Monogram Pictures Corporation
Distributed: Monogram Pictures Corporation, July 27, 1946
Copyright: Monogram Pictures Corporation, July 5, 1946; LP420
Sound: Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording
Film: Black and white
Running Time: 64 minutes
Source: “Based on the character created by Earl Derr Biggers”
Producer: James S. Burkett
Director: Terry Morse
Assistant Director: William Callahan, Jr.
Original Screenplay: Raymond Scrock
Photography: William Sickner
Technical Director: Dave Milton
Supervising Film Editor: Richard Currier
Editor: Ralph Dixon
Musical Director: Edward J. Kay
Technical Director: Dave Asilton
Recording: Tom Lambert
Makeup: Harry Ross
Production Manager: Glenn Cook
CAST (as credited):
Sidney Toler: Charlie Chan
Mantan Moreland: Birmingham Brown
Victor Sen Young: Jimmy Chan
Tanis Chandler: Mary Conover (alias Mary McCoy)
John Gallaudet: Jeff Hay (alias for Craig Winfield)
Paul Bryar: Mike Rogan
Bruce Kellogg: [Corporal] Jack Tilford (alias Joe Thomas; Corporal Joe Thompson)
Alan Bridge: Captain Allen
Mary Gordon: Mrs. Conover
Dorothy Granger: Joan Mercer
Jack Norton: Cosgrove
George Eldredge: Lannigan
Tyra Vaughn: Miss Chalmers
Lyle Latell: Police Clerk
Myra McKinney: Kate Johnson
Harry Depp: Dr. Denby
Gladys Blake: Myrtle
UNCREDITED CAST (alphabetical):
Kit Carson: Hotel Clerk
George Chan
Jimmy Dugan: Police Driver
Louise Franklin: Maid
Doris Fulton: Angie
Jack Hamilton: Pronnet
Charlie Jordan: Jenkins
James B. Leong: Chinese Curio Shop Owner
Frank Mayo: Police Lieutenant
Jack Mower: Hobart
Bob Reeves: Man Leaving Bus Terminal
Brick Sullivan: Police Officer
SUMMARY
Charlie Chan and his number two son, Jimmy, along with chauffeur Birmingham Brown are all on a bus heading south to San Francisco during a rainy night to investigate a murder case involving an unidentified armless, legless, headless torso. A short time later, when the bus breaks down, the group takes refuge from the storm inside a bus station waiting room. Suddenly, a hand holding a gun reaches through an open window and shoots at Chan. The detective falls to the floor, apparently badly wounded. While Jimmy and others try to assist the unconscious detective, Chan recovers, discovering that he was saved by a pocket watch, now embedded with the assailant’s bullet, that was given to him as a birthday gift from his number two son.
Soon, several of the passengers find that they have been robbed. After they are joined by a U.S. Marine on leave named Jack Tillford, who is momentarily suspected of being the person who shot at Chan, the detective speaks privately to another passenger, Cosgrove. Chan suggests that he return the items that he has stolen, in exchange for not revealing his crime. “Goods returned, crime avoided,” suggests the detective. The grateful pickpocket promises to return the favor in the future.
Back on the bus, after the necessary repairs have been made, Chan learns that Mrs. Conover is traveling to San Francisco to search for her missing granddaughter, Mary. He tells the concerned woman that he will do what he can to help her find her missing loved one.
In San Francisco, Chan, Jimmy, and Birmingham visit the Bureau of Missing Persons, where the detective reveals to Captain Allen that he has two purposes: The first, on behalf of an insurance company, is to discover the identity of the torso; the second is to learn the whereabouts of Mary Conover. Chan suspects that the torso belongs to a former showgirl named Grace Gortner, whose wealthy husband, Homer B. Pendleton, had died after taking out a large insurance policy. On Allen’s desk, Chan sees a photograph of an AWOL (Away Without Leave) Marine, Corporal Joe Thompson, and realizes that he is the same person who had called himself “Tillford” at the bus station.
