(by classicsoncall on 22 May 2005)

It seems as if "Dead Men Tell" is over just as it's about to get interesting, with Inspector Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) solving two murders in virtually record time. The action takes place aboard a docked sailing vessel, The Suva Star, which has been chartered to host a treasure hunt cruise for sixty million dollars hidden on Cocos Island. Miss Patience Nodbury (Ethel Griffies) has divided the treasure map into four pieces, and has distributed them to members of the cruise party without each others knowledge. Miss Nodbury becomes the first victim, frightened to death by the "ghost" of the pirate Black Hook, an ancestor who escorts members of the Nodbury family into the "other world".
Victor Sen Yung again helps his "Pop" as Number #2 Son Jimmy, and spends much of his time falling into and climbing out of the harbor, adding to the perception that as an aspiring detective, he's all wet. Before becoming the second victim, future TV Superman George Reeves makes an appearance as an escaped murderer and bank robber, posing as of all things, a newspaper reporter! Milton Parsons plays his part as an anxiety suffering neurotic well, and skulks in and out of shadows enough to be considered a likely suspect. There are other characters as well, and as with most Charlie Chan films, a scorecard helps to keep track of who's who, but this one moves along so quickly that it's almost a moot point. So too do the pieces of the treasure map wind up in more places than a pea in a shell game. When Charlie finally reveals the killer, it comes rather quickly out of left field, with the generally obligatory Chan exposition left out.
Nevertheless, "Dead Men Tell" offers a rather atmospheric setting and enough bumps in the night to keep one's interest for it's quick pacing. The pairing of Griffies and Parsons in the film also worked well enough to recommend them for another Chan movie the following year, "Castle in the Desert".