Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

binapiraeus Charlie Chan, Jimmy and Birmingham are on a bus trip to San Francisco, where he's about to investigate for an insurance company the strange and gruesome deaths of a couple of newly wed young women - all 'torso killings', where the head's been cut off from the body; and now another victim has been found, and the lady who sits next to him on the bus explains to him that she makes the trip in order to find out if it's her missing granddaughter. Meanwhile, the bus has got motor trouble, and the passengers are forced to spend some time in a little shack - where a shot is fired at Charlie from outside, and it's only the watch Jimmy had given him for his birthday that saves him from the bullet! Then, a young man shows up who declares he's on leave from the Marine Corps to see his girl in San Francisco; but it's obvious that he left WITHOUT a leave... Then, when they arrive and Charlie goes to the morgue to see the body (whatever's left of it), he can reassure Mrs. Conover that the dead woman is NOT her granddaughter, because of a scar from an appendectomy which 'little' Mary has never undergone. And the same day, in the hotel restaurant, Charlie recognizes in the pretty young waitress the missing granddaughter, who's dyed her hair blond - and is obviously hiding from something or someone...As it turns out, Mary is also the girl Joe, the young Marine corporal, is searching for: he'd fallen in love with her, but she'd turned him down because she was afraid - and at last, when Charlie gets hold of her, we learn the reason for her fear: she'd been working for an escort bureau, and she'd become suspicious when her boss had suggested to her to marry Joe whose father is rich, and if she'd get him to take out a high life insurance policy, they'd soon make her a rich widow! And now, it's up to brave little Mary to play the decoy in order to find the boss of the 'torso murder gang'...A very unusual and suspenseful entry in the 'Charlie Chan' series, with an excellent cast (what a shame that most of their names are almost forgotten by now...), and as always some wonderful jokes and mishaps from Jimmy and Birmingham; a great piece of good, clean crime entertainment!

xnet95 This movie is a total train wreck. I've never seen such a badly constructed movie in all my life. The story is virtually impossible to follow. Characters aren't properly introduced and we're supposed to know who they are and what they're doing!?! You literally need a scorecard to keep track of all the names that come flying at you in rapid fire succession. Plus, there are aliases we have to remember, too. One guy has at least 4 aliases. I can't see how anybody could know what's going on in this film without watching it at least 5 times. Maybe Monogram did that on purpose so that people would come back and pay to see it again.Here are a few of the problems. The PI is not properly introduced. We don't know who he is. At he beginning of the movie, the bus breaks down and all the passengers wait in a room while the bus is being repaired. Some guy takes over and starts telling people what to do. He wants to frisk the Marine that walks in, and we don't know who this guy is (Is he a gay man that wants to "cop a feel"?). We don't know his name, and we don't know why he feels he has the authority to tell people what to do. When the bus finally gets to San Francisco, we find out that he is a PI, but we still don't know who he is. Why is he in San Francisco? Is it work or pleasure? There's no conversation with Charlie to introduce him, so we have no idea what this guy is all about. The big problem is that this PI plays an integral role in the film, plus he pops up every 5-10 minutes like the human whack-a-mole. Why-oh-why-oh-why is Kate found dead in Mary Conover's apartment!?! This one really bothers me. We are barely introduced to Kate, but after multiple viewings I figured out that she is the woman traveling with Mary's grandmother. She is there to help Grandma find Mary because they DON'T KNOW where Mary is. If they don't know where Mary is, how could Kate be in her apartment? Is she keeping secrets from Grandma? One simple scene with Kate telling Grandma she was going to investigate a tip would've helped to clear up this major plot-hole, but the inept losers that made this mess didn't feel it was necessary. Which leads me to…Bumbleham Brown and Jimmy are total dead wood in this flick. They have absolutely NO rapport with each other. Every scene they are in could've been eliminated and the time used to explain some of the HUGE plot-holes.The name of the film is "Shadows over Chinatown". Why? Does any of the action take place in Chinatown? How do we know they are in Chinatown? I only found out that many of the scenes took place in Chinatown after reading a review of this flick. There's NOTHING in this film that looks Chinese, except Charlie and Jimmy. Jimmy and Bumbleham go into a Chinese restaurant that looked like a Jewish deli from the outside, but we don't see the Chinese interior, we don't see Chinese architecture, we don't even see any Chinese people. There is absolutely nothing Chinese about the Chinatown in this film. It could be Anywhere, USA.

django-1 I didn't think much of this when I first saw it years ago, but upon re-watching it I don't think it's that bad. True, it's not as good as the first half-dozen Chans that Toler made at Monogram, but the chemistry between Chan, his son, and Birmingham Brown is still entertaining, and there are a number of interesting supporting characters (and red herrings). The cheap sets and drab visual style actually create a fitting mood for the film, and while it's easy to pick apart a film like this, Toler isn't around to make any more, so we should enjoy what there is to enjoy about the ones we have.If you are already a fan of the series, you'll probably want to see this--just don't be to critical of it while watching. If you haven't seen any of Toler's Monogram output, start with THE CHINESE CAT, THE JADE MASK, THE SCARLET CLUE, or IN THE SECRET SERVICE, and save this one and THE TRAP for later.

admjtk1701 Another waste of a great title for a Chan film. It starts out with Chan (Sidney Toler), his son, (Sen Yung, who returned to the series with this film), and chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) travelling to San Francisco by bus. (If Chan has a chauffeur, why are they riding by bus?)The plot involves the Missing Persons Bureau and dismembered torsos. But it really doesn't do anything for me. I'd rather watch a Fox Chan or re-read one of the Bigger's novels.