THE HOUSE WITHOUT A KEY

THE CHINESE PARROT

BEHIND THAT CURTAIN:

Sir George Mannering finishes his phone call but puts it on the table instead of back on the cradle.

Eric Durand’s right arm is up resting on the chain support (of the swing) when Eve Durand says she’s going to the bazaar.  His arm is down at his side in the shot when she leaves.

Eve Durand’s hair is very short when she begs Col. Beetham to take her with him on his four month trek through India and Persia (now Iran).  Four months later, at the end of the journey through the desert, her hair is still short.

CHARLIE CHAN CARRIES ON

CHARLIE CHAN’S CHANCE:

ERAN TRECE (SPANISH VERSION OF CC’S GREATEST CASE):

[This is not a blooper but a difference between the English and Spanish versions.] There is a segment of a party sequence in the Spanish version where Minchin and his wife entertain the others

CHARLIE CHAN’S COURAGE:

CHARLIE CHAN’S SECRET:

How did the killer[s] know when and how Allen Colby would be coming home so as to plan to kill him before Colby reached San Francisco?

The bridge being built in the scene where Charlie is headed for San Francisco by clipper is most likely the Oakland Bay Bridge. (Courtesy of Rush Glick).

. . . [A]t the beginning of Charlie Chan’s Secret, there are two divers underwater, but only one is brought up, or did I just miss the other one?  (Courtesy of RANDLESEKTA@aol.com) .

When the diver brings up Allan Colby’s briefcase, it’s wet.  It’s dry in the close-up, as are the papers that Charlie looks over in the boat’s cabin.  The papers don’t look like they’ve ever even BEEN wet!

How come Allen Colby didn’t see the panel in the wall open so the murderer could toss the knife and kill him?  And how easily could the killer toss the knife through that size of hole in the wall?

When Dick Williams meets Alice Lowell at Colby house, they end up in the séance room where he changes how he rests his arms on the back of a chair, depending on the camera shot used.

When is the short-wave radio set up at Colby House, not to mention the ultraviolet light?  How could anyone know that they/he would be needing the light and in that position and in that place?

How did Professor Bowen flick the hidden switch to turn on the “ghost music” sent from their apartment for the séance?

How did Allan Colby’s body get in the hidden passage-way door during the first séance, and hw does he stay popped up, only to suddenly fall down the stairs?

Does Charlie bring a chemical analysis bag on each case?  If he doesn’t then how does he know which ones to bring it on? (Courtesy of Beckey Truesdale).

When Charlie comes back to the Lowell House after discovering the rifle in the church bell tower, he moves the vase to the table for it to act as target for the rifle.  How come there was water waiting in it for Baxter to put flowers in it?

Watch the vase after Baxter puts the flowers in it.  Freeze the frame when the bullet hits the vase.  (Courtesy of Rush Glick).

Watch Baxter when the vase is shot up.  He is sprayed with water as he turns and jumps into the Inspector’s arm.  When the camera angel shifts, Baxter is completely dry.

Why wasn’t the Professor arrested at least for conspiracy to murder or accessory after the fact?

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE CIRCUS:

Marie Norman is listed in her publicity as Marie Normand.

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE RACE TRACK:

Charlie drinks champagne in Paris but doesn’t in Shanghai or Race Track.

Charlie recognizes Lee in Race Track and Jimmy in Panama as cabin boys from seeing their backsides and all the spankings he gave them growing up.

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OPERA:

The newspaper section that Gravelle tears up at the beginning of the movie has a headline with the number 7 spelled out as seven.  The headline has the number 7 written in Arabic (7) later in the Inspector’s office.

When Lee goes down through the trap door, he faces the stage area like he’s going down a staircase.  In the next shot, from the floor below, he’s at a 90-degree angle from his position in the previous shot and going down a ladder.

Lee picks pockets; cigarette “holders” in Opera and Arthur Hughes’ pocket in Olympics.

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS:

Not exactly a blooper, the masking of the Swastika to obliterate it from the fin of the zeppelin.

Yvonne Roland’s wardrobe (including the infamous white fox fur) is left behind on the ship.  Does she have—or get—an entirely new one (including new furs) in Berlin?

