The Trap
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Howard Bretherton
Sidney Toler
Mantan Moreland
Victor Sen Young
Tanis Chandler
Larry Blake
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Cole King's variety troupe, along with press agent Rick Daniels, and Mrs. Thorn, the wardrobe mistress, occupy a Malibu, California beach house. When Adelaide, a showgirl, criticizes Marcia, the imperious star of the show and King's girl friend, Marcia threatens to reveal that Adelaide is secretly married to physician George Brandt and also hints that she knows Brandt's real identity. Marcia then forces showgirl Lois to steal letters from Adelaide's trunk by threatening to tell King that Lois is under eighteen. Later, Marcia disappears and Lois' body is discovered by Chinese troupe member San Toy. Because Lois has been strangled, a murder technique said to be favored by the Chinese and the French, both San Toy and Adelaide are under suspicion. When Daniels suggests that they try to make Lois' death appear to be a drowning, San Toy, who is a friend of Jimmy, the son of Chinese detective Charlie Chan, asks Chan to investigate. During the course of the investigation, both Chan's assistant Birmingham and San Toy are attacked. Later troupe member Clementine finds Marcia's body, a silk cord wrapped around her neck, washed up on the beach. Later, Chan discovers Daniels burying Marcia's bathrobe. When Chan reveals that the cord from the robe was used in one of the murders, Daniels claims that the robe was planted on King to frame him. Then King accuses Daniels of murdering the women and trying to hide the evidence. Privately, Chan reveals that he knows that Brandt was once accused of his wife's murder, and although he was exonerated, his career was ruined. He went to war and met and married Adelaide in Paris, where Marcia first met them. Brandt admits that he found Lois' body and removed the letters, but denies killing her. Chan then decides to set a trap for the killer. That night, King confesses that he took a box from Brandt's suitcase that contained incriminating papers. Jimmy later finds the missing box in the furnace. Jimmy then sees someone try to strangle San Toy and intervenes, inadvertently spoiling Chan's trap. Chan, Jimmy and Birmingham chase her attacker, who is revealed to be Mrs. Thorn. Mrs. Thorn had deserted King, her husband, and when she wanted to return to him, he humiliated her by offering her a job as his wardrobe mistress. She then killed the two women and framed King in order to make him suffer. Her letters were in the box that King stole from Brandt. Later, Chan assures Brandt that the Board of Medical Examiners will reinstate his license and he will be free to practice under his own name.
Director
Howard Bretherton
Cast
Sidney Toler
Mantan Moreland
Victor Sen Young
Tanis Chandler
Larry Blake
Kirk Alyn
Rita Quigley
Anne Nagel
Helen Gerald
Howard Negley
Lois Austin
Barbara Jean Wong
Minerva Urecal
Margaret Brayton
Bettie Best
Jan Bryant
Walden Boyle
Crew
Raymond Boltz Jr.
James Brown
James S. Burkett
William Calihan Jr.
Richard Currier
Ace Herman
Edward J. Kay
Miriam Kissinger
Harold Knox
Tom Lambert
Dave Milton
Harry Rose
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The Trap marked the last film appearance of Sidney Toler, who died in February 1947. Roland Winters assumed the role of "Charlie Chan" in the 1947 film The Chinese Ring. For more information on the "Charlie Chan" series, consult the Series Index and see the entry for Charlie Chan Carries On in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.0663.
