Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)
Directed by Lynn Shores
Genres - Mystery |
Sub-Genres - Detective Film |
Release Date - Sep 6, 1940 (USA - Unknown), Sep 6, 1940 (USA) |
Run Time - 63 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
Share on
Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Escaped gangster Steve McBirney (Marc Lawrence), vowing to get even with Oriental sleuth Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler), lies in wait at a spooky wax museum run by demented plastic surgeon Dr. Cream (Henry Gordon). Chan is lured to the museum's opening day ceremonies on a ruse, along with a variety of strange characters ranging from a girl reporter (Joan Valerie) to a radio announcer (played by real-life announcer Ted Osborn). The subsequent murder spree is complicated by the fact that no one-not even the wily Chan--can tell the wax effigies from real thing. The explanation of the film's events-and the revelation of the killer-are quite a surprise. With Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum, 20th Century-Fox's "Chan" series reached its peak: from here, it could only go downhill.
Characteristics
Themes
Keywords
bad-guy, dementia, detective, doctor/nurse, dummy, gangster, good-guy, investigator, killing, revenge, wax-museum