User reviews

Sadly, this is one of the weakest Charlie Chan movies (though even at that, it provides good, average B movie entertainment) - and even much more sadly, it was the last film that Sidney Toler could finish before he died. There are moments where it's obvious that he struggles with his fatal disease; which makes the whole thing even more sad, but also increases enormously our respect for this great actor who gave everything literally until the end.

The story is somewhat confused, the movie seems like it's been done hastily (perhaps because Sidney Toler didn't have much time left?); and the hysterical crowd of 'bathing beauties' certainly tends to go on the audience's nerves, even though they display the latest and most daring bikini fashion of the time. There's a variety troupe on holiday at the seaside, and it becomes clear very soon that the 'star' of the group is SO unsympathetic that sooner or later she WILL be killed... But first it's one of the other girls' turn, whom shrew Marcia blackmails into stealing papers from another girl's trunk (threatening that she'll reveal that the girl is under age), so that she can blackmail the other one, too, whose husband seems to have a dark past. The little girl is strangled, and her Chinese colleague San Toy (one of the few nice girls of the troupe) calls on her friend Jimmy Chan for help - in somewhat of a confusion, so that Birmingham, who picks up the phone, is under the impression that Jimmy has been murdered!

So he and Charlie haste to the beach house, where they soon catch an intruder: Jimmy, who found the paper with the address on Birmingham's desk! No need to say that Charlie is immensely relieved; but now he's in the middle of a murder case, of course - and, as was to be expected, the next day on the beach the body of hated Marcia is found... Now everybody starts accusing each other, some of the girls get fits of hysteria - and Charlie, together with his two assistants, tries to make head or tail of the whole muddled case.

As I said before, this movie certainly isn't among the better Charlie Chans - but it's our last opportunity to see our beloved trio Sidney Toler - Sen Yung - Mantan Moreland together; so let's just enjoy the jokes and the suspense, and laugh and let's be entertained by them once more...

An acting troupe rents an oceanfront mansion to stay in while they get ready for the show. Before you know it, the star of the show has disappeared and a fellow actress is found murdered. The situation seems grim.

Luckily, one of the cast members named San Toy has an idea: "I met a detective. The world's greatest detective. His name is Jimmy Chan. Great Chinese detective. He'll protect his countrywoman."

Soon Jimmy Chan is on the case, accompanied by associate Birmingham Brown, and you know that Charlie Chan himself cannot be far behind. Sidney Toler moves a little slowly but is wise as ever in his final appearance as the great detective. Sen Yung and Mantan Moreland are energetic if not exactly inspired as Jimmy and Birmingham.

The supporting cast is pretty standard and features an assortment of young women who seem to be designated by type (the French one, the hysterical one, the cute flirty sarcastic one). The suspects, of course, all accuse each other of murder and lesser crimes, and it's up to Mr. Chan eventually to sort it all out.

The whole thing appears to have been put together pretty quickly, and I'm not at all sure the plot makes any sense...but it's undeniably fast moving and contains a bit of humor. There are also some great shots of oceanfront highway and beach in the picture's opening moments. For those who are not sticklers for tight plot or strong production values, this picture is actually a lot of fun.

"The Trap" has an OK mystery plot and an unusual Chan locale- the beach, literally on the beach itself. And there is some fine photography of the California coast.

Toler is noticeably tired in this, his last film. In fact at least one scene is performed by Mr. Toler while sitting down, most likely due to fatigue and illness; otherwise he is almost entirely stationary and standing. However, he somehow manages to carry his acting weight in his scenes.

I believe that this is one of the best of Sen Yung's efforts in Chan films, most likely because he is allowed to just act for the most part except for one extended (but plot enhancing) sequence of buffoonery. Tanis Chandler is very French and very attractive, and her performance is competent. Barbara Jean Wong is cute and gives a good performance. But Rita Quigley's performance is...well...the best word to describe it is "terrible". Ms. Quigley gives a career-destroying bad performance that hurts the film, but you could regard it as laughable and maybe find it endurable on that basis.

Since we get a little gem of a Minerva Urecal performance, fine seacoast photography and a decent mystery plot I will give this a "6" rating but you certainly should not expect a classic, traditional Chan film.

Can we agree that Sidney Toler was ill at the time of this movie, and stop talking about it. This isn't' film class - you don't have to tell us all you know about the back-story of the series. Toler does a perfectly good job in this episode of the series - Charlie Chan wasn't exactly Shakespeare, and didn't require great acting. Having several female characters in a Chan mystery was rare, and it's a nice change to me. The son role isn't overplayed in this movie, and while it's not Mantan Moreland's best role, he gives just enough comic relief to the film. Based on the reviews here, you'd think that a prize was being given for nastiest review. Lighten up - the Chan series was meant as light entertainment - not film school criticism fodder. You get action, suspense, comedy, and even a bit of romance all in an hour. Over the years, I saw this 3-4 times before I knew anything about the making of the Chan films, and I always thought it was every bit as good as most of the others in the series. IF you can't just sit back and enjoy this Chan, that's a YOU problem, not a problem with the movie.

