Dangerous Money (1946)

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I was always a big Charlie Chan fan. I saw most of them as I was growing up and I liked Sidney Toler over Warner Oland. I had never see this one before, and it must be one of the few clinkers in the Charlie Chan canon. It is a stagebound film with no exterior shots and suffers from a very weak screenplay and spotty direction. And none of the Warner Oland's were this low in quality.Now, I understand Monogram's predicament as a Poverty Row studio and the financial problems involved, but they should have been able to find a better script writer than the one who wrote this misfire. Cast was good, and they substituted Willie Best for Mantan Moreland in the Pop-Eyed comic relief role. But the film bites off more than can be chewed and the result is a slap-dash product which tries to squeeze in too much, and results in my rating above.

"Dangerous Money" is an aptly named Charlie Chan film in which Sidney Toler's character investigates a pair of murders relating to illegal trading in "hot money" and stolen art. The action takes place aboard the S.S. Newcastle heading to Australia via Samoa. Along for the ride are Number #2 Son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) and assistant Chattanooga Brown (Willie Best). Charlie doesn't have much time to solve the case as he's committed to another investigation on arrival in Sydney. Be prepared for more uncomfortable racial insinuations, as Jimmy converses with Chattanooga via walkie talkie using the code names "Chop Suey 108" and "Pork Chop 711". Once again Chan/Toler demonstrates his dancing skill in a film; in "Red Dragon", he cut a mean rumba, here he slows it down a bit, but still quite smoothly with a shipboard waltz. Passenger Rona Simmonds (Gloria Warren) and ship's pursar George Brace (Joseph Allen) are hiding a secret for which she is being blackmailed. She is traveling with false papers, smuggled on board in an attempt to identify art stolen from her banker father. International businessman P.T. Burke (Dick Elliott) uses his position to extort a valuable necklace from Simmonds, but as we've seen before, there is another villain masterminding the action from a loftier height. He is flushed out by Charlie in a convenient "lights out" scene intended to add to the confusion. I have to admit, it's difficult to follow most Charlie Chan films without keeping a personal scorecard, and even so, the revelation of the killer almost always comes as a surprise. Chan himself best expresses this in a line from the film - "Kangaroo reaches destination also by leaps and bounds".

Much of the action takes place on a ship. Typical acting for a Chan flick with some comedy provided by sidekick Chatanooga. Not one of the best Toler movies, but not the worse. Poor direction and weak story line. Might be alright for a rainy day.

Another poor Monogram Charlie Chan film. The production values, story, acting and directing are very weak. The story is uninteresting. A ship to the South Seas would have been fun in a 20th Century Fox Chan movie but not so here. Only of note because this was the second and final time Willie Best played Chatanooga. Otherwise, one to skip.