City in Darkness (1939) User Reviews

A moment in history preserved in amber

[robertguttman · 6/10 · 21 December 2016]

Although not the best of the Charlie Chan series, this is a cut above the later Sidney Toler Chan films. However, what really makes it worth seeing is that the story takes place during the 1938 Munich Crisis (September 1938), yet was produced before WW-II began (September 1939). The setting is Paris, which is blacked out due to the threat of war, and while the French armed forces are busy mobilizing. The city-wide blackout explains the title, as "The City of Light" had been transformed into a "City in Darkness".

There are plenty of lame gags involving the distribution of gas masks, and people panicking due to false air raid alarms. Within a few months of this film's production none of those things would be laughing matters anymore. In fact, although produced prior to the outbreak of WW-II, the movie was not actually released until December 1939, by which time the war had actually begun.

In a sense, therefore, "City in Darkness" represents a significant moment in history that, one might say, has been preserved in a drop of amber. It was the moment when one world crisis was averted, leading to the preservation of world peace for a last few happy months before the final unleashing of Armageddon. For that alone, if for no other reason, "City in Darkness" is still worth a look.

Surprisingly timely but also disappointing entry into the series

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 11 July 2008]

By his fourth film in the series, Sidney Toler had settled into the Charlie Chan role quite nicely. In many ways, this is a fascinating film to watch because of its historical value--as it talks about the events leading up to WWII as well as the assumption that the Munich Agreement would avert war. As a history teacher, this is great stuff--a real insight into Europe on the eve of war.

However, despite the interesting backdrop of Paris as it prepares for war, the film ultimately is destroyed by one man--Harold Huber. This was Huber's third Chan film--having played a French inspector in Monte Carlo as well as a New York inspector. The problem in this film wasn't his accent (here and in the previous film, Huber was fine with his fake French accent), but how incredibly obnoxious and stupid his character was. This film did not feature a Chan child but most of the blundering was done by Huber. This might have worked had they not made Huber five times stupider than any of the Chan children. Plus, Huber came on so strong and was so dominant in the film that you really wanted him to die, as he completely over-shadowed Toler. Because of this, this might just be the worst Chan film that Fox Studios made. Watchable but annoying.

War and murder

[binapiraeus · 7/10 · 12 March 2014]

Even after watching it a couple of times, this - admittedly unique - entry in the 'Charlie Chan' series still looks like a somewhat strange and a little bit inappropriate mixture of a 'usual' murder mystery and an early WWII flag waver. It starts like a Newsreel about the dramatical political developments in Europe; and it is announced that on September 28, the whole city of Paris has to remain in darkness because of the possibility of a German air strike.

The next thing we see is a reunion party of secret agents from WWI, to which M. Romaine, the Prefect of Police, has invited his old friend Charlie Chan; and they drink a toast to peace, hoping there'll not be another war soon...

But at the same time, there is a spy ring of an enemy country in full activity: Charlotte Ronnell arranges with sinister Belescu that a cargo full of French weapons manufactured by another enemy spy, Petroff, will sail out the same night to get into the enemy's hands before an embargo will be imposed; but Belescu tricks them, and they're left without the necessary papers. And in another part of Paris, Petroff's innocent former secretary Tony Madero wants to flee the country in order not to be accused as a member of the spy ring, and his wife Marie promises him to get him a ticket and a false passport from shady M. Santelle - but she's got to raise a lot of money, and her only hope is Petroff...

... And a few hours later, Petroff is found shot, discovered by his butler Antoine, a veteran from WWI who has just sent his young son to the army; and so, while the soldiers are leaving for a possible war, Charlie and his friend's godson, dopey inspector Marcel (played once more by Harold Huber, who specialized in playing nervous, clumsy Frenchmen) investigate the Petroff murder, looking for clues like a camellia lying next to the body, a smashed window in the cellar, and so on...

Somehow, this mixture doesn't work properly - solving a murder case (even if it's connected to a dangerous spy ring) amid the atmosphere of a city preparing for war is simply somehow like losing one's sense of proportion... And when the case is solved, the film takes us back to politics: Romaine proclaims happily that there will be NO war, because Hitler has just invited the French and British Premiers to a conference in Munich! BUT since the film was released in December 1939, the further developments were already known by that time; and so Charlie Chan can utter one of his wise 'foretellings': 'Beware of spider who invites fly into parlor'...