Chan returns to the hotel where Mrs. Conover is staying with her friend, Kate Johnston. After reassuring her that the body, which has an appendectomy scar, cannot be that of her missing granddaughter, he and Jimmy have lunch in the hotel restaurant. There, Chan recognizes their waitress as Mary Conover with dyed blonde hair. The detective leaves to bring Mary’s grandmother to confirm her identity, but while he is gone, Mary is also recognized by her former employer, Mike Rogan. Mary tries to sneak past Rogan and leaves the restaurant. However, Rogan, who is on a pay phone informing his boss of his discovery, hurries out to follow the young woman. Jimmy and Birmingham also follow, but, when Chan meets them at Mary’s apartment, they are joined by private detective Jeff Hay, who informs Chan that he has followed their bus driver, who is actually Mike Rogan, to this location. Inside the apartment, they discover Kate’s body, and Chan suspects that her killer had mistaken her for Mary Conover.
Chan returns to the Bureau of Missing Persons and learns that, before her marriage to Pendleton, Grace Gortner had once been in love with a man named Craig Winfield. Thompson, the AWOL Marine, is picked up by the police, and he explains that he went AWOL in order to try to find Mary, with whom he is in love. He adds that Mary had worked at an escort bureau and was frightened of her employer, Rogan.
When Chan returns to his hotel, Hay is waiting with the information that he has found Rogan in Chinatown. However, when they arrive there, they find that Rogan is dead. Mary is then picked up. She explains that Rogan had discovered that Thompson’s father was wealthy and had suggested to her that she marry John, take out a large insurance policy, and become a wealthy widow.
CONCLUSION:
After reuniting Mary with her grandmother, Chan asks Mary to help him set a trap for the owner of the escort bureau. At the bureau, Mary is waylaid by Hay, but when he runs into a police trap and learns that Mary is part of it, Hay returns with her to the escort bureau.
In the meantime, a photograph has come over the police wire service that identifies Hay as Winfield. Realizing that Mary is in great danger, Chan follows a hunch and finds Hay and Mary in Chinatown. Although Hay tries to shoot Chan, Cosgrove, the pickpocket, who had earlier “bumped into” Hay, had removed the bullets from Hay’s gun. Chan then explains that it was Hay who had killed Kate Johnson, having mistaken her for Mary. He was also the one who killed Rogan, in order to blame him for the other deaths, including the “Torso Murder.”
NOTES: This film’s working titles were Corpus Delecti and The Mandarin’s Secret. Shadows Over Chinatown featured the return of Sen Yung (Victor Sen Young) as Charlie Chan’s Number Two Son, whose previous appearance had been as a member of the U.S. Army Signal Corps on leave in Castle in the Desert (1942). Victor Sen Yung’s return to the Chan series, now being produced at Monogram Pictures, in a case of art mirroring life in the case of Jimmy Chan, followed his return to civilian life after having served in the Army Air Forces during the war.
Adapted from: AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE CATALOG – Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960
CHARLIE CHAN’S APHORISMS
Numbers cannot control life expectancy.
Goods returned – crime prevented
.Always grateful for favors.
Lending sympathetic ear to lady in distress is pleasure, not trouble.
As nurse say to father of newborn twins, “Pleasure is double.”
Sometimes, surgeon’s scar speak louder than fingerprints.
Confucius say, “Sleep only escape from yesterday.”
Business conversation at table very bad for digestion.
Blond hair can be obtained from a bottle – or wigmaker.
Deception is bad game for amateurs.
Morbid curiosity sometimes draw murderer back to scene of crime.
Many criminals carry knife.
Ancient proverb say, “Never bait trap with wolf to catch wolf.”
Cornered rat usually full of fight.
OTHER WORTHY STATEMENTS:
Momentarily I think United States lose one Chinese detective, but now I discover I am living on borrowed time. (After being shot, but saved by his pocket watch)
Bullet intended as one-way journey to join honorable ancestors. But birthday watch, given by number two son, altered trip.
Hot stove make all the world kin on a night like this. (Regarding the cold and rainy night)
Stranger who seek refuge from storm should not object to proving his good intentions.
My sitting assistants will take chairs and again practice art of relaxation until I return. (To Jimmy and Birmingham)
I am looking for something. When I find what, I return and tell my assistants. (To Jimmy and Birmingham)
You have shoestring on wrong foot – I come for your help. (To Flannagan)
Number two son like flea on dog – always must have fine-toothed comb to find same.
Perhaps voice from dim past may lift curtain to oblivion.
