The Charlie Chan Collection: Vol. 1 (Charlie Chan in London / Charlie Chan in Paris / Charlie Chan in Egypt / Charlie Chan in Shanghai / Eran Trece)

 

 

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Charlie Chan in London is one my favorite movies in the series. The opening grips you when you discover that a young man is about to be executed for a murder he claims he didn't commit. Only his sister believes in his innocence, and all avenues of escape seem closed after the Home Secretary turns down her appeal. But she begs Charlie Chan to see what can be done in the remaining three days.

Charlie is about to leave London but changes his plans to help the young people. Arriving at an English country manor, Charlie must examine the setting to find out what really happened. Only by finding the real killer can the young man be saved.

It all looks pretty bleak until Charlie re-creates the crime and begins to pick up clues. A rattled murderer soon begins making mistakes.

The mystery is a hard one to solve, and you won't identify the killer much before Charlie does. The continual tolling of time adds real suspense and drama to the investigation.

One of the strengths of this movie is that excellent character actors are allowed to steal scenes, in the best tradition of 30's movies: A supercilious and suspicious butler wants to keep Charlie out of the house; a drunk and his wife provide humorous by plays making fun of English pretentiousness; and a not-too-bright police detective has trouble with Charlie's name and following what Charlie tells him.

Drue Leyton is solid in the role of Pamela Gray, sister of the accused man. Her leading man, Ray Milland, is somewhat weak in his role . . . not yet having developed into the suave, assured actor he later became. But it's fun to see Milland as a young actor.

The setting is well done. With one exception (driving in a car with the steering wheel on the left), all the settings ring true for being in England. Especially good for local color is a fox hunt complete with full kit, dogs, and a fox.

If you watched this movie as a youngster as I did, I'm sure it will also provide some nostalgia by helping you remember how you reacted to the movie the first time you saw it.

Charlie Chan movies are an acquired taste. I'm assuming that you have that taste or you wouldn't be looking at this review of the video of Charlie Chan in Paris.

I hadn't seen this movie in over 30 years, and I was curious to see if my obsession with Charlie Chan had survived. I must report that I'm still hooked.

Why? The plot is extremely compact, complex, and well developed. Even knowing who did what to whom, I was fascinated to see the story unfold.

I expected to be bothered by the treatment of Charlie as a Chinese American, but that was handled with reasonable aplomb. Charlie is obviously the smartest guy in the room, and everyone figures that out pretty quickly. Once they know him, they all love Charlie. There's one scene early on where Charlie is patronized by a new acquaintance, but he handles it all with grace. The rest of the time, Charlie receives the kind of treatment that a detective king might command. Warner Oland graciously takes it all as his due.

Those who love Keye Luke who played Lee Chan in the series will be pleased to see that he has a good sized role in Charlie Chan in Paris.

Those who love Apache dancing will enjoy that scene.

What really shocked me was how poorly the film represented Paris. Aside from some French names and a pair of Apache dancers, no one in the film seems to be French. The effort is most amateurish except for an interesting trip through the Paris sewers which is rigged with an unexpected gag.

Charlie Chan in Egypt is based on an original screen play so don't look back into any of the Earl Derr Biggers' novels for insights into this plot. This film is one of the last ones done by Warner Oland, the original actor who portrayed Charlie Chan. In this movie, the studio was obviously trying to tell a good story without spending much money. The result is surprisingly good.

Having not seen this movie for many years, I was concerned when I saw that Stepin Fetchit was in the cast. Although the role certainly plays on stereotypes about African-Americans (laziness, fearfulness, and drunkenness), the effect wasn't nearly as bad as I feared from some of the other movies in the series where Chinese stereotypes are much too deeply reinforced. Stepin Fetchit comes across more like a reasonable man who is put upon by foolish employers than as an ex-slave who cringes at the sight of a white man.

The strength of the movie comes in the excellent atmosphere created by visiting an Egyptian crypt and a professor's laboratory inside a darkness-shrouded house. There's a heavy mood of danger and dread that infects the actors and the story. You'll get hints of curses, crooks, and obsession. The atmosphere is superbly set in context by having Charlie arrive by plane and taking a barn-storming tour over the Sphinx and major pyramids.

Like the best of the Charlie Chan stories, this film has some excellent science involved to help explain the mysteries and murders.

An unexpected treat is to have the young Rita Hayworth (playing under the name of Rita Cansino) decoratively walking across the rooms in an attractive native costume. Although no one will mistake her for an Egyptian, she certainly adds to the scenery.

The film's main weakness is that the identity of the murderer is pretty easy to figure out.

The DVD also has a short feature on an exemplary Chinese-Hawaiian detective in Honolulu who was operating there when Earl Derr Biggers visited the islands. Biggers probably got the idea for having a Chinese detective from this man, but little else seems to have been based on the real detective who mostly worked on drug and gambling cases in the Chinese community and was famous for carrying a bull whip to enforce the law.

Charlie Chan in Shanghai has one of my favorite opening scenes in the series. A group of young children are playing leapfrog on a liner deck. The camera slow pans back to reveal that Charlie Chan is folded over on the deck waiting for the youngsters to leap over him.