Apparently, Sidney Toler was in the latter stages of cancer. So he didn't seem to have much spark, even when he abuses his son. This particular episode is about a troupe of showgirls, taking some time off at a beach house. There is hostility from the start from within the group and from the housekeeper. The men running the show have agendas themselves. There apparently are some secrets being kept. A quiet young woman is murdered as she tried to cater to the wishes of a powerful actress (who ends up dead herself). Charlie is almost like a shepherd, trying to round up the suspects and keep them in order while he investigates. Of course, we have Jimmy and Birmingham getting in the way and ignoring orders. Birmingham seems cursed to be afraid of all animate and inanimate objects. When asked to be quiet, he creates incredible chaos. Jimmy pushes the envelope at every turn. I think the biggest failing of this is that there is no suspense because we really don't have any idea what the dramatic forces are.

There is a nice setting to this one with a number of Malibu beach scenes. A theater maestro and his troupe of show girls settle into a motel and boarding room establishment. One of the girls Lois gets garroted when she snoops into a trunk to retrieve a small strong box for the troupe's leading girl called Marcia. Marcia goes missing and it is clear she's involved in a cat-fight blackmail squabble with another troupe girl called Adelaide.

Chan is called to Malibu in a bit of mix up with the case in which he mistakenly believes his son Jimmy has been killed. But Jimmy soon makes his usual intruder-style entrance through a window at the boarding house. There are some suspicious circumstances involving the men with the troupe including a press agent who wants to cover up the murders claiming it would be bad publicity. Maestro King becomes very nervous of the press agent and there is a Dr Brandt who is secretly married to one of the girls in the troupe. Then there is the grim housekeeper Mrs Weebles (Minerva Urecal) who disapproves of the troupe girls' immoral lifestyle as she sees it.

Charlie Chan is more serious in this as I think we only see his customary gleaming smile twice. And there are not a lot of his usual Chinese proverbs either. This is understandable as the film had to be worked around Sidney Toler's severe illness in his final screen appearance. As a consequence all the Chan trickery of earlier films is missing and Charlie has much less to do in the solving of the case. As a result of this I have to rate this one lower and avoid showing sentimentality rating-wise as a Chan fan and yet this is a must-see to say farewell to Sidney Toler who gave so much to the Charlie Chan character

I can't help loving Charlie Chan movies, despite the fact that they're as politically incorrect as all get out. People were just not sensitive to certain things then, so for me, it's important to watch a film not with modern eyes, but with the eyes of the time.

This was Sidney Toler's last foray as Charlie Chan, and the last film of the series. Toler was suffering from cancer when he made this movie, and he's to be admired for continuing to work.

Warner Oland, the previous Chan, was more cheerful and energetic, but I love Toler's dry delivery and exasperation with Jimmy.

This is a pretty routine plot - Charlie investigates the deaths of two showgirls in Malibu. Jimmy Chan (Sen Young) and Birmingham (Mantan Moreland) are on the scene. I think Mantan Moreland was supremely talented, and I love him as Birmingham. And I love seeing Sen Yung as Jimmy, since I remember him as an older actor in Bonanza.

There's nothing like the B serials: Chan, Mr. Moto, The Falcon, Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, The Saint, The Lone Wolf, Boston Blackie, The Lone Wolf, Boston Blackie, etc. - all wonderful.

I am a huge Charlie Chan fan, but this movie is sadly scraping the bottom of the barrel. Sidney Toler (my personal favorite Charlie Chan) was dying of cancer while making this movie which may account for his lackluster performance, so he can be forgiven, but the other actors, what was their excuse? The movie is uninspired on all levels, and even good old Mantan Moreland can't save this clinker. The movie is set at a rented beach house. Some showgirls are staying there, and they all suspect each other of the murders. It's up to Charlie to save the day.Monogram pictures were always on a shoestring budget and sadly, in this entry to the long running Chan series it is evident. A sad end to Sidney Toler's run as Charlie Chan.

When one of the showgirls in a troupe staying at a beach house is killed, novice showgirl Barbara Jean Wong, calls on that famous detective, Jimmy Chan. Fortunately, his father, Charlie Chan, shows up in the person of Sidney Toler.

Under the direction of Howard Bretherton, this is the strongest of of the Monogram Charlie Chans, due a good mystery script and Bretherton's superior ability to direct the comedy sequences on which the series now relied. Mantan Moreland, as Oland's other assistant, gets a lot more and better comedy in his role, and Victor Sen Yung flourishes. The ladies in the troupe include Rita Quigley and Anne Nagel, and Kirk Nagel, Minerva Urecal, and Larry Blake perform their more serious roles well.

Alas, it was the end for Toler. He had been playing the role for almost a decade by this point, but he was dying of cancer. He would died on February 12, 1947 at the age of 72, after sixty-five years in show business.

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates showgirl murders with the help of "Number Two Son" Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) and chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). There's a decent supporting cast for Monogram that includes Minerva Urecal, future Superman Kirk Alyn, and beauties Rita Quigley and Anne Nagel. Victor Sen Yung is, as usual since returning to the series, the best part of the movie. For some reason, the name Marcia is pronounced several different ways, depending on who is saying it. This is pretty annoying.