(Jimmy: “Did you find out anything, Pop?”) Not enough to fill ear of gnat.
What Confucius say to this too terrible even for Charlie Chan to repeat. (To Jimmy and Birmingham after their car runs out of gas)
Pieces of jigsaw puzzle gradually begin to fit together.
(Flannagan: “My private detective sure gets around, doesn’t he?”) Like influenza epidemic, he cover wide territory, but accomplish very little good.
I recall story of farm hand who find cow he had lost by trying to figure out where he would go if he were cow.
THE WIT AND WISDOM OF BIRMINGHAM BROWN
Bus Passenger (Regarding the bus needing sudden emergency repair work): “I knew it! 13 of us!” “Uh-oh! 13 of us! That settles it! Now somebody’s got to die!”
Bus Passenger Pronett: “I’ve been robbed! My wallet’s gone!”
“Mm-mm!”
Bus Passenger Cosgrove: “Huh! That’s funny, mine’s gone too!”
Bus Passenger John Hay: “Holy smoke! I’ve lost my watch!”
“Uh-oh! That’s that old number 13 again!”
“Hey, Jimmy, what does he [Charlie Chan] mean about Bureau of Missing Persons?”
Jimmy: “Well, that’s where you find things that are missing.”
“And I’m missin’ my breakfast; let’s find that.”
Charlie Chan: “I am looking for something. When I find what, I will return and tell my assistants. Excuse, please.” (Exits)
“Hey, Jimmy! How can we look for sump’m if we don’t know what we’re lookin’ for?”
Jimmy: “Lookin’ for what?”
“Well, what’s what?”
Jimmy: “Well, that’s what Pop’s lookin’ for: what.”
“Well, what? What is what?”
Jimmy: “I don’t know…what.”
“Don’t you know what what is?”
Jimmy: “Well, what’s he lookin’ for?”
“Oh, what! Is that what he’s lookin’ for”
“Hey, there goes your father now.”
Jimmy: “Say, we better follow him. You never can tell. He might need our help.”
“Yeah, now you’re cooking on all burners.”
Jimmy: “Hey, maybe Pop found out what he’s lookin’ for!”
“Now that’s good! Let’s go home!”
Jimmy: “Oh, no! We gotta find out first! C’mon!”
“We got to find out! You’re always rushin’ into sump’m.”
Jimmy: “Hey, let’s try this office over here.”
(Seeing the word “Private” on the door) “Oh-oh, wait a minute! Whoa! Whoa! No, that says ‘stay out’.”
Jimmy: “Oh, no, it says ‘private‘.”
“But it’s the same thing to me.”
Jimmy: “This isn’t a dormitory, it’s a morgue.”
“Oh, well if it’s a morgue, it’s…it’s a what!?”
Jimmy: “The morgue.”
“Morgue!?”
Jimmy: “Yeah.”
“M-O-R-G?”
Jimmy: “That’s right.”
“Well, I’ll be seein’ ya! Oh… (Shaking Jimmy’s hand) Good-bye!”
Jimmy (Seeing Birmingham trying, in his panic, trying to run through a non-existent door in a wall): “Where you goin’, Birmingham? That’s not a door up there!”
“It will be in a minute!”
Jimmy: “C’mon, Birmingham! We gotta shadow that girl!“
“What girl?”
Jimmy: “That girl goin’ down the street! You see her?”
“No, my eyes ain’t seein’, so good this mornin’.”
Jimmy: “C’mon, Birmingham! Shake a leg!”
“Who do you think I am, Man o’War? I ain’t run this fast since I run into a hornet’s nest!”
(After opening a closet door and a seemingly lifeless body spills into his arms) “Mr. Chan! Good gracious! Mr. Chan! Every time I open a door a dead body drops out! I ain’t never gonna open a door no more!”
Charlie Chan (To Birmingham): “Time now of utmost importance. You will drive us rapidly as possible to Hall of Justice.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Chan! Speed Brown, that’s what you call me!”
(Attempting to start Chan’s car) “What is the matter with this motor? It never acted up like this before. C’mon, motor… C’mon, c’mon, now, don’t act like a balkin’ mule. C’mon, shake up on one of your pistons and get us out of here.”
Jimmy: “Have you choked it?”