"Please, patience big sister to wisdom."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 10 April 2005]

If you were to say at the outset "The butler did it", you'd be right. On the brink of World War II between Nazi Germany and the European Allies, Charlie Chan finds himself in Paris, the "City in Darkness" of the title, deriving the name from the precaution taken for German air raids against the city. The film plays more like an espionage story, though businessman Petroff does wind up a murder victim, amid clandestine arrangements for phony passports and implications of embezzlement.

Inspector Chan investigates this one without the aid of offspring, though in conversation with wannabe detective Marcel Spivak (Harold Huber), admits to having five wannabe detective sons of his own. Marcel is the secretary to Prefect of Police Romaine (C. Henry Gordon), but dives headlong into the case wanting to make his mark in police work. His antics are a bit over the top, and his character is quick to jump to errant conclusions about the case.

Era veterans in the cast include Leo G. Carroll as Louis Santelle, a locksmith by day and forger by night; Douglas Dumbrille as murder victim Petroff, and Lynn Bari as Marie Dubon, arranging passage for her fiancé Tony Madero (Richard Clarke) to Panama. The observant viewer will also catch Lon Chaney Jr. in a minor role.

When Petroff's killer is finally revealed, the sympathetic Chan offers butler Antoine (Pedro de Cordoba) and Prefect Romaine an extenuating circumstance defense, allowing that Antoine acted in self defense, as Petroff was dealing arms to the enemy Nazis. Earlier in the film, the butler was shown escorting his nineteen year old son off to the war effort, en route to the threatened Czech border. Petroff's salient remarks to Antoine and his son at that time were enough to cast him as one villain you wouldn't mind seeing get his due.

Don't be swayed by the others.....great Chan movie!

[raulfrijoles · 7/10 · 9 November 2009]

I can fully appreciate why others would say this is the weakest Chan movie. HOWEVER, I'm here to defend it. This particular Chan movie has our protagonist playing second fiddle to Huber playing a bumbling detective. I can see why they neglected to put a Chan son in, there was no need. Huber played the bumbling detective/Chan son combo perfectly. He is a bit over the top, however.

The movie has great historical value as well as being a good mystery. I certainly did not think it was the butler, but the female spy. It was surprising to find out it was indeed the butler. It felt good to butler stand up for himself at the end, and win Chan's favor.

I strongly disagree what others say about Chan not having a role to play. certainly he played second fiddle, but Chan does indeed go about his methodical way of getting his facts.

Great scenes include the time that Marcel (Huber) and Chan visit a bar lat at night looking for the criminals, Huber getting tossed out of the hotel looking for the lady, and Marcel indicating to Chan 'i, too, have been busy," pointing to all the culprits in one room. as much as Huber is an idiot in this, he did round up more suspects than Chan!!

a much watch. my 4 favorite Chan behind murder cruise, panama, and Chan in Honolulu.

Decent mystery with timely setting but underdone plot and script

[csteidler · 6/10 · 25 July 2012]

The "City in Darkness" is Paris, where Charlie Chan and a group of colleagues from the last Great War are gathered for a reunion on the eve of the next one. As the picture opens, a newsreel-style sequence presents a fascinating and frightening summary of European events of 1938—as they appeared from the vantage point of early 1939.

In this setting, with war imminent and preparations mounting, the nighttime blackout in effect occasionally helps the story along—such as the scene in which Mr. Chan, captured and tied up in a shop's back room, manages to surreptitiously switch on an outside light, knowing the police will come and pound on the shop door and thus rescue him.

The plot itself concerns the murder of a shady character named Petroff—and the usual number of suspects who may have had reasons (personal or political) for doing away with him. There's a shop owner (Leo G. Carroll) who makes and sells fake passports on the side; a young couple (Richard Clarke and Lynn Bari) trying to catch the last boat for America for six days; a "business associate" (Noel Madison) of Petroff's who slides in and out of the picture; and butler and patriot Antoine (Pedro de Cordoba).

