The Moviegoer

Everyone is good in Hepburn's new picture except the renowned Katherine and even she becomes more entertaining when dressed as a boy. The honors of the production belong to Cary Grant who gives a fine performances as a cockney carnival man, accent and mannerisms as well as clothes. Brian Aherne becomes a little soupy in his courting, as artists may be expected to do, but he does really good work throughout the picture.

"Charlie Chan's Secret" is rather disappointing to a Charlie Chan fan. We are afraid it would be a kindness to retire the noted detective before he comes to an ignominious end. It seems as though, Warner Oland would understand Addison's feeling that he would rather kill Sir Roger than have someone else disgrace him.

The plot of this latest release is weak in many places. The trailer announcing it was perfectly fair in promising that only the detective know the answer to the questions presented. The audience was able to pick out the logical villain but even the denouement at the end is almost entirely disconnected from the evidence in the proceeding scenes. Chan is also spoiling the use of Chinese proverbs as a means of building character interest and is using fourth-rate ones in the present case. The minor roles, except for Herbert Mundin who plays the part of Baxter, the butler, are unimportant. S. C. S.