NECK AND NECK WITH DEATH

Evening Star, Issue 22595, 12 March 1937, Page 7

NECK AND NECK WITH DEATH

RAGE TRACK THRILLS WITH CHAM A huge gambling syndicate that stops at nothing, a phantom killer who strikes with an unseen hand, poison foam, and a devilish infra-ray dart that slays with the speed of light menace Charlie Chan as the famous sleuth faces the greatest odds of his career in ‘ Charlie Chan at the Race Track,’ Twentieth Century-Fox picture, now at tho State. Hailed as the most thrilling Charlie Chan picture ever brought to the screen, Warner Gland again plays Karl Derr Digger’s wily detective, with Keye Luke, Helen Wood, Thomas Beck, Alan Dinehart, and Gavin Aluir also featured in the oast. The film opens with a roar of excitement at the Melbourne race track in Australia, where Avalanche, the odds-on favourite, loses tho sweepstakes through the operations of a huge gambling syndicate. Chan is called in to investigate the case by the horse’s owner. When the boat docks at Honolulu, Chan goes on board to find the turfman dead — kicked to death by Avalanche. Chan jmcovors evidence that establishes the fact that it is not an accidental death, but murder. When the boat leaves Honolulu for Los Angeles Chan is on board—trailing the killer. Avalanche is entered in the IOO.OOOdoI Santa Juanita Handicap—but Chan discovers that the horse has been switched with another thoroughbred. The gambling ring is plotting a huge clean-up! Chan delves deeper and deeper into the case—and the day of the big race the gamblers kidnap the sleuth, intending to hold him captive until the handicap is run. By a clever ruse Chan outwits his captors and arrives at the track just before the big race. With the aid of his son, Keye Luke, Chan creates a furore at the track, and in the resulting excitement, restores Avalanche to his true colours. Tho horses leave the post in a burst of speed—and as they round into the borne stretch the killer strikes again! Faced with the most baffling case of his career, Chan races neck-and-neck with death to tho finish line in a climax that is the most exciting and thrill-packed of all the Charlie Chan adventures. H. Bruce Humberstono directed 1 Charlie Chan at the Race Track,’ with John Stone associate producer.