CHARLIE CHAN IN EGYPT

Warner Oland and Rita Cansino (Hayworth)

CHARLIE CHAN IN EGYPT (1935). Director: Louis/Luis King.

Charlie Chan is investigating the theft and forgery of certain antiquities when he discovers that archaeologist Professor Arnold (George Irving) has been missing for weeks. Then the professor turns up in an unexpected place, setting in motion a series of often clever murders. There's the tomb that has hidden secrets and time-lost chambers that hold their own promise of death. Characters include Arnold's daughter, Carol (Pat Paterson), her sensitive violin-playing brother, Barry (James Eagles of The Story of Temple Drake), the family physician Dr. Anton Racine (Jameson Thomas of The Curtain Falls), Carol's fella Tom Evans (Thomas Beck), and Snowshoes, the whiny if lovable servant (Stepin Fetchit of Show Boat). A young Rita Hayworth, billed here as Rita Cansino, plays a servant girl, and is fine. There are perhaps not enough suspects, and some of the cast members over-act badly, but Charlie Chan in Egypt is fun.

Verdict: Not even dank tombs can stop Charlie. ***.

THE CURTAIN FALLS

Henrietta Crosman

THE CURTAIN FALLS (1934). Director: Charles Lamont.

A broke elderly woman crosses the Atlantic, shows up at an old British manor house, and announces to the family that she is Aunt Hettie, the infamous Lady Scorsby. Accepted into the family Hettie sees that there are problems that need her attention, and she sets out to make things right. Dorothy (Dorothy Lee) has fallen in love with a man, Barry (William Bakewell of Battle of the Sexes), of whom the family doesn't approve, and her mother Katherine (Natalie Moorhead) is falling for the married Lothario, Martin (Jameson Thomas). Her husband, John (Holmes Herbert of Daughter of the Dragon), has had business reversals and is living on bluff. His son Allan (John Darrow) owes a great deal of money to gambling den owner Taggart (Eddie Kane). But the biggest secret is held by Hettie herself. As a drama this film is no great shakes, but it's bolstered by the performance of Crosman and has a moving wind-up and several adept portrayals from the supporting cast. Hettie putting one over on Taggart in his own crooked gambling den is a highlight of the movie. Lamont was a prolific director of certain Abbott and Costello movies as well as such films as Chip Off the Old Block.

Verdict: An engaging lead performance and an interesting situation never hurt. ***.