Movie Review: The Jade Mask (1945) directed by Phil Rosen
Inspector Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is flying back to Washington, D.C. soon, and has already checked out of his hotel. So when he’s called away to investigate a possible murder, his psuedo-intellectual Number Four Son Edward “Eddie” Chan (Edwin Luke) and highly nervous chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) have little choice but to follow him to the spooky manor that is the apparent crime scene.
It seems that absent-minded and paranoid scientist Harper was working on a gas to treat wood, making it as hard as metal. (The government is interested, which is why Inspector Chan is called in.) Tonight, he spoke to his butler Roth (Cyril Delevanti) over an intercom, gasping out the word “murder”. When Roth went to investigate, Harper had vanished. The police have made a search of the house and grounds, and Harper is nowhere to be found.
Charlie Chan proves that the police search was poorly done when he does a theatrical reveal of Harper’s corpse. Now, with the assistance of folksy Sheriff Mack (Al Bridge), he begins a formal investigation. Harper had a habit of making people hate him, so there’s plenty of suspects. His sister Louise Harper (Edith Evanson), who he coerced into acting as a housekeeper; their niece Jean Kent (Janet Warren), who is also the maid; Roth, who had worked for Harper for fifteen years, and as a proper butler refuses to share his personal opinion; mute chauffeur Michael Strong (Lester Dorr); sarcastic lab assistant Walter Meeker (Hardie Albright); Stella Graham (Dorothy Granger) vaudeville performer who was helping Harper with puppet experiments; Officer Jim Kimball (Ralph Lewis), a motorcycle officer last seen in the vicinity of the house; and Lloyd Archer (Jack Ingram), who claims Harper stole his father’s formula.
Even though this movie is only 66 minutes long it manages to stuff in several red herrings, a secret passage, and a couple more bodies. The gas room (an OSHA violation nightmare) and the puppet room are good sets to add variety to a low budget movie that needs as few sets as possible. Most of the acting is so-so, with Birmingham’s comic relief chops doing a bit of lifting for Eddie’s lackluster character. I did like the sheriff admitting he’s out of his depth and mostly contributing folksiness. The suspects as usual lie, or conceal facts even when they shouldn’t need to, with one instance of “exact words” that’s a pretty big clue.
While there are several masks involved, none of them appear to be actually made of jade. Perhaps it’s a metaphor.
The quality is low, but it’s a fun movie, a good choice for a lazy afternoon or rainy night with the family. As always with the Charlie Chan films, younger viewers may need a discussion of changes in how minority people were cast and played from the 1940s to the present day.