“Yeah, I didn’t choke it, but somebody else choked it to death! C’mon, motor, don’t be mean to me, give me some cooperation!”
Jimmy: “If you keep stepping on the starter, you’ll run the battery down.”
“Then if I stop, then what will happen? Mm. I wonder what Confusion would say about this?”
Charlie Chan: “Confusion say, I take taxi.”
Jimmy: “Where do we go from here?”
Charlie Chan (Entering the car): “To Mayfair Hotel, if you can keep motor running.”
“Ain’t no chance for it to stop this time, Mr. Chan. It ain’t no motor in the world gonna make a fool out of me twice in the same day. I’m seein’ to that, I’m still keepin’ it runnin’.”
Charlie Chan: “Well, let’s go, let’s go.”
“Yes, sir. (As the motor quits) Well I’ll be doggone. Now what’s the matter?”
Jimmy (Looking at the gas gauge): “Why, we’re out of gas, that’s what’s the matter.“
It can’t be!”
Charlie Chan: “What Confucius say to this too terrible for even Charlie Chan to repeat.”
Jimmy: “Oh, a curio shop.”
“Yeah, I’m curious enough now!
(Inside the curio shop, pointing out a multi-armed deity figure) “Looky here, Jimmy, isn’t this sump’m? I bet she could do a good job scratchin’ our backs! (Laughing)
(After sitting on a curio shop item’s active flame and jumping to his feet) “mm! Good gracious! Somebody done given me a hotfoot!”
(Inside the curio shop, seeing smoke issue from the nose of a large dragon head) “Mm. Sabotage!”
(Seeing himself reflected in a curio shop’s trick mirror) “Mm! Good gracious, look! Look at that knot growin’ on my head! What a mess I done made myself in here!”
Curio Shop Owner: “Are you gentlemen interested in buying any curios?”
(Reeling from his experiences inside the curio shop) “Well, I’m curious enough to make my departure. Would you kindly tell me where the door is, please?”
Jimmy: “C’mon, Birmingham!”
“I’m allergic to bullets, I’m gonna stay around here!”
“That reminds me, Mr. Chan, what Confusion says. Confusion says that you can fool most of the people some of the time, and some of the people most of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”
Charlie Chan: “No Birmingham, no. Not Confusion. Confucius say that.”
Jimmy: “Aw, no, Pop; you’re both wrong! It wasn’t Confucius, it was Abraham Lincoln.”
Charlie Chan: “Abraham Lincoln was disciple of Confucius.”
“Is that so! I didn’t even know that they knew each other. Did you, Jimmy?”
Jimmy: “No, I didn’t, did you?”
“No.” (Laughs; continues laughing as they all exit)
REVIEW
Variety, September 18, 1946
Standard Charlie Chan fare. A slimly-budgeted film, “Shadows Over Chinatown” is cooked up from the familiar recipe of oriental epigrams and occasional corpses which have been the trademark of this series since the late Warner Oland first quoted Confucius. Plot originality in this one is negligible but dialoging is snappy, and film is well-paced.
As usual, Sidney Toler plays the sage slant-eyed sleuth with comedy support from his two fumbling aides, Mantan Moreland and Victor Sen Young. Story revolves around the efforts of the Chinese detective to crack an insurance racket outfit. Mixed up in the case is a missing girl, thought to be a torse-murder victim, but who is on the lam from the mobsters because of their plot against her fiance. Plot converges in San Francisco’s Chinatown where Chan tracks down the leader of the gang.
Minor romantic interest is furnished by Tanis Chandler and Bruce Kellogg with John Gallaudet, Paul Bryar and Jack Norton giving okay support in stock parts. Straight camera work and musical effects par the general level of the production.
