Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938) - Although immortality is almost the last thing we would expect of a Chinese detective, Charlie Chan appears to have swallowed the elixir. He has survived the death of his author, Earl Derr Biggers, and now, with Sidney Toler in the title role, seems capable of getting along without his screen creator, Warner Oland. "Charlie Chan in Honolulu," at the Central, is practically a letter-perfect duplicate of all the other Chan films—beginning with the body on the floor and ending with Charlie saying "thank you so much" to the snarling killer. It is the usual, red-herring scented, passably diverting mystery film.

Excerpt from NY Times located HERE
 

Charlie Chan in Reno (1939) - Still pursuing his profitable homicide line, Charlie Chan cracks another murder case wide open in "C. C. in Reno," latest of the seemingly endless series, which opened at the Globe yesterday. Although the divorce colony provides a new backdrop, the props are unchanged and the routine is the same. Not that we blame Chan for refusing to alter his style: he hasn't lost a killer yet. Still there is a certain monotony about his final tableaux: the roomful of suspects, the pounce upon the least suspicious member of the cast, the astonishing disclosure of the telltale bit of evidence, the murderer's snarled or sheepish admission of guilt.

Excerpt from NY Times located HERE
 

Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939) - Unless Twentieth Century-Fox soon decides to put a halt to Charlie Chan's activities, there won't be a supporting cast left intact in all Hollywood. Chan (currently operating at the Palace on San Francisco's "Treasure Island") appears to be irrevocably committed, in his murder-solving pursuits, to the Frank Buck technique with this minor variation: where Mr. Buck stakes out a bleating goat and brings the tiger back alive, Chan stakes out members of his supporting cast and brings 'em back dead. By this simple process of elimination he usually gets his murderer, but the incidental carnage is never short of terrific.

Excerpt from NY Times located HERE
 

Charlie Chan in City in Darkness (1939) - In this episode of the popular detective series, Chan attends a WW I reunion in Paris. While catching up with his buddies, he gets entangled in the investigation of the murder of a munitions maker who sent arms to the other side. The film was created in response to the Munich crisis of 1938. At the film's end Charlie delivers a stern warning about bargaining at conference tables.

Excerpt Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide