Charlie Chan in London
Cast & Crew
Eugene Forde
Warner Oland
Drue Leyton
Raymond Milland
Mona Barrie
Alan Mowbray
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Pamela Gray goes with Geoffrey Richmond to appeal to the Home Secretary to intervene and stop the planned hanging of her brother Paul, Richmond's former hunt secretary, in three days for the murder of Captain Hamilton of the Royal Air Force, who had been a guest at Richmond's country home at Retfordshire. After the Home Secretary refuses to help, Kemp, his private secretary, instructs Pamela and her fiancé, Neil Howard, to seek the help of Inspector Charlie Chan of the Honolulu police department, who has captured in Honolulu and brought back to London a wanted British criminal. When Neil, who is Paul's barrister, tells Chan that he believes that Paul is guilty, Pamela overhears the conversation and breaks their engagement. Chan, who wants to help, follows her to Retfordshire, where guests are gathered for a hunt. After Lake, the stud groom who, Chan suspects, knows more than he admits, is found dead with a suicide note, Chan, while investigating in the study, is almost killed by a missile from an air-blown pistol. The next day, during the hunt, Chan goes to the Farmwell Aerodrome, where he learns that Hamilton, an inventor, had developed a scheme for silencing war planes just before he died. Returning to the hunt, Chan learns that Richmond's fiancée, Lady Mary Bristol, who had important evidence to tell Chan, had a near-fatal riding accident because pepper was put on her horse's eyes. After Chan tells the suspected guests that the murderer's fingerprints will be on the missing plans, he tricks Richmond into firing at him with a gun filled with blanks as Chan seemingly finds the papers. Richmond is revealed to be a spy whom military intelligence has been following for years. Sometime later, Paul, released, has dinner with Pamela and Neil, who now have been reunited, and Chan.
Director
Eugene Forde
Cast
Warner Oland
Drue Leyton
Raymond Milland
Mona Barrie
Alan Mowbray
Murray Kinnell
Douglas Walton
Walter Johnson
E. E. Clive
George Barraud
Madge Bellamy
David Torrence
John Rogers
Paul England
Elsa Buchanan
Perry Ivins
Claude King
Reginald Sheffield
Helena Grant
Montague Shaw
Phillis Coghlan
Margaret Mann
Carlie Taylor
Doris Stone
Arthur Clayton
Crew
Stuart Anthony
Alex Chivra
Lester Cole
Duncan Cramer
Ann Doran
Opal Ernie
Joe Flores
Samuel Kaylin
Philip Macdonald
Walter Nobles
L. W. O'connell
Ed O'fearna
Royer
John Schmitz
Clint Sharp
John Stone
Robert Surtees
E. Clayton Ward
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
If you want wild bird to sing do not put him in cage.- Charlie Chan
Trivia
This film is mentioned in the mystery film Gosford Park (2001). It is mentioned because a fictional producer named Morris Weissman went to Gosford Park to do research on British customs. Actor 'Alan Mowbry' , cast member in the Chan film is also mentioned.
Notes
This was the first film of the "Charlie Chan" series that was not based on a particular novel by Chan's creator, Earl Derr Biggers. New York Times commented that this film, written by Philip MacDonald, a noted detective novelist himself, "maintains the Chan tradition." For information concerning the series, please consult the Series Index and see the entry above for Charlie Chan Carries On.
