In the fourth 'Ellery Queen' movie and the second starring Ralph Bellamy, for the first time the detective's son and hobby sleuth in his own right gets involved with wartime affairs concerning China (due to the year of production; at the same time, 'Charlie Chan' was also working for the Secret Service against the Japanese danger to his country): rich Chinese have donated their jewels in order to help the starving population, but they have to be smuggled into the US in order to be sold there to raise money - but, of course, some reckless gangsters are after the 'hot stuff' as well...
A PRETTY complicated plot with lots of suspects for the amateur film fan sleuth to choose from; but nothing really inventive concerning the criminal part of the story. We must, however, give credit to the film for making the audience aware of the suffering of the Chinese people...
And as for the entertainment - the constant quarrels between Ellery and his assistant Nikki provide plenty of that again! So this otherwise routine serial movie does have some interest for the fans of Ellery Queen in particular and for the classic crime genre in general.
A PRETTY complicated plot with lots of suspects for the amateur film fan sleuth to choose from; but nothing really inventive concerning the criminal part of the story. We must, however, give credit to the film for making the audience aware of the suffering of the Chinese people...
And as for the entertainment - the constant quarrels between Ellery and his assistant Nikki provide plenty of that again! So this otherwise routine serial movie does have some interest for the fans of Ellery Queen in particular and for the classic crime genre in general.