This fifth Charlie Chan volume collects Sidney Toler's films from the '40s, including At the Wax Museum, Murder Over New York, Dead Men Tell, In Rio, In Panama, Murder Cruise and Castle in the Desert.

If you can get over the fact that a white man is playing a very stereotypical Asian character, the series is fairly fun, with old-fashioned mystery and humor. Toler's robotic pidgin English and fortune cookie dialogue is grating at times, but as far as offensive racial stereotypes go, his is relatively innocuous, seeing as Chan is the smartest guy in the room.

Grade: B

Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 5 is currently available.