Charlie Chan in Honolulu

Please! Please.

Save football tactics for gridiron.

Ancient ancestor once say...

"As mind is fed with silent thought, so should body absorb its food."

Gimme more fried rice!

- Want some fish! - Wait a minute!

- Food not to liking, Jimmy? - What? Oh, yes.

Say, Pop, I was thinking. I wish you'd let me be a detective.

Please, do not imitate vacuum cleaner.

Uh, I could probably be the best in the islands with your help.

Am afraid you overestimate ability of parent.

No, I don't. Now that brother Lee is in the New York art school, I can take his place.

What about me? I'm as good as you are any day.

Yeah? Well, I've been studying up a lot on crime.

And look, Pop. I've even had cards printed.

"Bills Also Collected"?

Well, that's just in case I don't get enough murders.

Bills sometimes more difficult to collect than murder clues.

Yeah, but I know where I can get a swell office.

Good. Will donate one desk and one hat rack to same.

I'll give you a couple of my old blotters.

I have some nice rubber bands you can have too.

Please, please.

Do not ridicule good intentions of elder brother.

Uh, thanks, Pop. Now, about that office again.

I don't need a hat rack, but I do need rent money.

As soon as I get a case, I can start paying you back. And-

Honorable mother-in-law.

Most honorable father-in-law, greetings.

Honorable son-in-law, hello.

- Please partake of humble food? - No, thank you.

Events of the day have killed all appetite.

I have just taken honorable wife to the maternity hospital.

Oh, my little Ling.

Please, please. Excitement most unnecessary.

Are certain Ling getting best attention?

- Doctor says she reposes most comfortably. - Why didn't you telephone us?

Doctor says do not clutter hospital with relatives until summoned.

- Telephone will be used as means of signaling family. - I'm going anyway.

Control self, Mama.

Maybe that's them now.

Hello? Hello? No! Good-bye!

- What? What? - Wrong number. They want fish market.

- Get Mama her coat. - Look, Mama. You have same experience 13 times.

There is no cause to worry.

Then what's worrying you? You've been a father 13 times too.

Admit same. But this is first occasion as grandfather.

Uh-

Hello? Oh.

Boyfriend calling number two daughter.

Wing, I think we go to hospital.

Just as you say, honorable father-in-law.

- Can I go too, Daddy? - Say, Pop, can we go too?

Hospitals for sick, not playground for healthy. Please, return to table.

- Aw, gee, Pop, we won't get in the way. - Come on, Pop.

- Come on. Let's go. Come on, sis. - Hey, wait till I get my coat.

Hello? Lieutenant Chan? He just left, but I'll take the message.

This is the Homicide Bureau calling.

Tell him to go aboard the freighter Susan B. Jennings off Kaena Point.

They just reported a murder.

M-M-Murder? Yes. Yes, sir.

Jimmy, headquarters just called for Pop to go aboard the freighter Susan B. Jennings!

Somebody was killed by somebody else!

Gee, I'd better hurry and give him the message.

- Wait a minute. You're lookin' for a case, aren't you? - Why? What do you mean?

Supposin' we go aboard and handle this ourselves?

Oh, no. It's too risky. Besides, it's Pop's job, and he might get awful sore.

If you solved the case, he couldn't.

Hey, you're throwing over a chance of a lifetime.

Just think. It might be years before you get another murder.

Maybe you're right. Even Pop would have to admit I'm pretty good if I solve a homicide.

Sure! And then he'll have to get you that office.

- By golly, I'll do it. - Let's go!

Oh, wait a minute. You're not goin'. You're too young.

What? Say, who told you about this case anyway?

You stay here and answer the phone. That's what all good assistants do.

I'll see you later.

I still can't believe that man was murdered right before my eyes.

And you're sure you don't know who he is?

I never saw him before he came aboard this ship a half hour ago.

Did you see the boat that brought him alongside, Mr. Randolph?

It was just an ordinary shore boat. After he got aboard, it headed back to Honolulu.

- Where is the body now? - I had it taken below, sir.

Well, that's all we can do until the police come aboard.

I don't see why this had to happen on my ship.

Now we may be tied up here for days.

That means we lose cargoes all along the line.

Small boat on the port side signaling to come aboard, sir.

That would be the police.

- All right. Take it easy, buddy. - We got ya.

- There you are. - Honolulu Police.

- My name's Chan. - Not Charlie Chan?

- Well, uh- - Why, I've heard about you from Singapore to Sweden.

I'm Captain Johnson. Glad to meet you.

- Thanks. But you see- - I know. You wanna get right to work, eh?

Funny thing about you. I thought you'd be older.

- You've had a lot of experience for a young fella. - Yeah.

Now I want to question the witnesses. And then I'd like to see the corpus delicti.

- You know, for clues and things. - Oh, yes, yes.

