Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

blanche-2 Sidney Toler is Charlie Chan in "Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum" from 1940, and Victor Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan.A murderer on death row, Steve McBirney, escapes from a courthouse, bent on revenge against the main witness for the prosecution, Charlie.He hides out at a local wax museum, which is run by a doctor specializing in plastic surgery for criminals. Also, every week, a radio show about famous crimes takes place at the museum. Charlie agrees to be on the show to debate him about a man Charlie believes was innocent. This gives McBirney his chance. Lots happens, including Jimmy mistaking dummies for the real people (including his own father).Good mystery with a strong atmosphere, a poison dart murder, and a woman seeking to clear her husband's name. Sen Yung gives the movie some humorous moments, and Charlie proves himself a crack detective once again. Toler has some funny lines as he hands out his usual platitudes. Good entry into the series.

MartinHafer This was one of the better Charlie Chan movies that starred Sidney Toler. While I am a bigger fan of the earlier films with Warner Oland, these later films following the death of Oland were still pretty good, though they lacked some of the freshness since by then they'd already made a HUGE number of these films. As a result, the films have become a little bit formulaic and predictable. Now this isn't all that bad, though, as there were many devoted fans and they are charming in their own way. PLUS, this film is a huge improvement over the later Chan films starring Mantan Moreland as "Birmingham Brown" and much of it was because the basic formula of the series was changed. Moreland was at times funny as comic relief, but all too often, the humor was based more on the notion of "let's laugh at the scared Black guy"--a cliché widely accepted back then but something that SHOULD make you at least a bit uncomfortable today. Plus, by the time he came to the series, this may have been Monogram Pictures' attempt to "jump the shark"--a reference to a desperate move to change the formula for a series due to lagging ratings or attendance. So, without Moreland, the film is a bit better and sticks with the original tried and true formula.As for the plot itself, this one has a lot of "red herrings". Despite there initially appearing to be one person with a reason to murder (a convicted criminal wanting to kill Chan), it turns out that practically everyone had reason to murder someone in this film. This definitely kept me guessing, though at times, it also seemed a bit unfair--as the evidence the writers dropped into the script and the direction the film ended up going seemed totally unrelated at times! Not a bad little film, though, and the creepy setting of the wax museum was a big plus.

Chris Gaskin I've just seen Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum for the first time and found it rather good and creepy too.A murderer who Charlie Chan helped to convict is sentenced to death and then goes on the run, determined to get his revenge on Chan. He goes to the Wax Museum to see if he can have a new face to disguise himself. Chan turns up at the night of the radio play and strange things start happening with people being killed. Most of these killings turn out to be the responsibility of the murderer, who is arrested at the end.This movie is rather creepy in parts, especially in the Wax Museum complete with a thunderstorm.Chan is played well by Sidney Toler but I've not heard of anyone else in the cast.This is a must for all Chan fans. Excellent.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Jim Tritten Excellent series entry and one of Sidney Toler's best Chan films. New direction by Lynn Shores gives this series a new look and feel. The most significant feature of this film is the mixing of suspicious characters with very realistic wax figures in the dark dungeon-like Dr. Cream's Chamber of Horrors on the New York waterfront (admission 25¢) Naturally it is raining outside most of the time (thunder and lightening to boot) and the lights keep going out.Witty dialog add to the enjoyment. Chan provides his usual pearls of wisdom: `Knowledge only gained through curiosity,' `Mice only play when cat supposed to be in bed,' and `Sometimes better to see and not tell…' We can thank writer John Larkin who also penned a few other good Chan films including `Charlie Chan at Treasure Island.'The story unfolds quickly and the comic relief provided by Jimmy Chan is more subtle than it other entries. Plenty of suspects, lots of misdirection, more than enough clues, and in the end Chan reveals what he knew that could not be known by the viewer; i.e. you can only guess who is the killer. Nevertheless, just sit back and enjoy this one. My wife even liked it. Highly recommended.