The Golden Eye

1948 "Death lurks at every step...as your oriental super-sleuth stalks a desperate killer -- below the surface of the earth!"
6.4| 1h9m| en| More Info
Released: 29 August 1948
Producted By: Monogram Pictures
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A gold mine in Arizona, that was formerly losing a lot of money, suddenly turns into a veritable money-making machine. However, the owner, instead of being happy about his now profitable business, insists to Charlie that something is fishy and that someone is out to murder him. Charlie and his "crew" travel to the mine, pretending to be tourists staying at a nearby dude ranch so as not to arouse suspicion, and discover that the owner may well be right--it looks like the mine is being used as a cover for criminal activities, and that someone is indeed out to murder him.

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Reviews

Protraph Lack of good storyline.
Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some
CommentsXp Best movie ever!
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
gridoon2018 By this point, the Charlie Chan series seemed to be going on autopilot: neither the director nor the cast (save maybe for Mantan Moreland) were showing much enthusiasm for the proceedings. In "Golden Eye", about half of the "action" takes place inside a mine, which makes the film look even cheaper and more underlit than usual. It's a bargain-basement and sleep-inducing production, and there aren't even any memorable lines for Chan! There is, however, (precisely) one scene that I did like: Wanda McKay grabbing a fake "nun/nurse" from behind and struggling a gun away from her; such initiative from a woman in a 1940s movie is uncommon to see. *1/2 out of 4.
mark.waltz An Arizona gold mine becomes the location for another murder that Charlie Chan happens to be around when it occurs. As the series began to reach its inevitable conclusion, the plots just got more outrageous, yet this one is perhaps one of the more accessible of the later part of the series. Roland Winters doesn't have the cleverness of either Warner Oland or Sidney Toler, and sometimes it seems like the writers just put together their plots by simply just changing the location, the motivation, the names of all the suspects and toss in a couple of comic bits for Mantan Moreland and whatever # son happens to be there. Victor Sen Yung gets his opportunity to be a dude as he tries on chaps and Mantan Moreland does his usual pratfalls and scaredy-cat double-takes, even talking directly to the camera. Of course, all the usual suspects are there, as is the vulnerable heroine (Wanda McKay), a tough-talking nun (veteran actress Evelyn Brent) and a dumb-as-nails cop (Tim Ryan). These later day entries confound the audience with confusing twists and turns that sometimes make no sense, and give the impression that towards the end, they weren't even really trying.
binapiraeus This is a VERY unusual entry in the 'Charlie Chan' series: it starts, like most of the movies starring Roland Winters, in a clearly 'Noirish' atmosphere, with a man being mysteriously followed through the dark streets of Chinatown and a little later being shot at through the window in a shop - whose owner is Charlie's cousin, and the man called Manning came here to ask Charlie for help: in the past months, there have been made several attempts at his life. Manning's a rancher from Arizona, and he owns the 'Golden Eye' mine, which has been producing quite a lot of gold lately. So it's off to the 'Wild West' for Charlie, Tommy and Birmingham! And here, immediately the comedy element sets in: Tommy and Birmingham dress up for the occasion as 'real' cowboys... When they reach the ranch, which is also a big bungalow park, Charlie very soon meets an old acquaintance of his: Lt. Mike Rourke, who's playing the 'drunkard' in a MORE than convincing way to cover up for the investigations he's already making here; there DOES seem to be something wrong with the mine and its sudden gold production... Then Charlie gets to know Mr. Driscoll, the mine superintendent, and his wife, and young metal expert Bartlett - but just a little later, Manning meets with a very serious accident in his mine, falling down 40 feet and fracturing his skull, so that his whole head has to be bandaged and he's brought home to bed in a coma. Then, while everybody's waiting for Manning to recover, an old prospector turns up and gives Charlie a hint to a secret tunnel into the mine - but when Charlie and his assistants enter that tunnel, they find the old miner dead; so now they DEFINITELY know that there's some kind of foul play going on in that mine...A pretty strange environment for Charlie Chan, the big city gentleman - but a very effective one: by day, the cheerful atmosphere at the bungalow park lightens up the atmosphere; while the nightly scenes down in the mine shafts are EXTREMELY suspenseful. A VERY well-done piece of crime entertainment, with Roland Winters in his fourth appearance as Charlie Chan already obviously feeling very much at ease with his role!
utgard14 Charlie Chan heads to Arizona to investigate a gold mine mystery. A typically cheap Monogram movie starring Roland Winters, the worst of all Charlie Chans. Mantan Moreland returns as unfunny comic relief character Birmingham Brown. Victor Sen Yung is back as Tommy Chan. The western locale allows both to dress like cowboys. So it's trying to be like a Bowery Boys comedy or something. Except the Bowery Boys were funny. The once-great Charlie Chan series had fallen pretty far by this time. Winters is absolutely terrible as Chan. Poorly written, directed, and acted -- it's a really a stinker of a movie. The one positive thing I will say about it is that actor Ralph Dunn, who plays the mine superintendent, has a pretty cool head of hair.