FILM NOTES
POSSIBLE DATE: Mid-May 1946
DURATION: Two days
LOCATIONS: Emigrant Gap, California and San Francisco, California
THE SAN FRANCISCO HALL OF JUSTICE AND ACCOMPANYING PLAQUE AS SHOWN:
THE OFFICE THAT IS SHOWN IN THE HALL OF JUSTICE: Bureau of Missing Persons
THE FRONT PAGE AND HEADLINE AS SEEN ON THE SAN FRANCISCO TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER THAT IS POSTED ON THE BULLETIN BOARD:
THE DESTINATION POSTED ON THE FRONT OF THE BUS TAKEN BY CHARLIE CHAN AND COMPANY: San Francisco
THE FRONT PAGE AND HEADLINE ON THE SALT LAKE CITY HERALD NEWSPAPER THAT WAS BEING READ BY CHARLIE CHAN ON THE BUS:
THE NUMBER OF PERSONS RIDING ON THE BUS: 13
THE HIGHWAY THAT THE BUS TOOK FROM SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH TO SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: US Highway 40
THE LOCATION WHERE THE BUS STOPPED FOR REPAIRS: Emigrant Gap
THE SUBJECT OF THE TRAVEL POSTERS SEEN IN THE LOBBY OF THE EMIGRANT GAP BUS STOP: Yosemite National Park
THE “BORROWED TIME” THAT SAVED CHARLIE CHAN’S LIFE: A pocket watch that was a gift from Number Two Son, Jimmy
THE PRICE QUOTED BY THE BUS DRIVER TO JACK TILLFORD FOR THE RIDE TO SAN FRANCISCO: “…six bucks.”
THE TUNNEL AND BRIDGE SEEN OUT OF THE REAR WINDOW OF THE BUS AS IT ENTERED THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO:
The Waldo Tunnel, seen in the background, which
connects the Golden Gate Bridge with Sausalito.
The Golden Gate Bridge with one of its twin
suspension towers are seen in the background.
CHARLIE CHAN’S DESCRIPTION OF THE “TORSO VICTIM”: “…canyon victim.”
THE NAME OF THE BUS COMPANY: Greyhound Lines
THE POINT OF ORIGIN OF THE BUS TO SAN FRANCISCO: Salt Lake City, Utah
THE GENERAL ARRIVAL TIME OF THE BUS IN SAN FRANCISCO: Morning
THE NAME OF THE MAN CALLED BY THE BUREAU OF MISSING PERSONS WORKER TO ASSIST WITH A DEAF MAN: Joe
THE NAME OF THE PERSON WHOSE PICTURE WAS REMOVED FROM THE MISSING PERSONS ALBUM: Mary Conover
MARY CONOVER’S PHOTOGRAPH AND ACCOMPANYING INFORMATION:
THE ACQUAINTANCE OF CHARLIE CHAN: Chief of Police
THE CASE MENTIONED BY CHARLIE CHAN THAT WAS SIMILAR TO THE “TORSO MURDER”: “…New Orleans Trunk Murder.”
THE PLACE WHERE THE “TORSO MURDER” WAS COMMITTED: Emigrant Gap
THE NAME AND INFORMATION ON THE MISSING WOMAN, ACCORDING TO CHARLIE CHAN: “Grace Gortner, age 30, wife of Homer B. Pendleton, last known address, Avon Apartments.”
THE PHOTOGRAPH AND SOME OF THE ACCOMPANYING INFORMATION SHOWN FOR THE AWOL (AWAY WITHOUT LEAVE) MARINE AS SEEN BY CHARLIE CHAN AT CAPTAIN ALLEN’S OFFICE:
CHARLIE CHAN’S MISTAKEN NAME FOR CORPORAL JOE THOMAS: “…Corporal Joe Thompson…”
THE LOCATION OF EMIGRANT GAP, ACCORDING TO CHARLIE CHAN: “…100 miles north of here (San Francisco)…”
THE DISTINGUISHING SURGICAL MARK NOTED BY CHARLIE CHAN ON THE “TORSO MURDER” VICTIM’S BODY: An appendectomy scar “…several years old.”
CHARLIE CHAN’S ORDER AT THE MAYFAIR HOTEL’S COFFEE SHOP: “Pot of tea, please… Just tea.”
JIMMY CHAN’S ORDER AT THE COFFEE SHOP: “I think I’ll have some chop suey… Also, I’ll have some ice cream and a cup of coffee.”
JIMMY CHAN’S COMMENT TO HIS POP REGARDING CHOP SUEY: “Oh, it’s good stuff, Pop, you ought to try it sometime.”
THE LUNCH ITEM ORDERED BY MIKE ROGAN FROM MARY CONOVER: “…breaded veal chops.”
