''Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise'' is a 1940 murder mystery film starring

Sidney Toler Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr., April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second non-Asian actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his portrayal ...

in his fifth of many performances as

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan ...

. It is based on the Earl Derr Biggers 1930 novel ''

Charlie Chan Carries On ''Charlie Chan Carries On'' (1930) is the fifth novel in the Charlie Chan series by Earl Derr Biggers. Plot summary Inspector Duff, a Scotland Yard detective and friend of Chan's, first introduced in '' Behind That Curtain'', is pursuing a mur ...

''.

Plot

The famed detective seeks to unmask a killer on a voyage across the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Cast

as Charlie Chan *

Victor Sen Yung Victor Sen Yung (born Victor Cheung Young or Sen Yew Cheung; ; October 18, 1915 – body discovered November 9, 1980) was an American character actor, best known for playing Jimmy Chan in the Charlie Chan films and Hop Sing in the western seri ...

as Jimmy Chan (as Sen Yung) * Robert Lowery as Dick Kenyon *

Marjorie Weaver Marjorie Weaver (March 2, 1913 – October 1, 1994) was an American film actress of the 1930s through the early 1950s. Early life, entrance into acting Weaver was born in Crossville, Tennessee to John Thomas Weaver and his wife, Ellen (née Mar ...

as Paula Drake *

Lionel Atwill Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English and American stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the United States, he appeared in Broadway plays and Hollywood ...

as Dr. Suderman *

Don Beddoe Donald Theophilus Beddoe (July 1, 1903 – January 19, 1991) was an American character actor. Early years Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Beddoe was the son of Dan Beddoe, a Welsh classical singer, and his wife Mary. He graduated from the ...

as Fredrick Ross * Leo G. Carroll as Prof. Gordon (as Leo Carroll) *

Cora Witherspoon Cora Witherspoon (January 5, 1890 – November 17, 1957) was an American stage and film character actress whose career spanned nearly half a century. She began in theatre where she remained rooted even after entering motion pictures in the ...

as Susie Watson *

Leonard Mudie Leonard Mudie (born Leonard Mudie Cheetham; April 11, 1883April 14, 1965) was an English character actor whose career lasted for nearly fifty years. After a successful start as a stage actor in England, he appeared regularly in the US, and made ...

as Gerald Pendleton *

Harlan Briggs Harlan Briggs (August 17, 1879 – January 26, 1952) was an American actor and Vaudeville performer who was active from the 1930s until his death in 1952. During the course of his career he appeared on Broadway, in over 100 films, as well a ...

as Coroner * Charles Middleton as Jeremiah Walters *

Claire Du Brey Claire Du Brey (born Clara Violet Dubreyvich, August 31, 1892 – August 1, 1993) was an American actress. She appeared in more than 200 films from 1916 to 1959. Her name is sometimes rendered as Claire Du Bray or as Claire Dubrey. Early y ...

as Sarah Walters *

Kay Linaker Mary Katherine Linaker (July 19, 1913 – April 18, 2008) was an American actress and screenwriter who appeared in many B movies during the 1930s and 1940s, most notably ''Kitty Foyle'' (1940). Linaker used her married name, Kate Phillips, as a ...

as Linda Pendleton * James Burke as Wilkie * Richard Keene as Buttons * Layne Tom Jr. as Willie Chan * C. Montague Shaw as Inspector Duff

Production

''Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise'' is the second film adaptation of

Earl Derr Biggers Earl Derr Biggers (August 26, 1884 – April 5, 1933) was an American novelist and playwright. His novels featuring the fictional Chinese American detective Charlie Chan were adapted into popular films made in the United States and China. Biogra ...

' novel ''

''. The first version, with Chan played by

Warner Oland Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American ...

, is now lost. Charlie Chan's role was expanded for ''Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise''.

References

External links

* * *
''Charlie Chan’s Murder Cruise'' Film details
a
The Charlie Chan Family Home
1940 films American black-and-white films Charlie Chan films Films based on American novels 20th Century Fox films 1940 mystery films 1940s serial killer films Films directed by Eugene Forde Films based on mystery novels American mystery films 1940s American films {{mystery-film-stub