The last Sidney Toler Chan film and many would say the last real Chan film. The series would continue on with Roland Winters but all of those movies were terrible. This one's nothing to write home about, either. As others have discussed, Sidney Toler was sick with cancer during the filming of this and sleepwalks through the movie. It's a sad thing to watch, particularly for fans of the series and the actor. Worst, or maybe second worst, of the Toler series.

"I am convinced the murderer is in this room", says Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) to the myriad suspects gathered together in a big two-story beach house at Malibu. His comment reassures us that this film will be as gripping as other Chan films. Alas, Chan's comment belies the implied promise, as "The Trap" disappoints in multiple ways.

I counted no fewer than thirteen suspects, way too many for a viable whodunit. Most of these suspects are women who look too much alike. It took me several replays of the first-half plot to connect names with faces. These characters are poorly introduced and about half of them should have been deleted from the script. One female, named Clementine, exists apparently only to scream; her hysterical response to minor events is annoying.

The ending is a big disappointment. Although I correctly picked the killer from the suspect pool, the reveal occurs outside at night. The scene is photographed so darkly that the only way I could identify this person was to listen to the dialogue, which tells the person's name. And it seems to be by luck that Chan solves the case, as he does not announce any clues as to the killer's identity. The motivation of the murderer is far-fetched, to say the least.

If the viewer pays very close attention, there is one quick scene near the middle wherein one particular suspect is separate from the others; that person is the killer, whose action at that time does connect to a significant plot event. Aside from which, I don't think there is any way to figure out the killer's identity through logic.

The B&W cinematography is poor. Multiple important scenes take place either at night or in dark spaces. The lighting is so bad I found it hard to impossible to figure out what action was taking place.

On the plus side, the film has the wonderful Mantan Moreland and a Chan son who does not intrude into the plot as much as in other films. "The Trap" is not one of the better Charlie Chan movies, due to a poor script and poor lighting. But I can think of one or two others that are worse.

Although Monogram's production values were low, it doesn't really matter; this is enjoyable and worth watching if you love the character and the series. Sidney Toler inherited the role from Warner Oland and made the Chan character more humorous and more lovable. Serious "old movie" fans will still appreciate Sidney in his last film role before his death in 1947.

"The Trap" was Sidney Toler's last film as Chan. Too bad it is one of the worst. The script is very poor and so is the acting on all counts. (Well, okay. Sen Yung and Mantan Moreland are funny.) Toler acts like a sleep walker through the whole dreary thing. Granted he was ill. The production values are low even for Monogram. A better title was its working title, "Murder in Malibu" as it is set at a beach house in Malibu. But the whole thing is miserable and not fun at all.

A variety troupe arrives at a beach house in Malibu for a small vacation. Chrous member Adelaide is blackmailing various members of the group, and the troupe's star Marcia has Lois (a member of the group who Marcia knows is underage and can get her fired) steal letters from Adelaide's trunk, but Lois is strangled while going through the trunk. Charlie Chan (with #2 son Jimmy and Birmingham) are called to investigate by finding Marcia who everyone believes is the murderess, but the case is further periled when Marcia's body is found washed up on the shore. Chan finds out that many members of the troupe had reasons to get the incriminating evidence back and also murder Marcia. He decides to set a trap to catch the killer, but Jimmy inadvertently interferes to solve the case, putting himself, Charlie, and the rest of the troupe at the mercy of the killer. This was Sidney Toler's final film and its obvious that he was ill during the make of the film considering he was not introduced into the film until the 20 minute mark and has few scenes where he seems to be involved with the rest of the characters actions. The suspects don't have any qualities that make any stand out from each other. The mystery angle seems to be non existent. One of the worst Chan films from the series. Rating, 2.

This is the worst of the Chan films, watch as our heroes use the wrong car in chase, listen to the famous "Scream" that will curl your toes and watch as Birmingham Brown writes one word on a note and Tommy Chan can get an entire address out of it.

Be warn, this one is not for serious Chan lovers, but for people who like "Plan Nine From Outer Space". But you have to watch it once to appreciate how much better other lowly rated Chans films are in comparison with this movie.

A dying Sidney Toler said farewell to Charlie Chan and to films in general when he played the famous Hollywood detective in a rather shoddy entry for this series. Shoddy even for Monogram Pictures and its head Sam Katzman.

A troupe of show girls take up residence at a Malibu beach house where quite a few murders take place before Charlie Chan solves the case. It's a bloodier than usual Chan film in that respect. Toler gets into it because a Chinese member of the troupe Barbara Jane Wong is the original accused party and she's dating Victor Sen Yung who is number 2 son Jimmy Chan. Fortunately for her and for justice in general she gets the real detective in the family on the case.

When the murderer is revealed you'll find it a truly far fetched motive and the presence of the perpetrator in the troupe truly bizarre. Another bizarre thing is Minerva Urecal playing one of sprightly Miss Sunshine roles as the housekeeper. The woman is such a puritanical pill around the nubile women that you know she HAS to be a red herring. And guess what, she is.

The Charlie Chan series went down considerably in quality when it got to Monogram and it's too bad that poor Toler couldn't have had a decent Chan film to go out on.