Really Surprised!

A lot of fun.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Eccentric and rich scientist Frank Reicher is working on a poison gas formula and he's got the usual collection of servants, relatives, and colleagues in his mansion. That mansion also contains a room where Reicher does his work, keeps his secrets, and can only be opened or closed with a voice command. Should someone not authorized get in, good chance they'll trip a trap that will lock them in and kill them with poison gas.Despite all this security Reicher winds up murdered and in a most exotic way. Before this Charlie Chan film is concluded four more victims will die. And they'll die in the same exotic way most of them. The method I won't reveal because it's way too good.Sidney Toler plays the all wise Charlie Chan in this and despite help from number 4 son Edward Luke and Mantan Moreland, Toler solves the case. As for the title, where Jade comes in I don't know, but life masks are an integral part of the case allowing the murderer to whatever evil is planned.For a Monogram Picture,The Jade Mask wasn't too bad and Charlie is at the top of his game.

A marvelously spooky beginning, with a shadowy figure in black, stealthily approaching a mansion in the fog, sets the tone for this odd, but entertaining Charlie Chan adventure. A secretive butler, a sarcastic lab assistant, various disgruntled relatives, and unknown suspects are all candidates for the murder of a scientist working on a secret formula for the war effort.Charlie is called in to investigate and finds himself in a house full of strange devices and stranger characters. Well meaning assistance is provided by nervous chauffeur Birmingham and son Eddie Chan, the formal, intellectual member of the family. The slow talking but sharp witted Sheriff Mack is played delightfully by well known character actor Alan Bridge, who engages in friendly banter with Charlie and is only too glad to let him do most of the investigating.There are some clever twists and unexpected angles that make the increasingly improbable story a lot of fun, even if it gets a little far fetched at the end.The film is no masterpiece, but is thoroughly entertaining, with a kind of naive charm so often found in old movies.

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.

This Monogram Chan outing has a nice atmosphere and some witty dialogue but a pretty way-out plot. Even the under-used Birmingham says the talk is too stratospheric (over his head!) No.4 son Edward weighs in as Chunky Chan and likewise takes a decided backseat to the deductive powers of his esteemed father Charlie.It's the usual delicious household full of family and guests who are all tetchy as usual with one another but especially with the acid professor who gets bumped off, and Charlie's attempts to solve the case. Along the way there's a few more murders thrown in, and one scene where one of the corpses walks much to Birmingham's horror and my disgust as I already knew how (many previous viewings for humble self). The professor who's supposedly working for the Government has his own gas chamber for experimentation - was there any need to march the culprit/s away at the end then?A ridiculous ending, but overall another enjoyable episode [31/38] to be savoured every now and then by the cognoscenti and ignored by the serious.