How did Miss Roland get down off of that very large ship from her porthole to the boat in the water over 50 feet below in a heavy fog without being seen by anyone?  Now you must realize all ships in dense fog have extra lookouts all over the ship watching for other ships and dangers in the water, forward and aft and along both port and starboard sides..and when a ship that large enters into a river or port (especially) river, there is a pilot boat comes along side to bring it into a bouy or dock, in this case a passenger ship it would go dockside…and a special sea detail is set and a port of entrance always sends out a local special pilot to bring the ship in, he takes over from the ships captain, as he know the channels of deep and shallow waters so the ship will not run aground, now saying all that, was she strong enough to go hand over hand down a small line some 50 or more feet without losing her grip, set down in a small boat while this large ship is underway? Without being detected by anyone, you see its quite quiet in fog, and a lookout topside would have heard the engines of a small craft coming alongside, and if he had seen her going over the side he would more than likely shouted out Man Overboard…its not easy to lower someone into a small boat even tho the large ships wake wouldn’t be too bad it would still cause problems…of Olympic proportions…pun intended…theres more to it but this will do for now…   (Courtesy of Evan Thompson, expert, having spent 4 years at sea in the U. S. Navy)

Why does the German policeman coming over the car radio sound like a Los Angeles policeman straight out of Dragnet.

It just seems at the end of Olympics…Hughes the guy who wants Lee to stand alone so they will shoot him if Charlie doesn’t give out the info as to where the invention is, but then the police bust in and he doesn’t get the chance, they nail the guy with the ink on his feet and the spies…but Hughes seems to get off as no one approaches him to arrest him, then we jump to Lee swimming…UGH…not the ending I was expecting to a great story other wise….   (Courtesy of Evan Thompson)

They both use sign language.

CHARLIE CHAN ON BROADWAY:

Why does Charlie have seasickness all of a sudden when he’s been on ships, boats, planes, and zeppelins except for the possibility of a plot device.

Chance (Charlie), Broadway (Lee), Panama (Lionel Atwill) and Sky Dragon (Lee and Birmingham Brown) all broke into ladies’ dressing rooms in theatres.

CHARLIE CHAN AT MONTE CARLO:

The brother who did it—there’s a technical blooper when he runs out into the road and gets “run over” except there is a glitch in the film.  He turns in the road to face the oncoming truck, the film strip changes to the truck “running over” him.

In the beginning, when Harold Huber tells CC that HE is going to pay the hotel bill, he takes Chan’s bill, and says “PLEASE!”, losing his French [sic] accent!  (Turn the volume up!).  (Courtesy of Norm Vogel).

Monte Carlo has “Waffel!” and Scarlet Clue has Marsh’s Mellow Mix (for waffles).

 CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU:

In a potentially disastrous slip of the mind, Charlie forgot to have a certain bad guy searched for a gun!  Fortunately, this criminal didn’t take advantage of Mr. Chan’s apparent slip.  Of course, always at least a step (or two!) ahead of all of us, Charlie Chan just MAY have unloaded the gun earlier at some opportunity unseen by all of us (just as he had another weapon in the same film)! (Courtesy of Rush Glick).

Charlie and Jimmy outwit someone who pretends to be deaf (George Zucco in Honolulu and Milton Parsons in Dark Alibi).

CHARLIE CHAN IN RENO:

Mary Whitman and Vivian Welles (Phyllis Brooks) are seated together at a table, and you will notice that the latter is smoking a cigarette.  Pay close attention to the cigarette during this scene, as you will notice that it goes from just a little stub burnt down to the filter… to a full cigarette, etc….etc. (Courtesy of Chad Bennett).

Vivian Wells is wearing a short-sleeved gown the evening of the murder.  How does Charlie know/find out that she wasn’t wearing it’s matching jacket that night?

We  never find out what happened to Jimmy’s stolen clothes or his friend’s car.

Charlie tells the investigating officer that if you want a wild bird to sing, do not put him in cage.

CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND: 

How can four different actors (Cesear Romero, Gerald Mohr, Sidney Toler and, supposedly, Abdul (The Turk) use the same costume of Dr. Zodiac without people recognizing their voices?

