Charlie Chan - The Golden Eye (1948)
A gold mine in Arizona, that was formerly losing a lot of money, suddenly turns into a veritable money-making machine. However, the owner, instead of being happy about his now profitable business, insists to Charlie that something is fishy and that someone is out to murder him. Charlie and his "crew" travel to the mine, pretending to be tourists staying at a nearby dude ranch so as not to arouse suspicion, and discover that the owner may well be right--it looks like the mine is being used as a cover for criminal activities, and that someone is indeed out to murder him.
Roland Winters ... Charlie Chan
Wanda McKay ... Evelyn Manning
Mantan Moreland ... Birmingham Brown
Victor Sen Yung ... Tommy Chan
Bruce Kellogg ... Talbot Bartlett
Tim Ryan ... Lt. Mike Ruark
Evelyn Brent ... Sister Teresa, Nurse
Ralph Dunn ... Driscoll
Lois Austin ... Mrs. Margaret Driscoll
Forrest Taylor ... Manning
Lee 'Lasses' White ... Pete
Director: William Beaudine
Runtime: 69 mins
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040394/
/>
Codecs:
Video : 558 MB, 1150 Kbps, 29.970 fps, 352*240 (4:3), MPG1 = MPEG 1 (VCD),
Audio : 108 MB, 224 Kbps, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, 0x51 = Mpeg-1 audio Layer 2 [0xc0],
........................................................................................................................................
A formerly unproductive gold mine suddenly turns out to be highly profitable; it's owner Manning insists someone is out to murder him. He turns to Charlie Chan (Roland Winters) for help, and the Oriental detective and his two assistants, Number #2 Son Tommy (Victor Sen Yung) and driver Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) embark on a pseudo Western adventure. The story is set in Arizona, and to downplay suspicion in their involvement, the Chan party heads off to the Lazy Y Dude Ranch, from where they can keep an eye on developments at the Golden Eye Mine.
Sen Yung and Moreland make quite a sight in their Western attire, particularly Birmingham in his buffalo inspired jodhpurs. Tim Ryan is back in a reprise of his role as Lieutenant Mike Ruark (The Shanghai Chest), but this time he's undercover as teetering lush Vincent O'Brien at the Lazy Y. He's there independently, but it turns out his investigation runs parallel to Chan's, so they use the coincidence to hook up.
It turns out that the Golden Eye is a pass through for a gold smuggling operation originating in Mexico. The obvious brains of the smuggling gang appears to be the mine's superintendent Driscoll, but as usual for a Chan mystery, the obvious is always done one better, in this case, the mastermind is the handsome local assayer Talbot Bartlett (Bruce Kellogg), who's only too happy to assist Chan in any way he can so that he can throw him off the mark. Bartlett is also busy courting Manning's daughter Evelyn (Wanda McKay) to be better positioned to remove the mine's owner from the picture.
"The Golden Eye" is an average Charlie Chan mystery, made somewhat more interesting with the comedic bits by Mantan Moreland and the quite effective interplay of Tim Ryan's drunken character O'Brien. If you're a Charlie Chan fan, you'll have to add this one to your list.