C. Henry Gordon is a natural as the prefect of police, the old friend Chan has come to visit. Sidney Toler is solid if rather subdued as Mr. Chan. Instead of assistance from number two son, however, this time around Chan has to deal with…

Harold Huber as a bumbling inspector who hopes to solve this case to impress the prefect. His accent is thick, his gestures are exaggerated, and whenever he is on screen he interrupts loudly, whoever else may be speaking. It's a comic role—but, for my taste at least, it's a bit too much. I'm all for broad humor but in this case it only partially works and it distracts from an otherwise rather serious movie.

It's certainly an interesting setting…but overall I'm not sure they didn't concentrate too much on the picture's timeliness and neglect to polish the dialog and plot.

Subpar CC

[GManfred · 27 September 2016]

Always loved Charlie Chan movies, especially with Sidney Toler. He was the first CC I ever saw, as they were always on TV in the 50's. As I got older I appreciated Warner Oland, but Sidney was first. I also realized that the CC films with Oland were better than the later ones.

"City In Darkness", however, was a disappointment, and, as several reviewers mentioned, Harold Huber spoiled the whole show for me. He chewed the scenery and was a grating presence whenever he was on screen. He had a pretty big part, so you couldn't get away from his outrageous overacting and using a poor imitation of a French accent. That, and the final scene was confusing - you had to remember when all the suspects were in the room with the murdered man, which was supposed to be before (or after?) midnight. Too bad, but with a long-lived series like CC's they were bound to come up with a clinker.

Breach in the blackout regulations

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 13 June 2013]

One of the few Charlie Chan movies that does not have one of his eager beaver sons trying oh so earnestly to help, Charlie Chan In The City Of Darkness refers to the fact that the well known city of lights is actually in darkness due to blackout regulations. During the course of the film, a breach in those regulations actually saves Sidney Toler's life.

Harold Huber takes the place of the sons here and provides us some comic relief. Huber who normally played oily villainous types must have welcomed a change in casting.

Toler is in Paris ironically celebrating a reunion of intelligence service officers from the last World War as a new one beckons. The film, released in 1939 after war had been officially declared was set in that period in 1938 when the United Kingdom and France went to the brink before capitulating to the Nazis at Munich.

During the first of a Parisian blackout the French prefect of police in Paris is up to his ears in work and just can't get to the murder of Douglass Dumbrille in a timely fashion. This provides his loyal secretary who wants to make his bones as a detective an opportunity. Good thing Huber had Sidney Toler around to show him the ropes.

Dumbrille was one of those international men of mystery and intrigue and being that has a host of enemies who would like to do him in. There's a nice array of suspects including a couple of sneak thieves played comically by Louis Mercier and George Davis who might look good for it as well. In fact with regularity Huber keeps declaring he's solved the case only to have Toler give him another Confucian aphorism about staying cool.

During the course of the film an international smuggling and spy ring is broken up. As for the murderer, a rather different fate awaits him than that of the normal course of perpetrators that Charlie Chan usually brings in.

Toler and Huber keep this film entertaining at all time, a good entry among the Charlie Chan features.

Patience Big Sister to Wisdom

[bnwfilmbuff · 9/10 · 21 May 2017]

Smuggling, counterfeiting, espionage, blackmail, theft, treason, and murder are all intertwined in this brilliant Chan pre-WWII mystery. Charlie is trying to leave Paris on the eve of the war when he stumbles into this complex web of deceit while investigating the murder of a munitions manufacturer. The cast and acting were amazing. However, Harold Huber as the bumbling police inspector does get to be a bit much, though he has several laugh-out-loud funny scenes. Sidney Toler is on top of his game for this entry with several wonderful quips as well as his trademark poise amid the insanity but fear when endangered. This has a marvelous finish as well as a prescient statement ending the movie. This is a must see for fans of this series.

Very good

[SanteeFats · 7/10 · 28 October 2013]

Charlie goes to Paris for a reunion of World War I buddies. While there he gets involved in a case of espionage, gun running, and murder. Now this takes place in pre- World War II when Germany is gearing up for it's Blitzkrieg of France and of course Poland, Belgium, etc. Lon Chaney Jr. appears in what is basically a cameo. The police assistant is a hoot as an extremely bumbling replacement for the absence of number two son's presence. He is pretty much a humorous side show that Chan let's take some of the credit in the end. Chan eventually solves the case (no surprise there), the gun runners are caught, the murderer is found, and the young couple are freed to go on their way. A very decent Chan movie.

They Had The Wrong Guy In The Lead

[ccthemovieman-1 · 2/10 · 9 April 2008]

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.