And how can Abdul be the good doctor when (1) it would be logistically difficult for him to show them into the séance room and then show up in full Zodiac costume so quickly and (2) it doesn’t explain Gerald Mohr’s voice out of Zodiac?

This isn’t a blooper but watch when Chan goes to Zodiac’s house by himself—a black cat runs past him for bad luck!

The taxi driver who takes Charlie, Peter Lewis, and Rhadini to Dr. Zodiac’s house doesn’t take the money offered him.  He just tears off!

When our fearless threesome plus Jimmy have broken into Zodiac’s house, they find his blackmailing vault where he keeps file cabinets of blackmailing information on various people.  Charlie starts a fire with the contents of only a few files out of a few drawers.  The others are kept closed when Chan closes the vault door.  Question:  wouldn’t that not only leave most of the files unaffected but severely restrict the oxygen, limiting the potential for fire damage?

There is an obvious blooper between when Eve Cairo is levitated and when Jimmy is used.  Rhadini shows that there is nothing under the levitation table when he levitates Eve.  The second time, Rhadini “shows” the underside of the table and there is clearly the wax dummy of Cairo as Jimmy clearly is thrown from the table through a trap door under the table to the basement.

When Jimmy slides into the basement during the levitation trick, he rips his pants.  So why doesn’t Eve Cairo get her dresses ripped when she does the trick?

Jimmy puts on one of Rhadini’s jackets when going on stage to make an announcement for “Pop.”  One left shoulder is exaggerated to accommodate Rhadini’s tricks.

Dr. Zodicac’s costume .

CHARLIE CHAN IN ‘CITY IN DARKNESS’:

When Marcel Spivak goes into the Hotel des Voyageurs, the landlady hurries to close the front door to keep the light from being seen from the street.  However, it looks like what she is actually closing is the inside door of a lighted vestibule, leaving the outer door in question.

They both have wastebaskets that catch on fire.

CHARLIE CHAN IN PANAMA

At the beginning, Manolo offers the Englishman Compton a cigarette.  He declines, saying he only smokes pipes.  Compton later gets into the cabaret dressing room and lights up a cigarette.

…The mausoleum owned by the Egyptian tobacconist?  They stroll in the front door—fine so far.  It appears to be a small block building—probably room for 8 or 12 bodies.  Then Jimmy does his lean-against-the-wall-and-fell-through routine.

But where does he go?

We find him in the secret room behind the crypt wall—but where the heck is it?  It’s not 100%below ground.  So from the exterior—you’d see a bump-out of sorts in back?  If the Egyptian built this—wouldn’t he have drawn suspicion?  Maybe it’s a double crypt from the outside?  We only see the front door.  Maybe it’s longer than we think?

Seemed like a lot of room behind that fake wall.  Somebody would notice.  But maybe not.  (Courtesy of Jim Mueller).

They involve the use of drugged cigarettes [Courtesy of John Cucinotta].

CHARLIE CHAN’S MURDER CRUISE:

How can Leo Carroll and Don Beddoe share the beggar’s costume without thinking that people could tell their voices apart?

You can tell that Charlie starts the movie with a cold but it seems to fluctuate for the rest of the movie.

Willie’s arms change position on Charlie’s desk as he gets “into position” for his spanking.

 . . . after Inspector Duff is murdered, Charlie, Jimmy and Willy are shown driving back to the hotel.  The beggar approaches Charlie…notice Charlie is NOT wearing his ring…the camera angle changes…he is now wearing his ring.(Courtesy of Ken D [kend77@msn.com]).

A suspect gets shot but no one wants the credit for shooting him.

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE WAX MUSEUM:

MURDER OVER NEW YORK:

Mountains appear in the background of the “New York Airport,” which may be the Los Angeles Airport or (more likely) the Burbank Airport.

The American Airline plane sits on the tarmac with it’s nose in the air but the passengers inside all sit level, the floor parallel to the ground.

Why is there a discrepancy between Charlie’s flight’s scheduled arrival and its actual arrival? (Courtesy of Rush Glick).

