1941’s "Charlie Chan in Rio" is a solid mystery thriller in the Charlie Chan movie series, featuring Sidney Toler as the famous Honolulu Detective, here assisted by Sen Yung as enthusiastic Number Two Son Jimmy.
The story opens with some exterior shots of Rio and proceeds to the floor show of a Brazilian nightclub. Charlie Chan and his son are present, along with the local Chief of Police, to arrest Lola Dean, a singer in the nightclub, for murder. We are quickly introduced to the cast of people who will figure in the story. Lola Dean leaves the nightclub after being proposed to by her boyfriend. Her brief stop at the home of a Indian mystic brings an involuntary confession under drugs to the murder Charlie Chan is investigating. By the time Miss Dean reaches her home, she has decided to elope with her fiancee. By the time Charlie Chan and the Police Chief arrive, she has been murdered.
Charlie and the Police Chief consider the clues and question the suspects, while Jimmy jumps from one wrong conclusion to the next. The fatal shooting of Lola Dean’s butler as he was about to reveal the name of the killer adds a second murder to be investigated. The lack of clues drives Charlie Chan to play a long shot in order to trap the killer or killers into a confession.
The number of potential suspects with a motive will have viewers puzzling over the murder mystery when they are not laughing at the antics of Jimmy, who ardently courts Miss Dean’s Chinese housemaid when he isn’t bumbling through the investigation. A subtle reminder of the times is the arrival of Jimmy’s draft notice at the end of the movie.
This movie is highly recommended to fans of the Charlie Chan series as a much better than average entry.
1941, B&W, 60 minutes