Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum *** (1940, Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, C Henry Gordon, Marc Lawrence, Joan Valerie) – Classic Movie Review 9043

Director Lynn Shores’s 1940 comedy crime mystery thriller Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum is an eerie series entry, set at the eponymous New York Wax Museum presided over by the usual mad scientist. There a crazed  escaped convicted criminal and murderer is hiding out in the chamber of horrors, hoping for plastic surgery from the demented doctor as part of his plan to avenge himself on Charlie Chan.

Sidney Toler again stars as Charlie Chan, who is in deep trouble when the killer wants to get his own back after he has earlier sent him to jail.

The situation and its outcome may be familiar, but the unusual plot is ingenious and the picture is tightly handled.

Also in the cast are Victor Sen Yung, C Henry Gordon, Marc Lawrence, Joan Valerie, Marguerite Chapman, Ted Osborn, Michael Visaroff, Harold Goodwin, Joe King, Edward Marr, Archie Twitchell, Charles Wagenheim and Hilda Vaughn.

Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum is directed by Lynn Shores, runs 63 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by John Francis Larkin (original screenplay), based on the character Charlie Chan created by Earl Derr Biggers, is shot in black and white by Virgil Miller, is produced by Walter Morosco, and is scored by Emil Newman.

The 25th of 47 Charlie Chan movies, it follows Charlie Chan’s Murder Cruise (1940) and is followed by Murder Over New York (1940).

The wax head near the mummy case looks like Clark Gable.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9043

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