A well done opening scene features a bank break-in and a murdered guard. A suspect is quickly arrested because his fingerprints are found at the scene. Though the suspect's daughter insists he is innocent, he is quickly convicted and the case seems hopeless--until Charlie Chan agrees to investigate, even though the execution is only nine days off.
Mantan Moreland and Benson Fong--as chauffeur Birmingham Brown and number three son Tommy Chan--assist Pop Chan as usual. Sidney Toler drops wisecracks at their expense, also as usual:
Toler: "You two not afraid?" Fong: "Afraid of what, Pop?" Toler: "That you sit down so often you get concussion of brain."
There's plenty of plot, some of it involving the real murderers' ingenious method of planting fake fingerprints. Chan's investigation roams from the rooming house where his client lives to the local prison (where Birmingham and Tommy lock themselves into a cell with gleeful convict Tim Ryan).
It's really not particularly exciting or memorable, but it's easy to watch and doesn't take itself too seriously.
Chan's best line is probably when he is grilling rooming house residents about their pasts: "Skeletons in closets always speak loudest to police."
