THE BLACK CAMEL (1931)

Movie star Shelah Fane is shooting a film on location in Honolulu. She's also trying to decide if she wants to accept a marriage proposal from Alan Jaynes, a wealthy man she has only known for a couple of weeks. The famous fortune teller Tarneverro has come to Hawaii at her request so she can get his occult advice. Local detective Charlie Chan warns Tarneverro not to practice his arts without a license, but Tarneverro assures Chan that he is only there to work in private with Fane. During a spooky crystal ball scene, Fane admits to Tarneverro that she's worried about something in her past: she witnessed the murder of actor Denny Mayo three years ago in Los Angeles, a murder that is officially unsolved. We don't know what advice the fortune teller gives her, but that night, Fane is found dead in her bedroom during a small dinner party. Chan, having hit it off with Tarneverro, takes him to the murder scene as an assistant. Among the party guests: Julie, Fane's personal assistant; Jimmy, a PR writer for the Hawaiian tourist board who is romancing Julie; Alan Jaynes who is anxious to leave Hawaii; Huntley Van Horn, an actor in the film; and the Ballous, an obnoxious couple. A butler, Jessup, and a maid, Anna, were also in the house. Later it's discovered that Fane’s ex-husband, an actor named Fyfe who is appearing in a play in Honolulu, had secretly visited Fane not long before she was killed. Finally, the presence that night of Smith, a struggling beachcombing artist, is also established. All are considered suspects, even Tarneverro, and eventually, blackmail is attempted, secrets are exposed, and the killer unmasked.

This is the second of the long string of Charlie Chan movies with Swedish actor Warner Oland starring as Chan. (The first, Charlie Chan Carries On, is lost, though an audio reading of the screenplay illustrated with production stills is included on this DVD.) This film is based on the novel by Earl Derr Biggers, the fourth of six Chan books that he wrote. There are several things about this movie that make it stand out from the bunch. Though most interiors and car travel scenes were done in a Hollywood studio, all the exteriors and scenes set at the Hawaiian Grand Hotel were shot on location in Honolulu which gives it a spark that few other Chan movies have. Those are real Hawaiian beaches and the real dormant volcano Diamond Head that we see in the background of scenes. Oland feels fresh and energetic in the role of Chan, being more active than in any of his later films, even getting punched in the face and having a temper tantrum. The cause of the tantrum is his Japanese sidekick Kashimo (Otto Yamaoka), who is straight out of the novel but never pops up again in the films as the irritating sidekick role is taken later by Chan’s sons. Kashimo provides about the right amount of comic relief and I found him amusing, darting into scenes shouting "Clue!" or trying to boss suspects around by shouting "Orders!"

Bela Lugosi, in the same year he starred in Dracula, is very effective as Tarneverro; he has to be likable but also suspicious and Lugosi does both quite well. He also has very good chemistry with Oland. 24-year-old Robert Young has his first credited role as the romantic lead Jimmy and is very charismatic. Sally Eilers (Julie) and Dorothy Revier (Fane) are OK. Better are Victor Varconi as Fyfe, William Post Jr. as Jaynes, and especially Murray Kinnell as Smith—with his scruffy beard and sun lightened hair, he looks like he could have stepped out of a recent movie. Dwight Frye (Renfield in the Lugosi Dracula) gets a juicy scene as the butler. The director, Hamilton MacFadden (who has a cameo as Shelah Fane's director) keeps the camera moving and there are very few moments that drag. I read the novel just days before watching the movie and it is a faithful adaptation, though it adds in a second murder and takes out some backstory. If you know the other Chan films well, this one might feel a bit out of place, not quite fitting the mid- to low-budget formula of so many others, but it’s definitely one of the best of the Chan films. Pictured top right: Varconi, Lugosi, and Oland; above left: Yamaoka and Oland. [DVD]