"I am convinced the murderer is in this room", says Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) to the myriad suspects gathered together in a big two-story beach house at Malibu. His comment reassures us that this film will be as gripping as other Chan films. Alas, Chan's comment belies the implied promise, as "The Trap" disappoints in multiple ways.
I counted no fewer than thirteen suspects, way too many for a viable whodunit. Most of these suspects are women who look too much alike. It took me several replays of the first-half plot to connect names with faces. These characters are poorly introduced and about half of them should have been deleted from the script. One female, named Clementine, exists apparently only to scream; her hysterical response to minor events is annoying.
The ending is a big disappointment. Although I correctly picked the killer from the suspect pool, the reveal occurs outside at night. The scene is photographed so darkly that the only way I could identify this person was to listen to the dialogue, which tells the person's name. And it seems to be by luck that Chan solves the case, as he does not announce any clues as to the killer's identity. The motivation of the murderer is far-fetched, to say the least.
If the viewer pays very close attention, there is one quick scene near the middle wherein one particular suspect is separate from the others; that person is the killer, whose action at that time does connect to a significant plot event. Aside from which, I don't think there is any way to figure out the killer's identity through logic.
The B&W cinematography is poor. Multiple important scenes take place either at night or in dark spaces. The lighting is so bad I found it hard to impossible to figure out what action was taking place.
On the plus side, the film has the wonderful Mantan Moreland and a Chan son who does not intrude into the plot as much as in other films. "The Trap" is not one of the better Charlie Chan movies, due to a poor script and poor lighting. But I can think of one or two others that are worse.
I counted no fewer than thirteen suspects, way too many for a viable whodunit. Most of these suspects are women who look too much alike. It took me several replays of the first-half plot to connect names with faces. These characters are poorly introduced and about half of them should have been deleted from the script. One female, named Clementine, exists apparently only to scream; her hysterical response to minor events is annoying.
The ending is a big disappointment. Although I correctly picked the killer from the suspect pool, the reveal occurs outside at night. The scene is photographed so darkly that the only way I could identify this person was to listen to the dialogue, which tells the person's name. And it seems to be by luck that Chan solves the case, as he does not announce any clues as to the killer's identity. The motivation of the murderer is far-fetched, to say the least.
If the viewer pays very close attention, there is one quick scene near the middle wherein one particular suspect is separate from the others; that person is the killer, whose action at that time does connect to a significant plot event. Aside from which, I don't think there is any way to figure out the killer's identity through logic.
The B&W cinematography is poor. Multiple important scenes take place either at night or in dark spaces. The lighting is so bad I found it hard to impossible to figure out what action was taking place.
On the plus side, the film has the wonderful Mantan Moreland and a Chan son who does not intrude into the plot as much as in other films. "The Trap" is not one of the better Charlie Chan movies, due to a poor script and poor lighting. But I can think of one or two others that are worse.