STATE

Southland Times, Issue 24421, 29 April 1941, Page 8

STATE

Suave and cunning as ever, the imperturbable Chinese sleuth, Charlie Chan again makes his bow to local screen audiences, this time in “Charlie Chan at rhe Wax Museum,” which is the State’s first feature today at 2.0 and 8.0. In this film, the inimitable Chan is called on to solve a mystery that is even more baffling than those which have formed the basis of his other pictures, and of all places, the scene is laid in the chamber of horrors in a waxworks. There is, of course, a murder, and it is in finding the perpetrator of the crime that Chan meets with adventures that are as hectic as anyone with a taste for mysteries could desire. His adversary is tracked down in the chamber of horrors—a singularly appropriate setting—and in the course of his investigations, all manner of weird things happen. He is tricked into taking part in a “crime league” broadcast from the waxworks, and while he is there, wax figures come to life, and identities are changed with bewildering rapidity, so that before the detective gets to the bottom of the mystery even the audience is perplexed as to where the next move will come from. Chan is faced with death in the electric chair at the hands of a murderer who is supposed to be long since dead, he is nearly the victim of a poisoned arrow, and yet he emerges triumphant, with all the loose ends of the case tied up, and another success added to his already long list. The second film, “The Bride Wore Crutches,” is a fast-moving story of a young college graduate, played by Ted North, and a girl reporter, played by Lynne Roberts.