Charlie, Jimmy and Inspector Vance change places by the car on the tarmac after Charlie arrives at the airport.

The fingerprint man’s pencil knocks over the model plane that’s on the desk. (Courtesy of Rush Glick).

What are the figures on the wall (or bookcase)? (Courtesy of Rush Glick) .

A suspect gets shot but no one wants the credit for shooting him.

DEAD MEN TELL:

Early in the film, there is a scene with the captain sitting at a desk in an office smoking a pipe.  His pipe keeps changing positions depending on the camera angle, and whether he is going shown up close or through the window. (Courtesy of John Cucinotta).

. . . [R]emember when  the guys says it was a flying fish………well as far as I know I have never seen a flying fish in port, only way out at sea. . . .  (Courtesy of Evan Thompson).

The parrot’s vocalizations don’t match its mouth movements.

CHARLIE CHAN IN RIO:

They both show Charlie Chan pretending to be under the influence of drugs.

CASTLE IN THE DESERT:

In “Castle in the Desert,” when Charlie first sits down with Mr. Manderley in his study, he attempts to cross his legs and fails miserably.  He continues his dialogue with out missing a beat!  (Courtesy of Bill Lutters).

1-A world famous detective like Charlie must get tons of requests for “Help and advice”..yet, on a note slipped under the door he changes all his plans without 5 minutes of thought…and heads off to Manderley Castle????

2-Manderley, a multi-millionaire..has only ONE car??  And a low end one like a Ford..wouldn’t you think he’d have two..and maybe a Packard or something?

3-Did Manderley begin his obsession with the Borgias before or after he married his wife?  I, mean..his whole life revolves around the Borgias…his car has the Borgia crest, he built a castle like the one Caesre Borgia had..and he tells Lucy..we won’t discuss it????

4-The scar…the owner of the hotel tells Charlie “He won’t talk civil to nobody”…so I’m expected to believe he cares what he townspeople gossip about him?”  The scarf probably would make it worse.

5-When Lucy calls Watson King “Jim”…what was all that about?

6-When Charlie shows the Dr. the bottle with the tagara weed, and the Doctor tells Charlie his knowledge of the drug…yet, in the scene in Lucy’s room the Dr. tells Charlie “Where did we obtain the drug, it’s very rare?’’…maybe out of the bottle Charlie showed you a couple of scenes back!

7-At the end of the film Lucy says she is left-handed…yet, if you watch her throughout the film…she does everything right-hand.

8-If Watson King is really a world famous sculptor…and the step-brother of Lucy…why would he need to try and tap into the lawyer for a touch?  (Robert J. Hiza).

#6 In regards to “Jim”, It appears from a GOOGLE Search that in 1930’s  slang “Jim” is roughly equivalent to “Buddy” or “Mac”.  A more modern example would be from the song “Werewolves of London”

“….Better stay away from him

Hell rip your lungs out, Jim…..”  (Courtesy of Julian M. Lobacewski).

As you point out, this film has a lot of plot loopholes, as well as other things that make me wonder:

1.  The castle has a lot of servants and guards. Do they live there, or do they commute from somewhere, like the Mojave Wells town, and would they need another car to do so?

2.  Even with no running water or laundry facilities, the inhabitants of the castle look very well groomed.

3.  Apparently an elegant meal is being planned for the guests.  It would have to be cooked in a primitive wood stove, or over a fire.  How can you store food in such a castle with no refrigeration. (Courtesy of John Cucinotta).

I was just wondering (here we go with the hat thing again), did anyone notice in “Castle in the Desert: that when Honorable Chan step from the taxi that  brought him to the towns [sic] only hotel, that when he steped [sic] from the taxi his white hat was creased or “dented” in the back of his hat and in the next scene, seemingly by magic the dent was gone.  Hollywood magic I guess, sort of like the gus that seem not to run out of bullits, [sic] etc.  (Courtesy of Ken Miller, kmillerqw@hot.rr.com, October 6, 2004).

They all have cats in them.

SECRET SERVICE:

When the inventor blows up the ships in his lab at the beginning of the movie, the background doesn’t match the mid-shot.

