Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum

CinemaSerf

C. Henry Gordon is a bit like Leo Genn, or Sir Cedric Hardwicke - you always recognise his voice long before you see his face. In this jolly mystery for "Chan" (Sidney Toler) and "Jimmy" (Victor Sen Yung), they find themselves in a macabre wax museum run by our aforementioned thespian - here playing the bonkers plastic surgeon ("Dr. Cream"). They are on the trail of a murderer who has absconded from justice and hopes to avail himself of the services of our good doctor to change his appearance and then to seek revenge on the sleuth who helped get him convicted in the first place. It all culminates in a radio show that serves as a criminologist's wet dream - and the journey to this entertaining denouement is a sort of hybrid between the "Mummy" and "What's My Line". Again, I feel a little bit sorry for poor old Jimmy, who can never do right for doing wrong - and who is always on the wrong end of honourable father's acerbic tongue, but that just goes with the territory I guess.