Charlie Chan in Panama (1940)
1h 6m | PG-13
Charlie impersonates an employee of the U.S. government to foil an espionage plot which would destroy part of the Panama Canal, trapping a Navy fleet on its way to the Pacific after maneuvers in the Atlantic.
Director: Norman Foster
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery, Comedy
Video: 720p
Cast
Sidney Toler
as Charlie Chan
Jean Rogers
as Kathi Lenesch (Baroness Kathi von Czardos)
Lionel Atwill
as Cliveden Compton
Mary Nash
as Miss Sarah Finch
Victor Sen Yung
as Jimmy Chan (as Sen Yung)
Kane Richmond
as Richard Cabot
Reviews
This outing for our sleuth finds him working undercover - appropriately in a Panama hat shop - on a mission to help the US Government combat the activities of some spies bent on disrupting the movement of US Naval vessels though the Panama Canal. When a man is murdered in his shop, "Chan" is detained by the unwitting authorities who take him to a local jail where he, coincidentally, encounters no. 2 son "Jimmy" (Victor Sen Yung), who was working on a cruise liner and who is also stranded in Panama. Together, they must identify and thwart the would be saboteur amidst a plethora of suspects led by the always reliable Lionel Atwill ("Compton"). I enjoyed the dynamic between father and son - it works well, and the story is actually quite exciting to watch for the most part with a rather better ending than I was expecting. The constant dialogue in contrived proverbs is a little bit annoying, but then it wouldn't be "Charlie Chan" if he ever actually called a spade a spade...!