Don't listen to the negative reviews

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is full of clever sayings in Murder in New York, from 1940. Also starring is Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan. They make a delightful team. Jimmy shows up unexpectedly while Charlie is in New York to attend a conference. He and a friend of his want to attend the World's Fair.It's not long before both Chans are on a case, when a friend of Charlie's, a detective, is murdered. Soon they're in the midst of the investigation of a sabotage ring, people being killed by poison gas pellets, an airplane crash, and plenty of suspects. The police ask Charlie to stick around and help. I don't think he gets to his conference, and Jimmy doesn't see the World's Fair, at least not yet.Donald McBride, Ricardo Cortez, Kane Richmond, Robert Lowery, Marjorie Weaver, and Joan Valerie are all featured.It's a fair mystery, enlivened by Charlie's witty dialogue. Frankly, any one of these films that has something to do with the war basically have similar plots: sabotage, missing formulas, spies, that type of thing.Sidney Toler is in good form. I have to say I prefer Warner Oland, who seemed to exhibit more energy and was more upbeat. Toler's humor comes from his sardonic line delivery and good chemistry with the actors. Both brought something special to the role.Whether the story is bad, good, confusing, whatever, with stereotypes abounding, somehow these films are always enjoyable.

This film is about a deadly poison that is contained in small glass globes that is used to kill. This is apparently done to hide an espionage ring intent on stealing plans for a new American bomber. Now much of this plot was repeated in other Chan films, THE JADE MASK and THE DOCKS OF NEW ORLEANS. Additionally, it was first used in MR. WONG, DETECTIVE--all had the exploding glass globes--a plot element that obviously has been overused. It was interesting in MURDER OVER NEW YORK, but by these later films it was rather passé.Fortunately, the rest of the film was fresh and the plot worked out very well--with a nifty conclusion where, of course, the culprit reveals himself. However, no plane could fly the way this one did--especially in 1940. Such extreme dives and rapid ascents were pretty silly out of this already obsolete plane.By the way, in a small role as a porter you'll see Frank Coghlan Jr.--the same actor who played Billy Batson in the CAPTAIN MARVEL serial. According to IMDb, Mr. Coughlan is 93 years old and retired from the film industry.

In another pre-war sabotage warning, Sidney Toler (as Charlie Chan) protects America's military production while explaining: `One man with gun have more authority than whole army with no ammunition.' Fair series entry with only a slight chance that the viewer will be able to predict the guilty party. As in many of the early Chan films, key information known only to the detective is not revealed until after the solution is announced. On the other hand, there is at least one good clue that might point you in the right direction. `Wishful thinking sometimes lead to blind alley.' Former Scotland Yard Inspector Hugh Drake is killed prior to sharing information that would lead to the identity of mastermind killer and saboteur Paul Narvo. Mrs. Narvo has escaped from her husband and fears he will kill her since she knows of his escapades. Just enough misdirection and alternative suspects to keep it interesting. Chan is `aided' by his `favorite son' Jimmy in identifying presence of poison gas `tetrogene' and in finding Drake's killer, Chan and the police prevent the loss of a bomber TR-4 (played by the Lockheed Loadstar which is in fact pressed into wartime service as both a bomber and cargo plane) while undergoing a test flight over New York.Racial slurs re-introduced in this film – dialog should probably be cut when shown today since it adds nothing. Closing credits list Marjorie Weaver as playing the part of Patricia Shaw while in film she uses the alias Patria West and her Scotland Yard Criminal Investigation Bureau card shows her maiden name as Miriam Shaw.Fair mystery best recommended only for those who want to see the entire series.

taking into consideration the Chan films that would follow, this isn't bad. Plenty of stereotypes beginning with the Black man in the beginning and when the police captain orders that "every Hindu in town" by rounded-up. A parade of stereotypical characters enter the scene including Shemp of the Three Stooges. Charlie seems to move quickly around the city going from Sutton Pl. to the W. Village in a flash.The ending is silly. An obvious toy airplane is used as it climbs through the sky and then nose dives. Ed Wood couldn't have done it better. The final scene is absurd as the murderer will obviously incriminate himself in his attempt to quiet the one person who knows his identity. Overall, it is worth watching.