Dangerous Money finds Charlie Chan on a cruise ship bound for the South Seas. When treasury agent Tris Coffin makes contact with Sidney Toler for help with a case, Toler is able to foil one attempt at Coffin's life, but he's with him when Coffin dies as a result of a knife thrown into his back.
Around lending as much assistance as Toler can tolerate are Victor Sen Yung as number 2 son and Willie Best as Chattanooga pinch-hitting for Mantan Moreland as Birmingham. The key to this whole case is Gloria Warren playing the daughter of a Manila banker who stashed a lot of loot and art treasure to keep from the Japanese in the late war.
There is a very interesting red herring thrown into this Chan film One of the characters is a loudmouth salesman who is running all over the ship making threats, extorting people, and acting guilty as all get out. When unmasked he just turns out to be a petty crook working a small time racket. I won't say who, but the performance might be the best one in the film.
Cheap Monogram production values, but the script and story is a good one for the Monogram Chan films made.
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