''Charlie Chan in Rio'' is a 1941 film featuring the Asian detective

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

. It was the tenth film to feature

Sidney Toler Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr., April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second European-American actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his p ...

as the title character, who is called upon to investigate the death of a suspected murderer in

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Plot

In the beginning of the film, detective

is in

, along with his son, Jimmy, and the Rio chief of police, Chief Souto, to arrest singer Lola Dean, whom Chan suspects killed a man in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. After a performance, Lola’s boyfriend, Carlos, asks her to marry him, which she accepts. Her personal assistant, Helen Ashby, then reminds Lola she has an appointment with a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

psychic, Marana. Lola visits the psychic, who puts her in a semi-comatose state using coffee and cigarettes laced with a special natural herb. Lola reveals in this state that she did kill a man, Manuel Cardozo, after he refused to marry her in Honolulu. The psychic records the conversation. When Lola wakes up, the psychic tells her what she told him, but assures her that it will be kept confidential between them. On the way home, a worried Lola convinces Carlos to elope instead of marry at a later date. When she arrives home, she begins packing. Later, Chan, Jimmy, and Chief Souto arrive at Lola’s house to arrest her, but instead find her dead in her room. The three conclude that Lola was murdered, and spot many obvious clues which they realize were left there on purpose to throw them off. They also notice Lola’s jewelry missing. Chan then informs Lola’s guests, who were there to celebrate her engagement, of her death, and brings in two suspects, the psychic and Paul Wagner. Wagner reveals that he was married to Lola, but they had separated. The psychic plays back his conversation with Lola, and reveals himself to be Alfredo Cardozo, the brother of the man Lola killed. Chief Souto asks everyone to stay in the house while the murder is being investigated. Later, Jimmy witnesses a conversation between Lola’s butler, Rice, and maid, Lilly. Rice tells Lilly to stay quiet about something she saw earlier. Chan and Souto find scratch marks on the floor where Lola was murdered. Chan suspects that the scratch marks were from the brooch Lola was wearing, and that a pin on that brooch would still be stuck in the murderer’s shoe. Chan then finds similar scratch marks under one of the chairs at the dinner table where all of the guests had dined. Jimmy hides in Rice’s room and finds Lola’s jewelry there. He then takes Rice to Chan. Rice explains that he has the jewels but did not kill Lola. Before he can tell Chan who did, the lights go out and he is shot. Chan then asks all of the guests to go back to their original positions at the dinner table. He reveals to them that the scratch marks he found were under Helen’s chair. When Helen protests her innocence, Chan suggests Cardozo put her in the semi-comatose state. When she still says she did not kill Lola, Chan asks that he go under the same treatment using the same cigarette. But when he does, Chan is unaffected. Cardozo tries to admit to killing Lola, but Helen stops him, revealing she did it. She further explains that she was the wife of Manuel Cardozo. After hearing of Alfredo’s conversation with Lola, Helen learned Lola was going to elope. Realizing that Lola was going to leave and escape justice, Helen killed her. When Rice walked in on the act, she offered him the jewels to keep him quiet, and later shot him. Chief Souto then arrests Helen and takes her to jail. Jimmy asks to take Lilly back to Honolulu with him, but Chan tells him he has been drafted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Cast

Victor Sen Yung Sen Yung, later known professionally as Victor Sen Young (born Sen Yew Cheung; October 18, 1914 – c. November 9, 1980); one source lists his given name as Victor Cheung Young with the birth year 1915)) was an American character actor, best kn ...

as Jimmy Chan *

Harold Huber Harold Huber (born Harold Joseph Huberman, December 5, 1909September 29, 1959) was an American actor who appeared on film, radio and television. Early life Huber was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Imperial Russia, who had arrived in ...

as Chief Souto * Iris Wong as Lili Wong *

Kay Linaker Mary Katherine Linaker (July 19, 1913 – April 18, 2008) was an American actress and screenwriter who appeared in many B movies during the 1930s and 1940s, most notably ''Kitty Foyle'' (1940) starring Ginger Rogers. Linaker used her married name ...

as Helen Ashby / Barbara Cardozo *

Ted North Ted North Jr. (born Edward Ernest Steinel) (November 3, 1916 – November 22, 1975) was an American film actor of the 1940s, sometimes credited as Michael North. The son of tent show operator Ted North, he was born in Topeka, Kansas, and gra ...

as Carlos Dantas *

Victor Jory Victor Jory (November 23, 1902 – February 12, 1982) was a Canadian-American actor of stage, film, and television. He initially played romantic leads, but later was mostly cast in villainous or sinister roles, such as Oberon in ''A Midsummer N ...

as Marana / Alfredo Cardozo * Leslie Denison as Rice *

Hamilton MacFadden Hamilton MacFadden (April 26, 1901 – January 1, 1977) was an American actor, screenwriter and film director. MacFadden's parents were Rev. Robert A. MacFadden and Edith Hamilton MacFadden. His father died in 1909, leaving his mother to suppor ...

as Bill Kellogg *

Jacqueline Dalya Jacqueline Dalya (August 3, 1918November 25, 1980) was an American film and stage actress who began her career in the 1940s, appearing in films and on Broadway. Biography Early life Dalya was born August 3, 1918 in New York City. Career She ap ...

as Lola Dean / Lola Wagner * Truman Bradley as Paul Wagner *

Eugene Borden Eugene Borden (born Élysée Eugène Prieur-Bardin, March 21, 1897 – July 2, 1971) was an American character actor in silent and sound films. Born in France, he immigrated to the United States as a teenager, and entered the film industry a sh ...

as Armando *

Mary Beth Hughes Mary Elizabeth Hughes (November 13, 1919 Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. . P. 586. – August 27, 1995) was an American film, television, a ...

as Joan Reynolds * Cobina Wright, Jr. as Grace Ellis *

Richard Derr Richard Derr (June 15, 1917 – May 8, 1992) was an American actor who worked on stage, screen, and television, performing in both starring and supporting roles. Early years Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Derr graduated from Norristown High S ...

as Ken Reynolds *

Ann Codee Ann Codee (born Anna Marie Vannuefflin, 5 March 1890 – 18 May 1961) was a Belgian actress with numerous hit films on her résumé, such as '' Can-Can'', ''Kiss Me Kate'', and ''Interrupted Melody''. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, her name was s ...

as Margo

Production

Although not stated as a remake, the film follows the same basic storyline as ''

The Black Camel ''The Black Camel'' (1929) is the fourth of the Charlie Chan novels by Earl Derr Biggers. Plot summary It tells the story of a Hollywood star (Shelah Fane), who is stopping in Hawaii after she finished shooting a film on location in Tahiti. ...

'' from 1931.

Release

The film was originally released on September 5, 1941.

Home media

This film was released on VHS tape on September 1, 1998 (). It was released on DVD as part of ''Charlie Chan Collection, Volume 5'' on September 16, 2008 ().

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlie Chan In Rio 1941 films American black-and-white films Charlie Chan films Films set in Rio de Janeiro (city) Films directed by Harry Lachman 20th Century Fox films Films produced by Sol M. Wurtzel American mystery films 1941 mystery films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films