Maybe two and a half stars is a bit much but after the first couple of Charlie Chan Monogram Pictures the extra energy provided by director Phil Karlson came as a relief. I'm trying not to be too wise after the event, knowing Karlson went on to a very fine directorial career, but he's clearly putting in more effort than Phil Rosen - the camera actually moves around in a few scenes, there's some decent atmosphere with the murder via cobra.
The mystery is once again solid - I think George Callahan, whose name appears on a lot of these, was a decent writer. Sidney Toler tries to be animated in a few scenes but still isn't much chop. There's comic relief once more from Mantan Moreland and Benson Fong (as Tommy Chan).
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