THE NAME OF THE COFFEE SHOP AT THE MAYFAIR HOTEL: Mairfair Coffee Shop
THE NAME OF THE COFFEE SHOP WORKER TO WHOM MARY CONOVER HAD SAID SHE NEEDED TO GO SEE A DOCTOR: Myrtle
THE NAME OF THE HOTEL WHERE CHARLIE CHAN WAS STAYING IN SAN FRANCISCO: Mayfair Hotel
THE ALIAS USED BY MARY CONOVER: Mary McCoy
ACCORDING TO MYRTLE AT THE COFFEE SHOP, THE NAME OF THE ELDERLY LADY WHO HAD ASKED ABOUT MARY MCCOY (MARY CONOVER): “…Kate Johnson…”
THE NAME OF THE CORNER BUSINESS FROM WHERE JIMMY CHAN AND BIRMINGHAM BROWN WATCHED MARY CONOVER ENTER HER RESIDENCE: Joe’s Ice Cream Parlor
THE NAME OF THE APARTMENTS WHERE MARY CONOVER LIVED: Randolf Apartments
MARY CONNOVER’S APARTMENT NUMBER: 36
FROM INFORMATION CONTAINED IN HER FILE, THE NAME OF THE BURLESQUE COMPANY TO WHICH GRACE GORTNER HAD ONCE BELONGED: Bon Ton Burlesque Company
THE ACCOMPANYING LETTER FROM GRACE GORTNER’S FILE THAT WAS READ BY CHARLIE CHAN:
THE NAME OF THE FORMER MANAGER OF THE BON TON BURLESQUE COMPANY: Craig Winfield
THE LENGTH OF TIME, ACCORDING TO CAPTAIN ALLEN, SINCE GRACE GORTNER HAD BELONGED TO THE BON TON BURLESQUE COMPANY: “…twelve years…”
OTHER ALIASES OF MIKE ROBERTS, ACCORDING TO CHARLIE CHAN: “Mike Rogan, Mickey Rodgers, Marty Roman…”
THE NAME OF THE ESCORT COMPANY FOR WHICH MARY CONOVER HAD ONCE WORKED: Bay City Escort Bureau
THE NAME OF THE WOMAN IN CHARGE OF THE BAY CITY ESCORT BUREAU: Joan Mercer
THE NAME OF THE MANAGER OF THE BAY CITY ESCORT BUREAU: Mr. Kearney
ACCORDING TO JOAN MERCER, MR. KEARNEY’S CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: “…Mr. Kearney is in New York.”
THE LICENSE PLATE OF THE POLICE CAR IN WHICH CHARLIE CHAN AND CAPTAIN ALLEN RODE:
THE PHOTOGRAPH KATE JOHNSON FOUND IN MIKE ROBERT’S APARTMENT:
THE METAL SCULPTURE OF KWAN YIN (GUANYIN) SEEN BY JIMMY CHAN AND BIRMINGHAM BROWN (AND SHOWN WITH THE TITLE AND OPENING CREDITS FOR THIS FILM) IN THE YANG FOO CURIO SHOP:
THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE POLICE CAR, ACCORDING TO THE RADIO CALL, IN WHICH CHARLIE CHAN AND CAPTAIN ALLEN RODE: “…BMP car 10A.”
THE NAME OF THE OFFICER CALLING CAPTAIN ALLEN ON THE RADIO: Jenkins
THE MISSING PERSON POSTER OF GRACE GORTNER PENDLETON:
THE WIRE PHOTO OF CRAIG WINFIELD RECEIVED BY POLICE HEADQUARTERS:
THE NAME OF THE CORNER BUSINESS IN FRONT OF WHICH MARY CONOVER WAS STOPPED: Kuff’s Bar
ACCORDING TO THE POLICE RADIO DISPATCHER, POLICE CARS INVOLVED IN THE SEARCH FOR THE RED CONVERTIBLE: “Car 44…Car 31…Car 33…”
SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICTS COVERED IN THE SEARCH: Mission District, North Beach District, Nob Hill District
GLOSSARY
beat it – (Informal) To leave or depart.
Mike Rogan: “Hold it, Boss, that dizzy dame’s beating it!”
blackjack – A leather-covered bludgeon with a short, flexible shaft or strap, used as a hand weapon.
Charlie Chan: “…you walk in path of descending blackjack.”
buck – (Slang) A dollar.
