follows Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat (1944) and is followed by The Jade Mask (1945).

It was retitled Meeting at Midnight five years after its original release to avoid confusion with Black Magic (1949).

Frances Chan plays a character with her same real name. She played Charlie Chan’s youngest daughter in Charlie Chan’s Greatest Case (1933), possibly the same character. Charlie Chan’s Greatest Case is believed to be a lost film.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9054

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