Don't listen to the negative reviews

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Though maybe a trifle too long, "Murder Cruise" is a superior entry in the "Charlie Chan" series. I noticed at the start that the script is based on an actual novel written by Earl Derr Biggers and not just on the character of Charlie Chan that was created by him, and indeed this is a nice thick mystery with a whole lot of suspects and multiple twists (and double-twists). There is a strong cast at work, with some recognizable names like Lionel Atwill and Leo Carroll playing two of the suspects; on the women's front, there is the lively Cora Witherspoon and the gorgeous Marjorie Weaver. Number 2 Son is more helpful (if still somewhat clumsy), and more likable, than usual in this entry. The shipboard settings add some spice to the proceedings. My favorite Chan line: "To speak without thinking is to shoot without aiming". Ain't that the truth! *** out of 4.

There's a strangler on the loose. An old friend comes to see Charlie but stands by a window and gets himself strangled. Charlie, feeling guilt over this because the man had come to see him, vows to find the killer. This gets him on board a cruise ship where more people are being dispatched this way. Of course, Number One Son shows up, and mostly gets in the way. As is usually the case, there are bodies here and bodies there. There is the typical listening at the porthole because people talk so loud. There is the Number One Son getting arrested, mistaken for the strangler. There's the scene where everyone is in a room when the lights go out (I've seen that at least four times) and, of course, someone gets away or a piece of evidence is taken. Leo G. Carroll shows up. He was a regular supporting actor in many films of the time. I always remember him as the nonplussed Cosmo Topper in the old TV show of the fifties. Anyway, this is fun with little new to offer.

An old Scotland Yard Inspector friend Montague Shaw drops in on Charlie Chan in Honolulu asking for his help in catching a murderer whom he believes is on a cruise bound for San Francisco. Shortly afterward Shaw is strangled and Sidney Toler now has a personal reason for taking over Shaw's investigation.Also coming along is Number 2 son Victor Sen Yung as usual providing his unwanted assistance to Pop. Number 2 son as a stowaway earns his passage as a steward's assistant, but does prove useful in being able to search cabins of cruise passengers.With such worthy villainous types as Lionel Atwill, Leo G. Carroll, Charles Middleton, and Leonard Mudie in the cast it's going to be difficult to tell who the perpetrator can be. All have been cast as villains in many films. Jewelry salesman Don Beddoe also winds up dead before the cruise is over.With a really good cast to provide believable red herrings Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise is a top drawer feature of the Charlie Chan series. Captain Stubing never saw things like this going on with the Love Boat.

This is a remake of the lost Warner Oland film, "Charlie Chan Carries On". It is also a fun film in its own right even though it borrows a plot gimmick from another Warner Oland Chan film.There's murder aboard a world cruise and Charlie must take charge when an old friend is murdered in his office. The supporting cast is loaded with familiar faces: Lionel Atwill, Leo Carroll, Charles "Ming the Merciless" Middleton, Robert Lowrey, Marjorie Weaver, and Layne Tom, Jr. as No. 8 Son, Willie Chan. (Tom had previously played Charlie Chan, Jr. in the Warner Oland film, "Charlie Chan at the Olympics".) Sen Yung is funny as Jimmy Chan.