It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

***SPOILERS*** Charlie Chan, Sidney Toler, going together with his #2 son Jimmy, Victor Sen Yung, to San Francisco's Golden Gate Ineternational Exposition gets caught up with the antics as well as murders of the mysterious Dr. Zodiac, Gerald Mohr, a man with a plan that only he knows just what the plan is. Before Charlie leaves the plane-The China Clipper- one of the passengers Paul Essex is found dead after he read a telegram from Dr. Zodiac who threatened his life if he completed his latest novel about the supernatural that he was the mine character in.It's when Charlie gets off the plane that he meets "The Great Rhadini", Ceasar Romero, who's offered to pay $5,000.00 to Dr. Zodiac if he competes with him to show that he's a bigger fraud or magician that he is. This all leads to a numbered of murders in the San Francisco area of people connected to Dr. Zodiac who are in danger of exposing to the public as well as police to who he really is. Charlie himself is almost murdered by a flying knife that just missed him as he was attending a party in his honor with a number of the SFPD present.***SPOILERS*** Charlie for his part is totally baffled in all the magic preformed by both Dr. Zodiac as well as "The Grest Rhadini" until Zodiac's top henchman Abdul "The Turk", who earlier tried to assassinate Charlie, is found murdered during an exhibition of his supernatural powers. This causes Charlie to suddenly realize just who this Dr. Zodiac really is and why "The Turk" was murdered in order to shut him up in what he knows what he boss is really all about. The usual confusing storyline you get in a "Charlie Chan" movie with his #2 Son Jimmy bumbling his way trough the film with a pair to torn trousers that in all the action as well as the hot weather air conditions his behind. As for the mysterious Dr. Zodiac he's so elusive, like the future and real Zodiac killer of the 1960's & 1970"s,that even when he's exposed and the movie is finally over your not quite sure just who he really is!

A friend of Charlie Chan's dies on a flight to San Francisco, leaving behind cryptic clues about someone called Zodiac. Charlie discovers it's Dr. Zodiac, a phony psychic who may also be a blackmailer responsible for driving several people to suicide. So he investigates with unwanted help from "Number Two Son" Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung).Some really good support for Sidney Toler in this one. Victor Sen Yung provides the comic relief as Jimmy. Douglas Dumbrille, Donald MacBride, and Douglas Fowley were all fine character actors I always enjoy seeing. Cesar Romero has one of his better roles from the '30s. Also Sally Blane, aka Loretta Young's sister, plays Stella. Considered by many to be the best of the Toler Chan films. I would have to agree with that. The cast, interesting setting, and supernatural elements combine to make a very entertaining movie.

"Charlie Chan at Treasure Island" stands up well, thanks mainly to Virgil Miller's superlative lighting. Plotwise, the script is full of holes, and actingwise it's also somewhat less than perfect. True, Pauline Moore makes the best of all Chan's heroines, but Cesar Romero hands in the worst performance of his career, and hammy Douglas Fowley is not far behind. Oddly, it's that very uneven actor, Douglass Dumbrille, who contributes the outstanding male portrayal. He's an obvious red herring but he handles the role with such suavely elegant aplomb, it's no wonder skillful director Norman Foster hands him so many reaction shots. And I loved Gerald Mohr's Dr Zodiac with his eerily deep, Orson Welles voice. Incidentally, in addition to Berry Kroeger and Norman Foster, see who else you can spot in the flying table audience. Isn't that Walter Lang and Edward Kaufman? Associate art director: Lewis Creber. Set decorator: Thomas Little. Music director: Samuel Kaylin. Sound recording: E. Clayton Ward, William H. Anderson. RCA Sound System. The Press Sheet bills Kaufman as "associate producer" and Sol M. Wurtzel as producer.

The movie starts out with Charlie and #2 Son on an ill fated plane trip to San Francisco and the mysterious death of a writer on board. This all leads to several twists in the sub-plot and the entrance of mind reader, the mysterious Dr. Zodiac and his fake spirt world trappings. It is a very good flick and if you enjoyed Warner Oland's Chan, Sidney Toller lives up to his acting especially in this film. The Treasure Island refers to the '39 Worlds Fair exhibit and is part of the plot and includes some very interesting, period photography The ending is very dramatic and I won't spoil it but you "will" like this movie so watch for it, only on Fox Movie Network or TCM, as it is not on VHS.