Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Brennan Camacho
Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Jenni Devyn
Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
biorngm
Review
The Jade Mask, Released 1-26-45
This Charlie Chan movie was cleverly tied together at the conclusion through some surprise character identities, with multiple murders occurring throughout the running of the show. Quite a few of unexpected and unpredicted events happening while Charlie solves the case. The actors play their parts well, no exceptions, despite a rather quirky plot. The story is concentrated in a mansion, with secret rooms included. Other than the Coroner's office, the cast is moving about the house, from mostly the inside, on usually two house levels. The red herrings are not completely conspicuous, with surprises at the close. The name of the movie references the finding of an ear from a white-jade-life-mask belonging to the scientist-owner's assistant. It is revealed the person disguised as the assistant is the killer, the ear is not the murderer's, but belonging to the victim. It is further made clear the accomplice was the killer's wife. There is less contrived humor from Chan's assistants throughout the movie, making for at least a cohesive story leading to the reveal of the guilty parties. There is the dialogue from the local Sherriff that grows thin after many attempts at humor. I hate the corn-pone clichés iterated by this character. It is not evident Sidney Toler is suffering from the cancer that would end his life in early 1947; he appears to move about the stage with no obvious problem; he delivers his lines professionally, as usual. The premise is the murder of the man making known substances, such as wood, having the strength of metal. That same man is the first victim, who cannot be immediately located, and his formulas are hidden away. Government agent, Charlie Chan, is called upon to solve the crime, locate and protect the formula from falling into enemy hands. With the film made in 1944, the war continues, Chan is stateside, now employed by Uncle Sam, allegedly near D.C. As Charlie begins his investigation, more people are fatally stricken in similar fashion, i.e. a dart is shot into the victims, likely from close range. When the red herrings are killed, too, it really becomes a mystery just who murdered whom. The home owner-scientist, his assistant, the butler, the chauffer and a local policeman are each eliminated throughout the movie. It was the butler's death, which put the finger on one of three women and the ultimate killer. Recommendations are to go forth watching how the plot thickens as each individual is struck down, and a clue is left after each victim's demise.
JohnHowardReid
One of the best of the Monogram Charlie Chans, this one was made on a top budget (reportedly $75,000) by Poverty Row standards with both enough mystery and enough Chan to satisfy the fans, plus a sterling support cast headed by Frank Reicher as the spooky scientist, Al Bridge as the wisecracking sheriff, Edwin Luke as Charlie's number four son, and Dorothy Granger as Stella Graham. And of course, Chan himself, played with a fair degree of his 20th Century Fox charisma by Sidney Toler. For me, a little of Mantan Moreland's bug-eyed act goes a long way, but in this one I'm happy to say, he is comparatively restrained and even allows good old Sidney Toler to capture and hold center stage once the Chans arrive at the murdered man's spooky mansion. True, Mantan does re-assert himself right at the conclusion, but after sitting through all the movie's daringly spooky atmospherics, a little of Moreland's heavily bug-eyed comic relief doesn't go too far astray. However, I still don't know where the jade mask fits into the story. I don't remember any mask (or any jade either), but I guess you can't expect jade as well as good imitation pearls on Poverty Row. Available on an excellent Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer DVD,
tavm
This is my ninth review of a Charlie Chan movie in series chronological order on these consecutive days. In this one, a scientist working for the government is murdered in his house. As usual, Charlie rounds up the suspects there...Instead of his usual "No. 2 Son" Jimmy, Chan has "No. 4 Son" Eddie (or Edward as he prefers to be called) on board assisting him. He is played by Edwin Luke, younger brother of "No. 1 Son" Lee who was played by Keye Luke in the earlier Warner Oland entries. Unlike the other Chan sons, this one is not so bumbling since he wears glasses and is a bit intellectual though he's also not as charismatic. Good thing there's still Mantan Moreland's Birmingham Brown to provide the charms especially since his "scared stiff" stereotyped role is a little subdued though he does provide a quite funny ending due to that. Another funny comic relief character is provided by the slow talking Sheriff Mack who provides his own wisecracks when talking to Chan and is played by Alan Bridges who I just found out here is another player from my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, as he played another sheriff that was supposed to arrest George Bailey. Anyway, I very much liked this Chan entry, even the reveal of the murderer at the end, so on that note, I highly recommend The Jade Mask.
MartinHafer
While I have watched a lot of Charlie Chan movies and I have enjoyed them, they are no doubt very formulaic and the Monogram series is definitely inferior to the original 20th Century-Fox ones. So, how is it that some people gave these B-movies a score of 10?! Sure, they might be entertaining, but aesthetically they are far from high art. Think about it--some people scored this as high (or higher) as many might score GONE WITH THE WIND, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES or ORDINARY PEOPLE!!!! Come on,...this is just a B-movie,...and a very ordinary entry into the series at that. Plus, while I am not the most politically correct person out there, I can't believe a movie with Mantan Moreland's antics could ever merit a 10--or even an 8 or 9.First, let's back up a bit. The original series was pretty entertaining, but like all the Chan films it featured a White guy playing a Chinese man--not unusual for its day, but certainly something that prevent the films from being better--especially with the silly use of the English language by Charlie. While Chinese in ethnic origin, he is supposedly from Hawaii and I assumed most Hawaiians of his day did not talk like morons. Plus, this makes little sense because he is so darn smart a detective. But, most fans are able to look past this and accept that this isn't "high art" but still is quite entertaining. Fine. This is where I see myself. After all, even though he talks silly and spouts a lot of so-called "Chinese Wisdom", he is a decent, brave and intelligent guy--not exactly a negative stereotype.But, after the success of the initial films, Warner Oland (the first famous Chan) had the nerve to up and die and the series started to slip a bit when he was replaced by Sidney Toler. I don't really blame Toler, as he proved in other films he was a good actor. It's just that the original chemistry seemed "different" and Fox soon dropped the series. Enter Monogram Studios to continue the series (known as a "poverty row" studio due to its low production values). Now, the movies featured unknowns doing much of the supporting acting and Mantan Moreland was introduced to the series for new comic relief. Mantand's performances and the writing for his character was highly reminiscent of a smarter and less lazy version of Steppin Fetchit. As a kid, I laughed when he said lines like "feets don't fail me now" when he was scared (something he always seemed to be in the films). Now that I am older, I cringe a bit and know that there are Black people out there who are understandably furious about the stereotype he portrayed--especially because this type role was about the only one you'd see Black men portraying in mainstream films of the era.Now on to this particular film. First off, I have no idea why this movie is called "Charlie Chan and the Jade Mask"--there is no jade mask in the movie at all!!! There are some plaster masks, but even naming the movie after them wouldn't have been the best title. Something like "Charlie Chan and the Secret Formula" or "Charlie Chan and the Poison Gas" might have been better titles. Regardless of the bad title, the film is about a nasty scientist and his nasty family. The scientist is murdered and Chan investigates because the man had been working on a secret formula that the government wanted. In this film, #4 son makes his appearance. He's a bookish lad who thinks he knows everything and is probably more useless than any of the other Chan clan I have seen.The film excels in several ways. First, Mantan Moreland is more human and less a walking stereotype of "the scared and stupid Black man" like he is in other movies. Second, the ending gag was pretty cute. Aside from that, this film is about what you'd expect from any other film from this series by Monogram.By the way, a year earlier Monogram made "Charlie Chan in the Secret Service". In so many ways, it's very similar to this film. Both involve a scientist working on a secret War Department weapon and then are both killed by evil-doers. So, you can see that after a lot of Chan films, the well was starting to run a bit dry.