By the way, how many passengers do you carry?

Just six. This is a freighter, you know.

There's one of our passengers now.

Dr. Cardigan, Mr. Chan.

A deep pleasure, Mr. Ham.

- Not Ham- Chan. - Oh, Clam. So sorry.

- The doctor is a little deaf. - Oh.

- The doctor is a little deaf. - Oh.

Your pituitary glands are very prominent.

I shall have to talk with you later. Good day, Mr. Clam.

I think the doc's also a little nuts.

This way.

How long do we have to wait, Pop?

Pop, where do storks find babies?

Mama, please. Be calm like me.

- There's the baby now. - Let me see, Pop. Is it a boy?

Wrong flavor.

- Shh. - Excuse please.

Can give approximate time of grandchild arrival?

Well, your guess is as good as mine, Mr. Chan.

Might be five minutes from now, or it might be five hours.

Oh, uh, where is telephone?

- Down the hall to your right. - Uh, thank you.

- Any report from Lieutenant Chan? - No, sir.

But the freighter radioed in he boarded her a half hour ago.

I see.

Honolulu Police, Homicide Bureau. Oh, hello, Charlie.

Hold on. Lieutenant Chan now, Inspector.

This is Rawlins, Charlie. How's everything going?

Very slow. Will be detained longer than expected.

- Well, have you got any clues yet? - Am not sure.

But intuition and five dollars say it will be boy.

Boy? What do you mean? Say, are you aboard the freighter Susan B. Jennings?

No, sir. Am on board maternity hospital.

What, again? Listen, Charlie. We called you an hour ago.

The ship radioed a murder case just as they rounded Kaena Point.

Have heard nothing of same!

What? Wh-Why, they reported you boarding them 30 minutes ago.

Would appear someone impersonating humble self.

You get out to that ship as soon as you can. Pick up a couple of men at the harbor.

Yes, sir. Mama! Mama!

Now, Miss Hayes, Captain Johnson says that you're the only witness to the actual murder.

- Is that true? - Yes, as far as I know. At least, I was the closest one.

Please tell me all you know.

Two weeks ago, the attorney I work for in Shanghai called me into his office...

and told me I was to sail the following day on this boat for Honolulu.

He also gave me a package I was to deliver to a certain person when I arrived here.

- What was in the package? - $300,000.

Gosh!

I mean, uh, that's a lot of money.

That's the amount all right. Miss Hayes had me keep it in my safe until this afternoon.

What did you do with it then?

I waited on deck until this man came aboard from a small boat.

- I thought you said you didn't know him. - I didn't.

When he gave me the ring, I knew he was the man to give the money to.

- Wedding ring? - Yes. Here it is.

- I was told he would give it to me as a receipt. - What happened then?

Just as I was about to give him the package, l- I heard a shot.

He looked at me for a moment, you know, kind of surprised-like.

And then he fell to the deck. I-

I don't know what I did then. I guess I fainted. And that's all I know.

My chief officer, Mr. Randolph, was the first to reach the body.

I got there a few seconds later.

- Who has the money now? - I have it. It's locked in my cabin.

- Would you like to see the body, Mr. Chan? - Yes, please.

- But first take me to the spot where the shooting occurred. - All right.

Follow me.

- What are you doing here? - You'll have to talk a little louder.

You evidently had no trouble hearing what was going on in there.

I'm sorry. I can't hear you, Mrs. Wayne.

But as a fellow passenger, I feel I must give you a word of warning.

A murder has been committed aboard this ship.

And I should be very careful what I said.

Oh.

I don't know much more about Miss Hayes than you do...

but her story sounds fishy to me.

I'll check on her after I've seen the rest of the passengers.

There he is, cold as a mackerel.

Wh-What was that?

- Oh, nothing. Just Oscar. Nothing to worry about. - J-J-Just Oscar?

- Yeah. - Oh.

I wish you'd hurry up. I'd like to get this case washed up as quickly as possible.

I have to unload cargo and clear port before tomorrow.

Say, there's not a bit of identification on this man. Look.

Even the tailor's label's been torn out.

Why, that's funny. Somebody must've gotten in this cabin after he was brought here.

I think we'd better get up on deck.

Hogan, what's the matter with you?

There's a ghost in there scaring my poor animals to death.

- Ghost? - Have you been hitting that bottle again?

This ghost never came out of a bottle. Oscar saw it and roared like he was crazy...

and I woke up-

- Just in time to see it go by- - Just like that.

- What did it look like? - You know.

Just like a- a ghost.

What have you got animals on the ship for?

I'm takin' them to a Frisco zoo.

It will be a great day when I get rid of them and you too.

Go in there now and quiet 'em down.

Not me. Not with a live ghost.

Wait a minute, Captain! This ghost might be the murderer we're after.