CAMERA MURDER

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22318, 4 February 1938, Page 18

CAMERA MURDER

Warner Oland in "Charlie Chjj on Broadway" fll 1 'JbNV

Called into action on New York's Great White Way, Charlie Chan invades the night clubs to seek the killer whose double murder casts a shadow of terror over Manhattan's gayest spots in the newest of his screen adventures, "Charlie Chan On Broadway," which begins to-day at the Mayfair. Warner Oland is featured in his familiar outstanding characterisation of the Chinese detective, and prominent roles in the cast are played by Keye Luke, as Chan's "number one son," J. Edward Bromberg, Joan Marsh, Louise Henry, Joan Woodbury. Donald Woods, Douglas Fowley, and Harold Huber. The blundering curiosity of Chan's "number one, son" is the opening wedge of Chan's entrance into a mystery about a night-club singer's secret diary, supposed to contain sensational information that, once published, will "blow the lid off the town." Before the diary is brought to light however, the singer is killed in Broadway's gayest night spot. This murder is soon followed by a second, that cerves to baffle the police even more. In the attempt to imitate the detective work of his father, Lee Chan manages to place himself in a highly suspicious position, from which he has to be ignominiously extricated by the Oriental detective A multitude of conflicting clues becloud the entire case, with the chief

s| evidence supplied by ainatcvcSft - camera "shots" taken in theaMnßl - This is a new angle in screenilK r teries, used for the first tnafejlE ; story by Art Arthur. Robert B§f§s Helen Logan, from which CbadSE i den and Jerry Cady iiTi|l|W| screen play featuring the dtetojßJlß ; iginally created by Earl BeBrHK ) From the confusion of dictß^Hni - Chan manages, in his 3we£j9BE ' phical fashion, to piece ttoMJHK : amazing solution that is PX<MmB l rect in a surprising climax. jSIB ■ Eugene Forde directed , 4Mb|| i with John Stone as associate IKMJgjE To provide the proper pbot^ngp > atmosphere for this caoSoSS ', murder story. Twentieth O^H|p purchased 32 cameras of fidMß new type and promptly made iIS I verts to the fad that is sroqriHß 1 country like nothing since Mi^K nings of radio. 't3B Joan Marsh, who plays a fnflSg candid-camera woman in ' adventure of the Oriental 4fHB : took a week's lessons in tbffXHl . manipulating the expensive chine assigned her by the jHH|9H ; the role, the first thus farJßjjgg > pictures. With the snappy kwMqpjp ■ fit she wears carelessly oyeroqeaiijg| I shoulder, she snaps the puctoe^Si proves the first link in the cjjjfflf ■ helps Chan unravel the donM^H|