What about the bomb…all were dummies…so how did they explode when he threw one, if he had trown the loaded one they would all be dead…why?  Because if you remember the inventor said if that one was to go off it would blow everything within 2 blocks to bits…so what explodes?  that chans son threw  ???  (Courtesy of Evan Thompson).

Charlie walks through the deserted lobby of a federal building in Washington, D.C., and onto almost as deserted street with little foot and no vehicular traffic to a taxi that just “happens” to be at curbside.

The California State Flag flying in front of a government building in Washington [D.C.], as well as Charlie’s long walk from the taxi to the house.  Daytime when he starts and night when he arrives.  (Courtesy of Bill Lutters).

Charlie’s kids, Tommy and Iris, are in his office when he comes in and announces that he has to leave them for a murder investigation.  Iris says they don’t know where he’s going and Tommy announces he knows how to figure out where “Pop” is going.  The next scene finds them at the right house.

When did anyone have the opportunity to electrify the closet door and do the remote switch or the magnetized gun set-up

Now if you have ever seen (he Boogie man will get you)with [sic] boris and peter lorre you will see Mantan in the same machine only in the Charlie Chan one…Mantan jumps in it just before the shooting starts, and comes out and asks them what’s going on I thought I heard shots fired.  (Courtesy of Evan Thompson).

Note when Charlie is shot at from behind a curtain, looks like Mantan walks out from behind the same curtain or very close to it.  (Courtesy of Evan Thompson).

The spy lady made a Statue of Liberty for the inventer before she got to his house, so how did the secret plans get inside of it ???  Charlie had to break it to find the plans..not dig into the bottom, if it was closed off..?  (Courtesy of Evan Thompson).

and how did she know that her partner in crime was going to sit in the couch right under the gun??  (Courtesy of Evan Thompson).

…[W]hen in the inventors work shop they are shot at by someone..Benson Fong throws a “bomb that is supposed to be a dummy, yet it explodes, had or if he trew the one with the+ on it they as the inventor said ..they would have been blown to bits for 2 blocks around…yet the explosion didn’t do much more than a fire cracker… oh by the way in slang on your blog..a joint is also a marijuana “stick” smoke looks like a roll your own cigarette…just thought I’d drop that on youheheheheee…I think theres another blooper or 2 in that movie…note when Charlie is shot at frm behind a curtain, looks like Mantan walks out from behind the same curtain or very close to it…chk it out.   I like that movie…and hey…how about this one   the spy lady made a Statue of Liberty for the inventor before she got to his house, so how did the secret plans get inside of it???Charlie had to break it to find the plans,,not dig into the bottom, if it was closed off..?  and how did she know that her partner in crime was going to sit in the couch right under the gun??there are a few questions more but that will give you something to hehehe ”Chew” on for a while ….yer pal Evan the blooper snooper…….heheheheeeee

They both have the Federal Building scene that’s supposed to be set in Washington, D.C., during World War II, yet there are few people and fewer cars.  On top of that, the California State Flag is flying at full staff in front of the Federal Building.

CHINESE CAT:

My favourite is in Chinese Cat where the character [sic] Webster Deacon (Cy Kendall) is murdered and the newspaper headline reads that “George Deacon” died.  (Courtesy of Chris Ellis).

[D]id anybody ever respond to the message about Mantan turning the knob on the radio to the left to turn on the music in the car?  He turned to the right to turn it off. . .also later they had the whipers [sic] going without any rain….just curious…watched it last night it actually is one of the best IMHO….  (Courtesy of orzobino).

BLACK MAGIC/MEETING AT MIDNIGHT:

Charlie “making” the skeleton go back into the wall.  His hand remains closed like he’s just running it back and forth instead of the repeated grasping motion needed to actually move any kind of wire forward.

. . . when Charlie is in the police department explaining how he is psychic, and the handkerchief dances above his head, take a close look behind him and you can see the lever going up and down that the prop man is using to make the handkerchief jump.  That’s as bad a blooper as the scrim in front of the lamp in Dracula. . . .  (Courtesy of Robert S.).