City in darkness...serious crime at play.

[michaelRokeefe · 8/10 · 30 September 2010]

In 1938 the City of Lights becomes a city in darkness as Paris is dimming the lights and pulling down the shades. The city-wide blackout is part of the effort in non-escalation of the Munich Crisis. Leaders of the great powers discuss peace at the very best. The American-Oriental detective Charlie Chan(Sidney Toler)is in Paris for a reunion when his crime detection prowess is called upon. A munitions manufacturer is murdered and his control of selling arms to an unnamed enemy lingers in mystery. Familiar actor Harold Huber plays addled Police inspector Spivak, who manages to second guess Chan throughout the investigation. Charlie's job isn't done until the smuggling stops. A strong supporting cast features: Lynn Bari, C. Henry Gordon, Noel Madison, Dorothy Tree, Leo G. Carroll and Lon Chaney Jr.

of historical interest

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 19 June 2013]

"Charlie Chan in the City of Darkness" was released three months after World War II broke out in Europe. The film takes place in Paris on the brink of war, and there isn't a heck of a lot of mystery here. The movie also seems long.

Chan is in Paris for a reunion, as citizens scramble for gas masks and are warned to observe blackouts.

Charlie is pulled into an investigation of the murder of a businessman at the behest of Marcel, the godson of the Paris Chief of Police. Eventually they uncover a conspiracy to sell a shipment of arms to the Germans though the manifest reads that it's fruit. Marcel is somewhat of a buffoon, and Roumanian, I assumed.

Lynn Bari plays a woman trying to buy her husband's way out of the country after he is framed by one of the criminals; Leo G. Carroll plays a Frenchman who is milking the trouble for all its worth, selling passports and boat tickets for exorbitant prices.

At the end, we get the news that there's not going to be a war, as there is to be a meeting with Hitler. Just give him Poland, France, Russia, and a few other places, I guess, and he would be quiet. Charlie isn't fooled. By the time this film was released, no one else was either.

What happened to Charlie?

[pmcenea · 4/10 · 29 March 2003]

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.

Harold Huber rides again!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 20 December 2017]

Charlie Chan in City in Darkness (1939) certainly ranks as one of the oddest movies in the series. Although it was palmed off on the public as "Charlie Chan in City in Darkness" and sold as a mystery thriller, this entry is actually a knockabout comedy.

Chan is a subsidiary character whose principle job is to feed lines and bits of business to Harold Huber, who not only has more lines than Toler (and more than twice as many words) but more scenes including that delightful episode in which Harry Fleischmann picks him up and then throws his double down the stairs, not once but twice!

Chan is not only forced to stand on the sidelines while Huber runs rings around him, but is up-staged by three comic thieves as well. True, Chan has a few timely words, does a bit of detecting and even foolishly dispenses with Huber's assistance for a scene in which he is nearly killed by Leo G. Carroll and Lon Chaney.

All the same, Charlie Chan in City in Darkness will certainly disappoint Chan fans.

Ambitious, (then) topical, well-plotted - you just have to get past ze unfunny Harold Huber

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 13 August 2017]

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.

Turn the lights off on this one

[pbalos · 6/10 · 7 July 2000]

originally a play which fails to translate very well on the screen.It's lifeless.There's some light moments with Harold Huber as the inept Marcel, but his hamming it up is a bit too much. It is interesting to see Leo G. Carroll and Lon Chaney Jr. in this.The backdrop to the story proves more interesting as the world finds itself on the brink of WWII.Note the final words of Chan , which is an omen of things to come."Excuse please," but overall, this is not the most brilliant piece of Chan film history.

Blackout In The City Of Lights

[boblipton · 7/10 · 5 March 2024]

In the 23rd Charlie Chan movie, Sidney Toler is in Paris. It's 1938, and war looms; the City of Lights is blacked out. But even war doesn't stop murder, and amidst arms smugglers and passport forgers, Toler assists Harold Huber in investigating a murder.