Bus Driver: “Okay bud, cost you six bucks.”
Mike Rogan: “Well, I’m always ready to talk business when there’s a few bucks to be made on the side.”
bud – (Informal) Friend; chum. Used as a form of familiar address, especially for a man or boy.
Bus Driver: “Okay, bud, cost you six bucks.”
canary – (Slang; as used) Someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police.
Birmingham Brown: “…we was following a canary…”
choke – (As used) To reduce the air intake of (a carburetor), thereby enriching the fuel mixture.
Jimmy Chan: “Did you choke it?”
chump – A stupid or foolish person; a dolt.
Jeff Hay: “I guess I’m the chump of the year.”
civvies – (Slang) Civilian clothing as opposed to a military uniform.
Jeff Hay: “What about the civvies?”
Confucius (551-469 BC) – A Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BC). The philosophy of Confucius emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity.
Charlie Chan: “Confucius say, ‘Sleep only escape from yesterday.'”
cooking on all burners – (Slang) Proceeding well or rapidly.
Birmingham Brown: “Now you’re cooking on all burners.”
dame – (Slang) A woman.
Mike Rogan: “Hold it, Boss, that dizzy dame‘s beating it!”
dizzy – (Slang) Scatterbrained or silly.
Mike Rogan: “Hold it, Boss, that dizzy dame’s beating it!”
dumbbell – (Slang) A stupid person; a dolt.
Jack Tillford: “Any dumbbell should have guessed that.”
Emigrant Gap – A small community in Placer County, California. Emigrant Gap is located a quarter mile south of Emigrant Gap, a pass through the Sierra Nevada mountains traveled by early settlers in the 1840s. It lies at an elevation of 5,180 feet on Interstate Highway 80 (formally US 40, the Lincoln Highway, the first coast-to-coast U.S. highway).
Bus Driver: “Well, folks, looks like we’ll make Emigrant Gap before this thing gives up on us.”
48-hour pass – A pass that allows an individual to be away from his military unit for a period of 48 hours.
Jack Tillford: “Well, I got a 48-hour pass and a blonde waiting for me in the city.”
fresh – Bold and saucy; impudent.
Mary Connover: “Don’t get so fresh…”
frisk – To search.
Jeff Hay: “You’re under suspicion and I’m going to frisk you.”
hotfoot – The practical joke of lighting a match that has been secretly inserted between the sole and upper of a victim’s shoe.
Birmingham Brown: “Good gracious! Somebody done given me a hotfoot!”
knot – (Slang) A lump on the head.
Birmingham Brown: “Look at that knot growin’ on my head.”
made…passes – To have flirted or to have made advances to someone, especially of a sexual nature.
Jack Tillford: “…but she said he never made any passes.”
Man o’ War (1917-1947) – One of the greatest racehorses of the 20th century, Man O’War is the yardstick that greatness is still measured against in horse racing. His lifetime record, during a racing career lasting 16 months between 1919 and 1920, was 21 starts with 20 wins and a second place and he retired as the leading money winner in America at the time. He set 8 records, 3 world records, 2 American records, and 3 track records and broke most by several seconds.
Birmingham Brown: “Who do you think I am, Man o’ War?”
packing – (Informal) To be carrying or having available for action, usually in reference to a gun.
Jeff Hay: “You’re packing a gun, aren’t you?”
peeling – (Slang) The taking off of one’s clothing.
Joan Mercer: “You heard me, start peeling.”
shadow– To follow, especially in secret; trail.
Jimmy Chan: “Come on, Birmingham, we gotta shadow that girl.”
shake a leg – (Idiom) To move quickly; to hurry up.
Jimmy Chan: “C’mon, Birmingham, shake a leg.”
shooting the breeze – (Idiom) To be spending time talking; to be talking idly.
Jack Tillford: “…I was just shooting the breeze with a friend of mine here at the bureau.”
slug – A bullet.
Capt. Allen: “Somebody put a slug in him.”
slugged – Hit hard, especially with a fist.
Jeff Hay: “Someone slugged him in Salt Lake.“
third degree – Mental or physical torture used to obtain information or a confession from a prisoner.
Jack Tillford: “Say, what’s the idea of this third degree?”,
For a complete glossary list from all films, please visit our Charlie Chan Glossary.
Return to