The Worst Film Ever

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Reclusive historian Paul Manderley lives in a a spooky castle replica on the Mojave Desert. His wife Lucy is a descendant of the infamous Borgia family who poisoned their way to power in Italy during the Renaissance. His doctor, lawyer, lawyers wife, butler, chauffeur, publisher, and historical researcher are all there. Thats a lot of people around for somebody who claims to enjoy his solitude as Manderley does. One of them is poisoned but the body is planted in a hotel room in Mojave Well a town 35 miles away.Manderley doesn't want to be bothered with a police investigation. Charlie Chan receives a request from Mrs Manderley to come to the castle and investigate.Leaving San Francisco and arriving at Mojave Wells he finds the hotel manager extremely hostile to anyone associated with the castle. When the limo from the castle and Charlie gets in another traveler emerges from the hotel and slides in the backseat next to Charlie. He is Watson King a New York City sculptor and art critic who has also received a summons from Mrs Manderley.Mr Manderley is quite irritated when the two men arrive. When it's discovered that the note summoning Charlie is a forgery and Lucy Manderley didn't ask him to come to the castle, Paul Manderley insists that both men immediately leave. However, the butler soon informs Mr Manderley that the distributor cap has been removed from the limo engine and the car will of course not start. Mr Manderley, reluctantly asks Charlie to investigate the strange happenings at the castle.Another private detective shows up. Number 2 son Jimmy Chan and a star gazer and psychic from the town sneak in through the basement torture chamber. Another guest is poisoned, and yet another is killed by the dart from a crossbow. Everything revolves around the 20 million dollar Manderley estate and who will have control of it.Charlie unmasks the real killer in the end.This is my favorite Charlie Chan film. It was the last film in the 20TH Century Fox Charlie Chan series. It was, in my opinion, the best of the Sidney Tolar Chan movies. The castle setting and basement torture chamber give the film a dark and eerie ambiance It also has three of my favorite mystery actors in the cast. Malevolent Henry Daniell is one of my favorite screen villains. Daniell could be menacing just taking a puff from a cigarette. Skeletal Milton Parsons was like a figure of death. No matter what kind of a role he played, he always seemed like a mortician.Ethel Griffie's repertoire of eccentric and unconventional ladies made her an audience favorite and her role as the desert fortune teller is one of the highlights of the movie. Castle in the Desert certainly is not perfect. The are plot holes, contradictions and discrepancies in the story. It becomes fairly obvious who the killer is very early in the story. Jimmy Chan is his irritating self. That said. Castle in the Desert is a very entertaining 58 minutes of mystery and suspense.

After a muddled, convoluted first half, the plot really picks up in the second half. A big house full of suspects, candles in lieu of electric lights, an ever-so-subtle echo from the large rooms, and at least one murder combine to create mystery and suspense. At one point in the second half, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) advises all: "Return to rooms, lock doors; no one is safe now." Good plot misdirection leads us astray, as some "facts" aren't what they seem to be.The overall premise is vaguely believable. But a runtime of only 62 minutes suggests an underdeveloped plot. We don't really get to know the suspects very well. The film hardly gets started; then it's over.One character is strictly ornamental. I could also have done without number 2 son (Victor Sen Yung), added apparently as comic relief, who comes across as merely annoying, mostly because Sen Yung overacts.Stark B&W lighting creates a creepy look and feel, with Chan's very white suit against a dark background and eerie shadows. Some overhead camera shots add visual interest. The castle itself creates an atmosphere of isolation."Castle In The Desert" ends better than it starts. A script re-write, both to make the first half clearer and to expand the back-stories of the characters, would have helped. Even so, it's not a bad Chan film, owing mostly to some good plot misdirection and effective cinematography.

A noted professor(Lucien Littlefeld)is murdered at the Mojave Desert mansion of millionaire Paul Manderley(Douglas Dumbrille)and his wife(Lenita Lane), a descendant of the infamous Borgia family. House guests become murder suspects along with their hosts when Oriental sleuth Charlie Chan(Sidney Toler)and his Number-Two-Son Jimmy(Sen Yung)start searching for clues. While poking about the castle, Detective Chan discovers an assortment of poisons and a torture chamber along with other things that could make good murder weapons. Mr. Manderley claims the items are there because he is a medieval scholar targeting research of the Borgias. Not the best Chan flick, but then again not the worst; good enough to please any murder mystery fan. Supporting cast features: Arleen Whelan, Edmund MacDonald, Richard Derr and Henry Daniell.

Not ONE of the other Charlie Chan films can touch this one! The casting is brilliant, the acting is superior, the cinematography is dramatic and, the location is PERFECT. Imagine that! A castle in the desert!This is a poisoning case, (sort of), and Charlie is summoned to help solve it. He's warned from going from the moment he's invited and, of course, one of his numerous sons (not quite so goofy as some others we've seen), tags along to watch out for his dear dad. Dark characters are everywhere and the sub-plots are above average.Fans of Charlie Chan films will drool over this one but the average viewer can enjoy this light mystery as well. The desert town, old vehicles, the landscapes, the castle, (and it's creepy accoutrements) are all about the coolest things you'll ever view in a black and white old-timey mystery film.