City in Darkness


City in Darkness, also known as Charlie Chan in City in Darkness is a 1939 American drama film directed by Herbert I. Leeds and starring Sidney Toler, Lynn Bari, and Richard Clark. It is one of the films in the Charlie Chan film series, the fourth starring Toler, and was released on December 1, 1939.

Plot

Charlie Chan is visiting Paris during the Czech annexation crisis in September 1938, but is having trouble finding a way to return to the United States, since there are transportation disruptions due to the threat of the impending war and the Munich Crisis. While visiting the office of the Chief of Police Romaine, who is away on business, word is received that Petroff, a well-known millionaire, has been murdered. Romaine's bumbling godson, Police Inspector Marcel Spivak has been left in charge during the chief's absence, and is terrified of handling such a high-profile murder investigation. He asks for Chan's assistance, which is agreed to.
Spivak suspects his butler, Antoine, but spy Charlotte Ronnell is spotted fleeing the residence. Due to a chance encounter earlier, Chan realizes that local woman Marie Dubon is involved, and the two detectives head to her hotel. Charlie learns that Dubon was helping her husband, Tony Madero, clear his name after Petroff accused him of smuggling. Following a clue in Dubon's room, Chan interrogates counterfeiter Louis Santelle. Returning to the Petroff household, Chan and Spivak track down burglars Lola, Max, and Alex before interrogating Petroff's business partner, Belescu.
After nearly being killed by Santelle, Charlie realizes that three clues are the key to the case: A dropped franc coin, a wooden leg, and a telephone left off the hook. After Belescu is shot, Chan and Spivak chase Ronnell to Le Bourget Airport. But her plane crashes during takeoff and she dies. Chan returns to police headquarters, and reveals that Antoine killed Petroff after returning home early and discovering that Petroff was selling arms to Nazi Germany. Prefect Romaine says Antoine will likely stand trial for murder, but is likely to receive the Legion of Honour instead of the guillotine.

Cast

Critical reception

A contemporaneous review of the film in The New York Times described it as "more fun than just the average Chan picture," and noted that "Lynn Bari, who looks too much like Claudette Colbert; Richard Clarke, who looks almost too much like James Stewart, and Harold Huber, who just looks like Harold Huber in the role of a comical French police inspector, or whatever his official status might be, lend excellent support to Sidney Toler." Harrison's Reports did not give the film a positive review, being critical of the plot and a script that suffered "from an over-abundance of dialogue". The review was also critical of Huber's performance as Marcel.
Film critic Stuart Galbraith IV wrote in DVD Talk that the film "is a drab and dreary entry more of historical interest than as entertainment" that is "rigidly compartmentalized" and "thoroughly uninvolving", that Huber's performance as "annoying hamminess," but also noted that "the picture is interesting in how it dances around real-world events, how it subtly criticizes the Nazis."