Castle In The Desert (1942)

The renowned detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is summoned by a letter from the wife (Lenita Lane) of a misanthropic millionaire (Douglass Dumbrille) to a mysterious and secluded castle deep in California's Mojave desert. But when he arrives, she denies ever writing such a letter. However, when a death under mysterious circumstances occurs, he attempts to solve the case before another murder can happen. Based on the character created by Earl Derr Biggers and directed by Harry Lachman (DR. RENAULT'S SECRET). The Sidney Toler Chan films are generally considered inferior to the Warner Oland Chan movies but I think that's because when the Chan films moved over to Monogram pictures from 20th Century Fox, the budgets and quality suffered. This was the final Fox Chan before going over to Monogram. I enjoyed this one although it's often incoherent. After the killer is exposed at the end, I still didn't understand their motive for the killings. Did I miss something or did the movie just not bother? With Henry Daniell, Richard Derr, Arleen Whalen, Ethel Griffies, Steven Geray and Victor Sen Yung.