CHARLIE CHAN SHORT TAKES 1935

CHARLIE CHAN IN SHANGHAI (1935)

On a ship to Shanghai, detective Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) plays leapfrog with a group of children and sings them a song about Emperor Fu Manchu—likely an inside joke referring to Oland's portrayal of Fu a few years earlier. As he disembarks he finds a note stuffed in his coat pocket warning him away from the city. His secret mission in Shanghai is to assist Sir Stanley Woodland and his investigation into an opium smuggling ring. But at a dinner honoring Chan that evening, Woodland is killed by a hidden gun in a box intended to be opened by Chan. According to Woodland's secretary, Philip Nash, the gun wasn't in the box the last time he checked. That evening, a shadowy figure sneaks into Chan's hotel room and shoots him as he sleeps, but Chan has anticipated such an attack and the bullets just hit a bunch of pillows under a sheet. Charlie, his son Lee (who just happens to be in town on business) and American agent James Andrews work together to solve Woodland's murder and break the opium ring, but the evidence begins pointing toward friendly, clean-cut Philip, much to the distress of his girlfriend Diana who is Woodland's daughter. This is slightly above average for the Chan films of the era. Warner Oland displays a fun side in his opening scene with the children, and Keye Luke (Lee) gets to engage briefly in some fisticuffs. Chan admits to being 60 though Oland was actually 55 and would not live to see 60. Jon Hall (still using his birth name of Charles Locher, pictured at right) is handsome and stoic as Philip, and manages to keep us wondering for a while if he's a good guy or a bad guy; Irene Hervey is fine as Diana as is Russell Hicks as Andrews. Production values are still fairly high at this point in the series, helping to make this worth watching. [DVD]

CHARLIE CHAN'S SECRET (1935)

Allen Colby, heir to the Colby fortune, was returning to San Francisco from Hawaii but is presumed dead after a shipwreck. His body is not found, but Charlie Chan, helping with the investigation, finds his briefcase and a note indicating his life had been threatened. Chan heads to San Francisco to report to the family. Matriarch Aunt Henrietta is a financial backer for a spiritualist group and if Allen is indeed dead, the group will inherit his sizable share. Hanging around the house: daughter Alice and her reporter boyfriend Dick; daughter Janice and her husband Fred; the family attorney; a scaredy cat butler; and a cranky handyman. Allen returns home but is killed by a thrown knife before anyone sees him. That night Carlotta of the spiritualists holds a seance to contact Allen; his eerily glowing face is seen in the room, but when the lights are turned on, his dead body is found. As Chan works to get to the bottom of the murder, an attempt is made on his life, and later another family member is killed. But per the title, Chan does have a secret that might help him break the case. Warner Oland is nicely energetic as Chan, and though it's not quite an old dark house movie, it might count as an “old dark room” movie as much of the action takes place in an atmospheric study where two seances take place. There are no Chan sons present but the butler (Herbert Mundin) is sort of a sidekick fixture who assists Chan a couple of times and provides comic relief. Decent support comes from Charles Quigley as Dick, suspiciously chipper; Edward Trevor as Fred, suspiciously glowering; and Henrietta Crosman as Henrietta. Pictured are Oland and Trevor. [DVD]