Charlie Chan's Secret

Charlie Chan has been investigating the whereabouts of Allen Colby, heir to a vast fortune. He recently made contact with his relations in San Francisco: his Aunt Henrietta Colby Lowell, her daughters Alice and Janice, and Janice's husband, Fred. The story opens as Allen is traced to a ship that has sunk, but it cannot be confirmed that he is dead. On the contrary, evidence is found that someone is trying to kill him to prevent his return to San Francisco to claim the estate.

Allen arrives at Colby House and is promptly murdered. His body is revealed in the course of a seance conducted that evening at Colby House with Chan in attendance. He is an old friend of Mrs Lowell; who, like her late brother, is a devout believer in psychic research. She has retained the services of Professor Bowen and his wife, Carlotta, who is a medium. Someone subsequently attempts to kill Mrs Lowell and eventually appears to succeed. The truth is revealed in another seance, at which the murderer makes a foolish mistake.

• Warner Oland as Charlie Chan, famous Chinese-American detective from Honolulu
• Jerry Miley as Allen Colby, the murdered heir, son of Bernard Colby and nephew of Henrietta Colby Lowell
• Henrietta Crosman as Mrs Lowell, Allen's aunt, who is currently administering her late brother's fortune as she awaits his son's return
• Rosina Lawrence as Alice Lowell, one of Henrietta Lowell's daughters, engaged to Dick Williams, lives at Lowell House with her mother
• Charles Quigley as Dick Williams, Alice's fiancé, a newspaper reporter, always on the lookout for a big story
• Astrid Allwyn as Janice Lowell Gage, Mrs Lowell's other daughter; she thinks her mother should be entitled to something from her late uncle's estate, regardless of Allen's claims
• Edward Trevor as Fred Gage, Henrietta's son-in-law, married to Janice; he is the accountant for the estate and knows the layout of Colby House
• Herbert Mundin as Mrs Lowell's butler, Baxter, who despite the butler stereotype decidedly did not do it; he provides comic relief throughout the film
• Jonathan Hale as Warren Phelps, Mrs Lowell's attorney and executor of Bernard Colby's estate; he recently suffered serious losses on the stock market, and will be out of a job if Allen returns
• Egon Brecher as Ulrich, the caretaker at Colby House; he has a grudge against Allen for jilting his daughter, who subsequently committed suicide
• Arthur Edmund Carewe as Prof. Bowen, Mrs Lowell's advisor psychic researcher; he apparently knows of Allen Colby's death, but it is not explained how
• Gloria Roy as Carlotta, Prof. Bowen's wife; she is a genuine medium although Bowen is somewhat fraudulent; but both will no longer be employed by Mrs Lowell if Allen returns
• Ivan Miller as Detective Inspector Morton of the San Francisco Police, in charge of the case
• William Bailey as Detective Harris
• Bud Geary, Chuck Hamilton and Brick Sullivan as SFPD officers
• James T. Mack as the forensic officer dusting for fingerprints
• Landers Stevens as the pathologist who examines Allen Colby's body at the scene
• Francis Ford as the captain of a ship salvaging the remains of the S.S. Nestor, on which Allen Colby was travelling when it sank

The film is the public domain due to the omission of a valid copyright notice on original prints.

• List of films in the public domain in the United States

• Charlie Chan's Secret at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Charlie Chan's Secret at IMDb
• Charlie Chan's Secret is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
• Charlie Chan's Secret at the TCM Movie Database
• Charlie Chan's Secret at Rotten Tomatoes  
• Charlie Chan’s Secret Film details at The Charlie Chan Family Home