City in Darkness

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Charlie G @RT00192982 03/08/2025 It was fun to see Leo G Carroll and Lon Chaney Jr in diverse roles. Other than that the movie has no redeeming value. They decided to insert a bumbling wanna be detective in place of one of Chan's sons. Seems the more they make in this series, the worse they get. See more Ted B @Movieaddicted 03/07/2025 3.5 stars; The title, *City of Darkness*, refers to Paris prior to the German invasion of World War II. All lights were required to be extinguished so as not to give German bombers any targets. With this as a backdrop, Charlie solves the murder of a munitions manufacturer who may have been a collaborator with the Germans. Interestingly, none of Charlie's family or Birmingham Brown-type characters were present in this film. They were not missed! See more Russ G @RT78760655 03/02/2025 The good: No Birmingham Brown, no son of any number. Harold Huber does a prequel to Inspector Clouseau. The bad: a totally unfathomable plot. See more 08/21/2015 Charlie seems virtually somnambulant here as personified by Sidney Toler. Perhaps this is because he is overshadowed by Harold Huber who is way way way over the top as a comedic French assistant prefect of police. Or perhaps it is because he realizes that WWII is about to break out. Indeed, the film explicitly mentions Chamberlain's visit to Hitler after the takeover of Czechoslovakia and the mystery revolves around the death of a munitions smuggler in Paris (working for the other side). So, it is a particularly sombre affair and the comic relief is a bit too heavy-handed. Still, this series somehow will always take me away from any real problems I might face, at least temporarily. See more 02/11/2013 "Beware of spider who invites fly into his place for tea"--City in darkness...serious crime at play!! See more 10/17/2012 1.5: Hmm. I was prompted to watch these by an article in The New Yorker that I read a year or two ago. I wasn't expecting them to be outstanding, but I was expecting something better than this. I have now seen essentially every Charlie Chan film, or at least all that were made between 1931 and 1947 (29 films). What struck me most is that these really have more in common with a television show than a feature film. Each film is essentially the same except for the "location." I guess it makes sense as they serve essentially the same purpose. One can essentially watch every film on auto-pilot comfortable in the knowledge that one knows exactly which characters will pop up and that everything will be satisfactorily resolved in the end. They are "C" picture at best. Sidney Toler is pretty good; Warner Toland is somewhat acceptable; and the other two one picture no-names are either inconsequential or awful. It is rather ludicrous that they didn't allow an actual Asian actor to play the role, but the portrayal of African-American's is much more heinous. They certainly pale in comparison to just about every other detective picture/TV series I've ever seen. None of the films rate an individual review so this will have to suffice for all 29. See more Read all reviews

City in Darkness

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