I'll tell you why so serious

A Brilliant Conflict

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This ambitious Charlie Chan outing takes place in a darkened Paris, on the brink of World War II. In addition to its political topicality, it has a well-plotted murder mystery, with more suspects than you can shake a stick at, and a surprising outcome. Most of the supporting cast is top-notch, with a particularly confident performance by Dorothy Tree as an enemy agent. There is really only one major problem with the movie, and that's the unfunny Harold Huber, with his overdone pre-Inspector Clouseau French accent and his idiotic antics. Sidney Toler's expert deadpan comic delivery makes Huber look even worse. Take Huber out of the equation, and you have one of the better Chan mysteries here. "Wise man question self, fool question others". **1/2 out of 4.

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) investigates a murder in Paris on the eve of World War II. No sons to help him out this time. Instead, he has buffoonish French policeman Marcel (Harold Huber) to assist him. Despite a solid cast and a then-topical storyline, it's one of the weaker entries in the Fox Chan series. The supporting cast includes some great character actors such as C. Henry Gordon, Douglas Dumbrille, Leo G. Carroll, and Pedro de Cordoba. Also the lovely Lynn Bari. It's a good cast. The problem is with Harold Huber, an enjoyable actor that has appeared twice before in the Charlie Chan series with Warner Oland. His character is overbearing and appears way too much. He pretty much doesn't leave Charlie's side and he shouts almost every line. Still, despite this fault, it's not a bad movie. Just weak for this exceptional series. It has some added historical value for WWII buffs. Also Lon Chaney, Jr. appears in a bit part.

This is the only Charlie Chan film I never finished. I usually love his films, whether Sidney Toler or Warner Oland starred in them and/or which of Charlie's kids were in the film.However, in this movie the French police "Inspector Spivak," played by Harold Huber, was hogging all the scenes and was difficult to understand. He made me lose interest. This guy was just plain super annoying and had the top role in the story. I am glad a few other reviewers here had the same reaction as I did.Perhaps with a DVD treatment and English subtitles available, I could give this a second chance and enjoy it, but I doubt it. I watch Chan films to see Charlie, not some idiot in the starring role.

In my opinion, this has to be one of the worst Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan's. I say this for two reasons. This first is Charlie seemed to be a minor character in this movie. Somehow, the movie was taken over by Harold Huber's loud and chaotic character, Marcel. Somehow, someone, I suppose the director, Herbert I. Leeds, let him run wild spouting a lot of nonsense in a loud voice. Maybe the first "I see it all now!" was funny, but it was definitely overplayed. This movie could have been so much better if they had just allowed Paris to co-star with Charlie.