Absolutely Brilliant!

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Charlie Chan (minus family members) has just delivered a British criminal he caught to London when a distraught woman tells him about her brother about to be executed for a murder she is convinced he did not commit, of a house guest at a country mansion. Though all others believe the brother guilty, Chan investigates the evidence and become suspicious, and visits the mansion. Unfortunately more deaths occur as Chan launches his own investigation.This is a straightforward story with some subplots and red herrings, no comic relief from Number One Son or anyone else. But at least the ending is not what I had anticipated.

This is really quite engaging. A man has been convicted of murder in England and has used up his appeals. In three days he will be executed because of the heinous nature of the crime. His sister believes her brother has been unjustly accused, but motive and opportunity speak loudly. Chan finds himself dealing with the upper crust, treated with disdain and indifference. One maid sees him as the angel of death. Chan, who would like to go back to Hawaii, his home, stays because he believe in the man's innocence. The big name actor who appears in this film is "Raymond" Milland. Charlie must wade through bigotry and resistance to accomplish what he can. The plot is interesting and the suspects present obstacles that are fun.

Warner Oland first played Charlie Chan in 1931 however four films in the series from the 1932-33 period have been lost. So, "Charlie Chan in London" is widely regarded as the first of the classic Warner Oland Chans.Hugh Gray (Douglas Walton) is awaiting execution for the murder of an Air Force officer who had developed plans for improving certain defence systems. His sister Pamela (Drue Leyton) believes in his innocence and has pursued all manners of appeal with the help of her lawyer/boyfriend Neil Howard (Ray Milland) to no avail.As it happens Charlie Chan is visiting the Home Secretary (David Torrence) when Pamela arrives to plead her case. The Home Secretary upholds the guilty verdict but Charlie takes an interest in the case. He goes to see Pamela who is staying at the country estate of Geoffrey Richmond (Alan Mowbray)and agrees to take on the case even though there is only a scant 65 hours left before the scheduled execution.Charlie moves about gathering clues and evidence. He even escapes an attempt on his life with a dart which only convinces him that the real murderer is in the house. He gathers the principals into one room and declares that "murderer is in this room". Turns out that he is.In many of the Chan features young up and coming actors/actresses appear. Ray(mond) Milland was one of these. Alan Mowbray made a career out of playing stuffy aristocrats. Veteran E.E. Clive is also along as the bumbling Detective Sergeant Thacker. No number one son as yet.

The 1930s and 40s saw huge numbers of B-movies about detectives which included two different Sherlock Holmes series (one American and one British), the Falcon, the Saint, Crime Doctor, Boston Blackie and several others. However, of all these series, one of the very best was probably the Charlie Chan films. However, since they were made over a twenty year period and starred several different actors as Chan, they varied considerably in quality. In general, the early ones are the best and this is one of the earliest ones still in existence (at least two earlier films have simply disappeared or degraded beyond hope).While this Warner Oland effort is plagued by not having an Asian actor in the lead (typical of all the Chan films of the 30s and 40s), it is one of the best written. Unlike some of the later films, Chan's thinking and deducting are actually very sound and he seems more like a master detective than just a lucky guy who stumbles upon the solution to a crime (this happened a lot in the later Sidney Toler films). In almost every way this is a superior film compared to later versions except that I did miss the inclusion of a bit of humor. Using #1 Son and the other Chan children actually helped many of the later films--especially in such grand films as CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OPERA.Still, this is well written, well acted and a good genuine mystery. The end result is a film that is a standout for the genre and is worth a look--especially if you like this style of film.