The killer’s voice calls to Justine from a partially opened door when she is on the roof of a tall office building, luring her forward, resulting in her falling off the roof to her death.  A few seconds later the killer is seen at street level on the sidewalk.

They both show Charlie Chan pretending to be under the influence of drugs.

JADE MASK:

The front door has only a handle on the inside . . . no handle on the outside and certainly no keyhole anywhere!

The “Human Puppet” is animated from the second floor but . . .  either it’s a trap door under a rug that they have to move or else it has some kind of handle to pull up.  Why doesn’t anybody notice this stuff in the movie?!

SCARLET CLUE:

Birmingham Brown’s screams don’t match the way his mouth moves in The Scarlet Clue when he’s caught in the Hamilton Lab between the lightning “lamps.”

They involve the use of drugged cigarettes [Courtesy of John Cucinotta].

SHANGHAI COBA: 

The scene in Secret Service where Charlie leaves the Federal Building in Washington with the California Flag flying in front.  (Courtesy of John Cucinotta).

Charlie was in Shanghai eight years before about arresting Jan Van Horn who escaped from the police boat~~The police hadn’t sat him down so it was easy for him to escape by distracting one and pushing the other off balance and then he jumped out and swam off.  With his hands still in handcuffs?

And we aren’t supposed to match Jan Van Horn’s voice with [(Addison Richards’) later character]?

They both have the Federal Building scene that’s supposed to be set in Washington, D.C., during World War II, yet there are few people and fewer cars.  On top of that, the California State Flag is flying at full staff in front of the Federal Building.

RED DRAGON:

When CC is explaining about the “95^th Element” to the inspector, he starts to get confused, as if he’s desperately trying to remember his lines!  (I’m surprised that they didn’t reshoot that scene, unless it was made by “One Shot” Beaudine!).  (Courtesy of Norm Vogel).

Also, no one can figure out what the typed word was, but once it’s solved, EVRYONE seems to remember where the thermostat was & wasn’t! I mean, WHO notices something like THAT?!?!?!  (Courtesy of Norm Vogel).

AND….as he was typing it (as he was dying, he only hit about 3 or 4 keystrokes, but the word has over TWICE that many!  Go figure!  (Courtesy of Norm Vogel).

Lastly, I find it “odd” that CC would PUSH the button on the t-stat:  If anyone ELSE had on of those gizmos on them, he would have KILLED THEM, TOO!  Strange!  (Courtesy of Norm Vogel).

DARK ALIBI:

Charlie calls one of the female suspects by the wrong name in an early scene in the lobby of the rooming house.  (Courtesy of John Cucinotta).

 SHADOWS OVER CHINATOWN:

The back window on the bus had a vertical bar in it when the bus turned into the bus station that the window didn’t have when Charlie was talking to the two little old ladies.

[Charlie] runs into an elderly lady whose grand daughter is missing, he goes to the missing persons office and finds a photo of her missing, goes to the grandmother and talks a while, then at a café he spots her…and produces a photo of her…and shows it to son Tommy…where did he get that picture of her?  He didn’t ask granny for one and the missing persons place didn’t have one…I watched it 3 times, and I never seen him procure one anywhere in the movie…just a little fun like the turtle with the flash lite on its back,  (Courtesy of Evan Thompson).

[I had posted a “whazit” (as opposed to a blooper) on the CCMB about where the turtle with the flashlight on it’s back came from.] …just a little fun like the turtle with the flash lite on its back, I do know the flashlite was Willy Bests as he dropped his when scared, how it balanced on the turtles back is another quirk, but fun…  (Courtesy of Evan Thompson).

The morgue doesn’t have a knob on the inside of the door?!

A suspect gets shot but no one wants the credit for shooting him.

DANGEROUS MONEY:

My wife and I were watching Dangerous money last nite and I noticed some similarity in the music at the start of it and the start of The Jade Mask…and one other of the CC films but can’t remember which…maybe I’m just getting crazier….and she noticed that when Willy Best dropped in on the cook, he burned his fanny, BUT? When he got down he touched the edge of that same grill and didn’t get burnt…we slow motioned it several times and it sure looked like he did touch the same hot area only at the edge…now we had one of those resturant sized grils in our home for many years and I have grated (holy stone, Cleaned) them many times and where he touched is very hot…10 kids we needed that grill…its been since donated to our local Lions club…and the knife seen in the door way was drawn back a if it were being thrown…but yet we are told its being shot, am I right or didn’t I hear a reason because I fell asleep before I fell asleep before the end….ZZzzz   Evan(Courtesy of Evan Thompson).