More than one of the Chan movies was shot with a lot of shadow; whether it was the burgeoning era of film noir, the inherent gloominess of murder, or just Sol Wurtzel trying to save a few bucks by turning off lights is unclear. It's certainly bizarre to see the parts of the 20th Century-Fox B lot meant to evoke Paris wit the lights turned out. With Victor Sen Yung missing from the movie, it's up to Huber to provide the comic relief, and the other performers, including Lynn Bari, Pedro de Cordoba Dorothy Tree, C. Henry Gordon, Douglas Dumbrille, Noel Madison, and Leo G. Carroll to provide the various, tangling plots to obscure whodunnit.

Charlie Chan meets Inspector Clouseau...kind of.

[echaczyk · 6/10 · 17 August 2022]

This Charlie Chan movie is based on a play written by Gina Kaus and Ladislas Fodor where there is a both a bumbling French detective and a smart detective who it's not Charlie Chan. This play was revised by screenwriters Robert Ellis and Helen Logan to include the character of Charlie Chan. If there was a bit more humor, this could easily have been an Inspector Clouseau, Pink Panther movie. But instead, we have Charlie Chan who almost seems second banana to the scene munching Inspector Marcel played by Harold Huber.

Filmed in 1938, this movie is about German spies and arms smuggling set amidst the possibility of Germany invading France. A French arms dealer, who is trying to ship arms to Germany, is murdered. His wall safe is open and 400K francs are missing. Inspector Marcel is called to solve the murder/robbery with Charlie Chan as support. As a sub-plot, there is a woman who is also trying to smuggle her boyfriend out of the country and has visited the arms dealer for money to pay for fake passports. There is also a shipping coordinator who visits the arms dealer before his death to sell papers for passage. Charlie Chan has to sort through clues and follow persons of interest to solve the murder.

The movie is directed well with nice camera angles and multiple sets so that this doesn't look like a filmed play. The characters are thin and superficial. The movie is centered around Marcel and Chan, There's enough action for Charlie Chan to get into trouble and to chase the clues to an unexpected conclusion. And enough humor for Marcel to take some seriousness out of the movie. The story is a bit complicated and deserves a second watch to understand the conclusion, but what good "who-done-it" doesn't need a second view? Leo G. Carroll and Lon Chaney Jr. Make a brief appearance both in the early days of their careers. This is one film where you can definitely say, "the butler did it".

Most Unfortunate Film

[Lin21 · 2/10 · 1 July 2010]

A dreary, boring film from the usually entertaining Charlie Chan series. Harold Huber dominates the film and Charlie merely stands around most of the time. It might have been different if Huber was funny, but he just comes across as annoying. Huber's character and Chan do not mesh well either. The film really misses #1 or #2 son. The plot isn't well spelled out and is not that interesting nor are the characters involved. There was potential here with the backdrop of WWII, but it does not get developed. The worst Chan film ever follows what many consider the best Chan film, Charlie Chan at Treasure Island. In fact, the next three Chan films are all excellent. Puzzling as to why they made this clunker.

Even a justifiable murder needs to be solved.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 16 September 2023]

Hints of a world crisis yet to come were indicated in 1937's "Charlie Chan at the Olympics", and are all the more evident two years later, when Charlie (Sidney Toler) returns to Paris and finds himself stranded due to International crisis, conveniently kept there by his involvement in a murder case. The victim, Douglas Dumbrille, had many enemies, but he also had secret alliances as well, and as Charlie finds out, not all murders are equal in justification.

There's a lot going on here bur overall it's a very pleasing film, with a great ensemble of character players, many of them minor but obviously with actors knowing that their presence in a Chan film would do their career good. There's no Jimmy Chan in this one although he's mentioned by his father through something he'd presumably say, a repeat of something that happened with number one son Lee when Warner Oland played the part. I wouldn't add this to a list of best films about the war, but it's an entertaining distraction.

Pre-war Paris as setting for weak spy melodrama

[Jim Tritten · 4/10 · 3 June 2002]

Maybe it was the play that forms the basis of this tale, maybe the return to previous screenwriters, or a new director, or whatever…but this is one of the weakest Sidney Toler Chan films done at 20th Century Fox. Not much of a mystery – more a propaganda film about the coming war and the need to beware of traitors who would sell and ship arms to the enemy and who need clearance papers that disguise munitions as fruit.

