Dead Men Tell (1941)
1h 1m | PG-13
When the elderly woman sponsoring a treasure hunt is murdered on board her docked ship, Charlie Chan must deal with a treasure map in four pieces, the ghost of a hanged pirate, a talking parrot, a recalcitrant sea captain and several suspicious passengers - and a second murder.
Director: Harry Lachman
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Comedy
Video: 720p
Cast
Sidney Toler
as Charlie Chan
Victor Sen Yung
as Jimmy Chan
Robert Weldon
as Steve Daniels
Sheila Ryan
as Kate Ransome
Truman Bradley
as Capt. Kane of the Suva Star
Donald Douglas
as Jed Thomasson
Reviews
Definately one of Sidney Toler's livelier outings as our super sleuth. This one sees him and best sidekick - No 2. son "Jimmy" (Victor Sen Yung) embroiled in some treasure hunting aboard a ship (that doesn't actually go anywhere). "Patience Nodbury" (Ethel Griffies) is the distant descendant of the infamous pirate "Black Hook" and she has a map! Someone is trying to pinch that from her, so she cunningly divides it into four sections and shares it amongst her fellow passengers. Just in time, too - for the apparition of a "Long John Silver" peg-legged character causes the old girl to keel over and the race is now on to find the missing pieces of the map and the murderous culprit before anyone else gets sent to Davy Jones' locker. This is fun to watch: plenty of action, daft distractions, hopeless cops and a well paced script make sure we whistle through the hour. Oh, and there's a "Captain Flint' flapping about, too!