From that playful interlude, the mood soon darkens as a stranger slips a note into Charlie's pocket warning him not to get off the ship in Shanghai. Naturally, Charlie isn't perturbed . . . until threatened by the thought of having to make a speech at a welcoming dinner in his honor that night.

At the dinner, his local contact leans over to tell Charlie that he has important news to share. They agree to meet after the event. But death intrudes. Charlie doesn't know where to go next because his contact had not alerted him to what the issue was that summon Charlie to Shanghai.

Charlie begins investigating the murder on his own and seems to have ruffled more feathers. With quick wits he escapes from a kidnapping.

Much humor is supplied by the presence of eldest son, Lee Chan, played by Keye Luke, who repeatedly slows down progress by hogging the telephone with his girl friend. The other gags involve Lee dressing as a beggar and conducting surveillance on Charlie's behalf.

Eventually, Charlie realizes that he's up against an opium-smuggling ring and starts to track the ring down through the men who kidnapped him.

The ending is full of suspense and action.

Part of the fun of this story is that Charlie gets a chance to speak Chinese and to be on home turf compared to the Europeans and Americans who are doing business in China. It would be great fun to see a remake of this movie, updated for today's China. Presumably, the smuggling would involve pirated copies of Microsoft programs instead of opium.

The plot is a little on the light side, and the mystery isn't quite mysterious enough to be completely satisfying. But all Charlie Chan buffs will be glad to see this movie.

Charlie Chan Vol. 1 is more enjoyable than a large helping of Moo-Shoo Pork! If you have a love for old movies and mysteries, that don't take themselves too seriously, this is the set for you. I've watched them before in their various VHS releases but I must comment on the terrific restoration efforts by Fox. These movies are now clear and more fun to watch than ever before. Warner Oland is wonderful as the "old Chinese detective". Keye Luke appears in three of the four movies as No. 1 son, Lee Chan. The movies themselves are everything you could ask of 30's detective stories. I am sooooo glad that Fox has chosen to release them without changing anything to suit modern tastes. These movies are a product of their era and if anything were edited or changed they would lose their appeal. There are interesting (if limited) special featurettes on all of the discs, including the only remaining version (in spanish) of the first Charlie Chan talkie. It is subtitled in english and fun to watch. I HIGHLY recommend this set to any fan of the 30's detective genre.

After watching these movies,you will be coming up with alot of Chan aphorisms like that one...but probably much,much better!
This box set includes:
CHARLIE CHAN IN LONDON,CHARLIE CHAN IN PARIS,CHARLIE CHAN IN EGYPT,CHARLIE CHAN IN SHANGHAI and ERAN TRECE(Spanish w/ English subtitles)/"Charlie Chan Carries On").The latter film does not include Warner Oland in the lead but it is an interesting look at what might have been.Unfortunately the original English version has been lost,along with three other Oland Chans.
I haven't seen any of these films in at least 50 years but they have lost none of their charm and heart and that is in BIG part to Warner Oland himself.I have seen Oland,Toler and Winters each playing the famous detective.In my oppinion the latter two just tried hard to imitate Oland but fell far short of the mark.They didn't have the dignity,heart,warmth nor comportment the way Oland did.In fact I have seen very few actors immerse themselves in their characters as much as he did.I would even dare say that after a time the two almost became inseperable.I know relatively little of Warner Oland's career except that I know he had played Oriental parts in previous years and that there was at one stage a walk off of a film set by the actor and then his eventual return to Sweden.He was having personal problems,alot of it brought on by alcohol.By today's standards one might say he was burned out.In the end he never returned and died in his homeland.Tragic,for his family and the public,as we lost a very talented man that day in 1938.
I recall reading but never finishing a Derr Biggers Charlie Chan novel.The reason? I had watched a couple of Oland Chan's before hand.Big mistake.I found the character in the books to be different than the on screen character fleshed out with such panache by Oland.It is one of the few times I have committed the literary sin of preferring the movie over the book.That is the impact Oland had on me and that impact has only been heightened considerably with the release of this and the other Oland Chan
films by Fox.
Each film has been transferred over to DVD using the best available source material on hand at Fox.There is a definite difference in the quality from one film to the next but the age of one particular film compared to another matters little.As I said it's the quality of the material on hand which makes it or breaks it.Some are very clean and crisp while others are quite grainy.However ALL are visually quite clear.
Fox seems to have done the best they can with what they have.Also,as I mentioned earlier, four versions are seemingly lost so we should be thankful to at least have these films.
Finally all these sets come with many featurettes that are sure to delight even the most casual Chan fan.As is my practice I have not seen them yet but I am looking forward to viewing them all at a later time.
In conclusion I highly recommmend these Warner Oland Charlie Chan box sets to one and all.They are a must have for all Charlie Chan fans and for those who have never seen them I will tell you that you are in for a special treat.And for those curious enough to want to see the later Chan actors to compare I would advise you to rent if you can.If not possible just buy one or two and see how you like them.But I think it will become apparent very quickly that THESE Chans with the magnificent and talented Warner Oland will become,like me,your favourites too!

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