POPULAR DETECTIVE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 244, 14 October 1937, Page 3

POPULAR DETECTIVE

SLELTU AT THE PLAZA "CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS” Charlie Chan is as imperturbable and as cunning as ever in “Charlie Chan at the Olympics,” [ the film which commences a sea- ; son to-morrow at the Plaza Theatre. The appeal of this series—the present offering is the thirteenth about Chan’s adventures in sleuthing shows no sign of waning, and as long as the standard of the film now showing is maintained, the series should easily hold the interest of those who admire the urbane Chinese detective, with his strangely contrasting methods of logical deduction. The solving of his latest case takes Charlie Chan across the Atlantic to Berlin, and the ramifications of the story allow some of the scenes of the last Olympic Games to be brought in to give adaed interest. Yet the story would not have suffered if it had not been possible for these scenes to be incorporated. One of the scenes is of particular interest to people in New Zealand, for it shows J. E. Lovelock winning the 1500 metres final and being decorated with the laurel wreath of victory. Chan is on the track of spies who have stolen a secret device for controlling aeroplanes in flight by radio. Chan soon finds them worthy enemies, for they outwit him in the first moves. But Chan works on methodically, refusing to be led away on false trails, and soon he has regained the device. Before it can be returned to America, however, there are more desperate attempts to steal it, but the wily Chan has lived to his maxim of “keeping the joker up his sleeve.” This serves him in good stead when his son, one of the competitors at the games, is kidnapped and the ransom asked is the surrender of the coveted device. There is capable direction at all stages of the development of the story, but in building the climax the director has done excellent work, and there is a surprising twist in the last few scenes, when Chan discovers the originator of the plot to steal the device. The most prominent of those supporting Oland arc Katherine de Mille, Pauline Moore, Allan Lane, Keye Luke, Henry Gordon, John Eldridge, Layne Tom, and Jonathan Hale, and all are competent actors.