''The Chinese Cat'' (also titled ''Murder in the Funhouse'') is a 1944 mystery film starring
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
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 ...
.
Plot
Mr. Manning is murdered in his study while the door is locked from the inside. Police close the case after 6 months. A girl contacts Charlie Chan to have a look before he leaves in 48 hours. Twins are involved in a diamond-smuggling ring after the Kohinoor Diamonds are stolen; one twin is killed and the other living twin masquerades as a ghost tricking Birmingham Brown. Mr. Manning had the largest stone stored in the secret compartment of a Chinese cat statue, and doublecrossed his associates. Movie ends in a carnival
funhouse
A funhouse or fun house is an amusement facility found on amusement park and funfair midways and is where patrons encounter and interact with various devices designed to surprise, challenge, and amuse them. Unlike thrill rides or dark rides, f ...
with police arresting the diamond-smuggling ring for three murders. Rival author of ''Manning Murder Solved'' book must now pay $20,000 to Chinese War Relief after a lost bet with Charlie Chan about the murderer's identity.
Cast
*
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
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 ...
*
Mantan Moreland
Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in numerous films. His daughter Marcella Moreland appeared as a child actress in several films.
E ...
as Birmingham Brown, Taxi Driver
*
Joan Woodbury
Joan Elmer Woodbury (December 17, 1915 – February 22, 1989) was an American actress beginning in the 1930s and continuing well into the 1960s.
Early life
Woodbury was born in Los Angeles, California on December 17, 1915. Her father was Elmer ...
as Leah Manning
*
Benson Fong
Benson Fong (Chinese: ; October 10, 1916 – August 1, 1987) was an American character actor.
Born in Sacramento, California, Fong was from a mercantile family of Chinese extraction. After graduating from high school in Sacramento, he studied ...
as Tommy Chan, #3 Son
*
Ian Keith
Ian Keith (born Keith Ross; February 27, 1899 – March 26, 1960) was an American actor.
Early years
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Keith grew up in Chicago. He was educated at the Francis Parker School there and played Hamlet in a school p ...
as Dr. Paul Recknik
*
Sam Flint
Sam Flint (born Samuel A. Ethridge; October 19, 1882 – October 17, 1980) was an American actor.
Flint appeared in more than 230 films, often as a "judge, lawyer, military officer, senator, sheriff, chief of police, or doctor."
Flint was ...
as Thomas Manning
*
Betty Blythe
Betty Blythe (born Elizabeth Blythe Slaughter; September 1, 1893 – April 7, 1972) was an American actress best known for her dramatic roles in exotic silent films such as ''The Queen of Sheba'' (1921). She appeared in 63 silent films and 56 t ...
as Mrs. Manning
*
Joan Woodbury
Joan Elmer Woodbury (December 17, 1915 – February 22, 1989) was an American actress beginning in the 1930s and continuing well into the 1960s.
Early life
Woodbury was born in Los Angeles, California on December 17, 1915. Her father was Elmer ...
as daughter Leah Manning
*
Cy Kendall
Cyrus Willard Kendall (March 10, 1898 – July 22, 1953) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1935 and 1950. Kendall's heavy-set, square-jawed appearance and deep voice were perfect for wiseguy roles such ...
as Webster Deacon
*
John Davidson as twins Karl Karzos/Kurt Karzos
*
Weldon Heyburn
Weldon Heyburn (born Weldon Heyburn Franks; September 19, 1903 – May 18, 1951) was an American character actor.
Early years
The son of Marie Pierce and United States Army Col. Wyatt G. Franks, Heyburn was most likely born in Washington, ...
as Detective Lt. Harvey Dennis
*
Anthony Warde
Anthony Warde (born Benjamin Schwartz; January 1, 1909 – January 8, 1975) was a noted American actor who appeared in over 150 films between 1937 and 1964.
Early years
Born as Benjamin Schwartz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on New Year' ...
as Catlen
Production
The film was the second Charlie Chan movie from Monogram. It was originally called ''Charlie Chan and the Perfect Crime'' and filming started on 4 January 1944.
[Of Local Origin
New York Times 10 Dec 1943: 31.]
See also
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List of American films of 1944
Below is a list of American films released in 1944. ''Going My Way'' won Best Picture at the 17th Academy Awards. The remaining four nominees were ''Double Indemnity'', ''Gaslight'', ''Since You Went Away'' and '' Wilson''.
A
B
C
D
E-F
...
References
External links
Charlie Chan Family*
*
*
1944 films
1944 crime films
American black-and-white films
Charlie Chan films
Monogram Pictures films
1944 mystery films
American crime films
American mystery films
Films directed by Phil Rosen
1940s American films
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