On a cruise ship from Honolulu to San Francisco, the famous Chinese detective encounters four more murders while trying to figure out the murder of a Scotland Yard friend.
| Tagline | DEATH AFLOAT...striking swiftly. suddenly...leaving on each strangled victim a calling card of crimson coin...thirty pieces of silver! |
| Release Date: | May 02, 1940 |
| Genres: | Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Thriller |
| Production Company: | 20th Century Fox |
| Production Countries: | United States of America |
| Casts: | Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, Leo G. Carroll, Lionel Atwill, Robert Lowery, Marjorie Weaver, Cora Witherspoon, Don Beddoe, Leonard Mudie, Charles Middleton, Claire Du Brey |
| Status: | Released |
| Budget: | $0 |
| Revenue: | 0 |
When his British pal "Insp. Shaw" is killed, our eponymous sleuth must join the passengers on a cruise to find the culprit not just of this, but of another murder too! It has a sort of "Murder on the Orient Express" feeling to it, this, as the fellow travellers are introduced to us, and to "Mr. Chan" (Sydney Toler) and we very quickly ascertain that they are a pretty disparate bunch any of whom might, just, be responsible. It helps the mystery that the there is no obvious character - neither by virtue of their role or their billing - to give it away. It's down to some shrewd detective work from "Chan", aided by his rather hapless, but well meaning No 2 son "Jimmy" (a lively effort from Victor Sen Yung) to work it out. Lionel Atwill, Leo G. Carroll, Charles Middleton and an engagingly ditzy Cora Witherspoon ("Susie") all help keep us guessing until quite an exciting denouement with plenty of red herrings and cleverly staged machinations to trap our strangler. The Confucian-style expressions grate after a while, they are just too contrived - but there is lots going on here to kill 75 minutes well.