One of the few films without one of his offspring (he admits to having 5 sons here). Chan plays instead off Marcel, secretary and godson to the Paris Chief of Police. Audiences were probably being conditioned to regard the French as future allies; hence Marcel explains that he is really the son of the Bucharest Chief of Police – thus maligning Romania instead. Harold Huber has done a much more subtle and effective job at comedy in the Chan series. Pedro de Cordoba does splendidly as a dignified gentleman's gentleman Antoine and WWI veteran who sees his son off to the next conflict. AMC gives second billing in this film to Lon Chaney, Jr., but in reality his is a bit part preceding his more memorable appearance in `Of Mice and Men' the same year. He must have needed the work.

There are enough clues, misdirections, and suspects to keep the outcome up in the air but we are not made to really care. The murdered man deserved to be murdered and who did it matters little. There are sufficient clues for an observant viewer to arrive at the solution along with Chan.

Not one of the better or even good Chan films. See this only to round out the series. As Chan said in this film: `To describe bitter medicine will not improve its flavor.'

An Historic Chan Movie Ruined By Overbearing Comedy and an Uninteresting Murder

[darkcollins · 3/10 · 22 May 2017]

I really like Harold Huber, I really do. He was one of the best character actors of the 1930s until his passing in the 1950s. He was even really good and great in his previous Chan roles and also in the Mr. Moto films in supporting roles. But here...WOW.

Director Herbert I. Leeds also previously helmed the Mr. Moto entry "Danger Island" the same year. The buddy relationship in that film with Peter Lorre and Warren Hymer worked there perfectly because the movie never lost focus that MOTO was the main character and the chemistry between Lorre and Hymer clicked beautifully. It seems like Leeds was attempting the same for Sidney Toler and Harold Huber but Huber's comedy is overbearing, really unfunny and completely out of place. Huber is basically the main character of the film and is given free rein to go wild while Toler is left to clean up the mess (bless you for being a trooper with this, Mr. Toler). And the absence of Victor Sen-Yung in favor of Huber's bumbling annoyance is another mark against this one.

Another problem is that the murder victim isn't that interesting, nor are a good amount of the suspects who have their own sneaky self- interests to hide. Whenever the Chan films emphasized espionage rather than the basic murder mystery, the results were a largely mixed bag but here, it's a real slog to sit through. Not even Lon Chaney Jr's brief presence was enough to enjoy.

The historical aspect of the rising European tensions on the eve of World War Two make this film interesting from that perspective but the potential to make the usual fun popcorn Chan movie went down the drain with Huber being pushed to the forefront. Avoid this one.

Barely a Chan film

[xnet95 · 2/10 · 19 January 2010]

This is without a doubt the worst Charlie Chan movie I have ever seen. Harold Huber as Inspector Spivak was horribly annoying. He had about ten times the amount of lines that Sydney Toler had, which is why I say this is barely a Chan film. It's bad enough the producers felt that this film needed comic relief, but to have that comic relief be so dominant is a travesty. Aside from Huber's grating performance, the rest of the movie kind of plods along, filling time until Huber comes back to dominate. YUCK!

It was nice to see that the review from Variety (Nov. 22, 1939) didn't like this movie. The following is a quote from that review: "Direction is inadequate, further hampered by poor story material. Attempts to provide Huber with comedy as a jittery police novice are ineffectual. The audience is never presented with sufficient interest in the murder or culprit, and the mystery just unwinds without much attention."

The fact that so many people on IMDb gave this a 9 or a 10 rating sickens me. Watching this movie was a complete disappointment.

"Beware of spider who invites fly into his place for tea."

[bensonmum2 · 5/10 · 18 February 2008]

On the eve of war in France, Charlie Chan is visiting with old friends in Paris. When a leading industrialist is murdered, Chan agrees to help out the local police to solve the murder. Chan will have to sift through a web of international intrigue to find a killer.

Charlie Chan in City in Darkness was one of the very last Chan films I had not seen. And I can't tell you how disappointed I am in the movie. Briefly, it doesn't have the feel of a Chan film. It's not so much a murder mystery as it is an espionage thriller. And Chan isn't a central character as much as he is a bystander. He just happens to the there. And where was Jimmy? What's a Sidney Toler Chan film without #2 son? It's not the kind of movie I was hoping for.

This is the third Chan film I've seen with Harold Huber. His broad, almost comical characters are always a distraction. But in Charlie Chan in City in Darkness he's really out of place. The tone of this film is too serious for Huber's brand of over-acting. Another disappointing facet to this Chan installment.