Black Magic (1944)
Overview
Chinese detective Charlie Chan solves a murder linked to the occult.
Cast
Sidney Toler
Charlie Chan
Frances Chan
Frances Chan
Mantan Moreland
Birmingham Brown
Joseph Crehan
Police Sgt. Matthews
Ralph Peters
Officer Rafferty
Jacqueline deWit
Justine Bonner
Helen Beverly
Norma Duncan aka Nancy Wood
Harry Depp
Charles Edwards
- Similar Movies
- Reviews
CinemaSerf
Now then, this one really struggles to get going. This time it's daughter "Frances" (Frances Chan) who helps "Pop" investigate some odd activity at the home of the new employers of "Birmingham Brown" (Mantan Moreland), who has been released by "Charlie" - who just wants to get back to Honolulu. When hypnotism causes one woman to take a step too far; the race is on to thwart the mysterious, evil, perpetrator before anyone else comes a cropper. Moreland tries too hard, his daftness is too contrived and strained, and though he could be annoying from time to time, it misses "Jimmy" too. The psychic/occult theme has provided well for these films, but maybe this one tries to squeeze just a little too much from an already well exhausted fruit (might that be a "Charlie-ism"?) and i found it quite a long watch. It has it's moments of suspense, though, it's not terrible - it's just lacking certain important ingredients.
