Castle in the Desert *** (1942, Sidney Toler, Arleen Whelan, Richard Derr) – Classic Movie Review 9046

This final Charlie Chan film in the 20th Century Fox series, director Harry Lachman’s 1942 Castle in the Desert, is a good one, with a decent script and a fine cast. The studio cut back on film production for the war effort after America’s entry into World War Two in December 1941 and Charlie Chan fell victim to the cutbacks.

Sidney Toler again stars as Charlie Chan, who is doing what he is best at – finding out who is behind the apparent poisoning murders of the heirs to a wealthy country estate mystery mansion in the Mojave Desert, where he is invited as a guest to stay and sleuth.

Plot, screenplay (an original written by John Francis Larkin), handling and performances are up to the best level of the series.

It also stars Arleen Whelan, Richard Derr, Douglass Dumbrille as Paul Manderley, Henry Daniell, Edmund MacDonald, Victor Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan, Ethel Griffies, Lenita Lane as Lucy Manderley, Milton Parsons, Steve Geray and Lucien Littlefield.

The 30th of 47 Charlie Chan movies, it follows Charlie Chan in Rio (1941) and is followed by Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944), which relaunched the series at Monogram Pictures.

The Manderley family castle is a reference to the mansion in Rebecca (1940).

No doubt with an eye to wartime savings, Fox cut corners to cut costs. The castle interior is a set from the first Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes entry The Hound of the Baskervilles. The hotel exterior was recycled as the saloon in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943).

Castle in the Desert is directed by Harry Lachman, runs 62 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by John Francis Larkin, is shot in black and white by Virgil Miller, is produced by Ralph Dietrich, and is scored by Emil Newman.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9046

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