Charlie Chan in Panama

To stop an espionage ring planning to blow up part of the Panama Canal, Charlie Chan hides his identity and passes himself off as a shopkeeper. If the plan works, the American fleet crossing from Atlantic manoeuvres into the Pacific will be trapped in the canal. Norman Foster directed, and this is one of the entries that moved the series into the espionage air of the pre-war years. Jean Rogers and Lionel Atwill are in the cast, along with Victor Sen Yung as Chan’s son. It is a tight mystery worked out in sixty-six minutes with a small set of suspects. Sidney Toler again sits in the Chan role, which is precisely where the series grates now, because an Asian character was played in a white actor’s make-up while Asian actors were left with the supporting parts.