Sidney Toler is Charlie Chan in "Charlie Chan in the Chinese Cat," a 1944 film, part of the Monogram Chinese Chan series. These films were made for twenty cents and probably took a day to film. Nevertheless, they can be fun.
Charlie here is trying to solve a locked-door murder that the police gave up on; however, a book has been published all but accusing the victim's wife of killing him, and his stepdaughter (Leah Manning) begs Charlie to investigate before he moves on to his next case.
With the help (sort of) of taxi driver Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) and Charlie's son #3 (Benson Fong), he sets out to find what really happened.
The Monogram Chan series is not as fun or as good as the Fox series, but when Fox dropped Charlie Chan, Sidney Toler took him to Monogram. Toler had gotten the rights from Earl Derr Biggers' widow. After Toler died, the role went to Roland Winters.
Some of the dialogue here is quite fun as Charlie berates his son's presence and ability, though #3 son ends up acquitting himself quite well. Mantan Moreland is good as Birmingham, in fact, he was one of the best things about the series, but he doesn't have much to do here. His usual character was that of the Chan chauffeur. Now he's a taxi driver who worked with Chan previously and comes back into the fold.
Just to show how quickly these were filmed, in one scene, Charlie breaks a numbered light series which shows what maze in a fun house is being used. One of the light bulbs remains intact, but they didn't re-film it.
Anyway, the mystery here is pretty good, and the fun house maze is entertaining. Recommended for Charlie Chan fans.
