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Source-DVD rip on YouTube
Before this film I had never seen an entire Charlie Chan film. Sure I knew of the Chinese detective and had seen his ups Hanna Barbara cartoon. Thanks to a few parodies I even knew some of the tropes in the Chan film series.
Black Magic was from after the series went from Fox to Monogram. Going in I knew since it was a Monogram film it would be low budget. There is a reason Monogram was considered one of the Poverty Row Studios. Black Magic is also the only Chan film with a decent amount of spooky/horror elements.
At a seance, attended by Chan's daughter Francis, a ghost appears and someone is shot and killed. Charlie is called in to help solve the murder.
Normally in the Chan films Charlie is assisted by one of his many sons,IIRC Charlie mentions having 14 kids,but in Black Magic we get the one film in the series that his daughter is his assistant.
We get a ghost,2 spooky seance, a skeleton,hypnosis and a disappearing bullet. Oh and someone jumping to their death off a skyscraper,while hypnotized.
Running a bit over an hour this was a fun way to pass the time. And I was surprised how much was packed into a short time.
Black Magic gets a B+