Freddie, the knife thrower, is running away from the museum.  A knife gets him.  You hear the sound of a woman laughing in the distance….which sounds rather (for want of a better word) “surrealistic” to laff at someone’s death…..but CC doesn’t want to investigate……he (rightly) feels that it’s just 2 lovers in the jungle…..  (Courtesy of Norm Vogel).

TRAP:

Someone is supposed to run across the beach behind the opening credits.  (Courtesy of Rush Glick).

When King Cole and his troop arrive at the Malibu house and they start piling out of the station wagon . . . just how many people are IN that station wagon?

The phone call to Birmingham gives the address of the beach house in Malibu, but a close up of the front door shows a different address later.

This same phone call that gives Birmingham the address. . . .  He scribbles what looks like two letters or numbers but Jimmy can read the entire address when he shows up looking for Birmingham.

The house is architecturally off.  At least one front bedroom has a window in the common wall with the room behind it.

When it’s revealed that the doctor is married to one of the showgirls (who’s supposed to be French), she gets emotional and hugs the doctor, losing her French accent and says “What’s the difference?” where she SHOULD have said, “What’s za dif-far-ANCE!”.  (Courtesy of Norm Vogel).

One of the beach scenes has the beach ball tossed one way and it’s seen going in another direction in the next shot.  (Courtesy of Doug Palmer).

Charlie not only doesn’t seem to care that the villain steals his car but wrecks it as well at the end of the movie.  (Courtesy of Doug Palmer).

CHINESE RING:

What do Honolulu, Murder Cruise and The Chinese Ring have in common?

They use freighters that carry passengers.

What do The Chinese Ring and Docks of New Orleans have in common?

They were both made from James Lee Wong stories—The Chinese Ring from Mr. Wong in Chinatown and Docks of New Orleans from Mr. Wong, Detective.

What do The Chinese Ring and Docks of New Orleans have in common?

They both use the same dock and ship scene.

DOCKS OF NEW ORLEANS:

Tommy and Birmingham’s playing “Chop Suey Boogie” don’t match the sound.

They both use the same dock and ship scene.

SHANGHAI CHEST:

Willie Best (playing Willie Best) . . . his hands change position on the cell door, depending on the camera angle.

Charlie experiments with making fingerprints with Birmingham, forgetting what he and the police learned in Dark Alibi.

If Birmingham overslept, then who fixed Charlie and Tommy’s breakfast?

In Dark Alibi Sidney Toler used faked fingerprints as did Roland Winters in Shanghai Chest.

MYSTERY OF THE GOLDEN EYE:

In Dark Alibi, Tim Ryan was “Froggie;” in Shanghai Chest, he’s listed under additional dialogue; and in the casts of Shanghai Chest, The Golden Eye, and Sky Dragon as Lt. Mike Ruark.

FEATHERED SERPENT:

If you look carefully enough, you’ll see the block of wood that Professor Stanley had between his back and shirt that held the knife that he was “stabbed” with.

Did Lee and Tommy have their camping clothes with them (or where else did they get them on short notice)?  If they brought them with them then why didn’t Charlie and Birmingham bring them to wear them?  Or was Birmingham’s job to stay in his chauffeur’s uniform?

When Birmingham is helping Pedro with the dishes in camp, he looks like he might be quitting twice on the job.

They all involve weapons that have been wiped clean of fingerprints by someone who may be the bad guy;  Opera and Feathered Serpent used a dagger or knife and Murder Cruise used a gun.

SKY DRAGON:

In Dark Alibi, Tim Ryan was “Froggie;” in Shanghai Chest, he’s listed under additional dialogue; and in the casts of Shanghai Chest, The Golden Eye, and Sky Dragon as Lt. Mike Ruark.