CHARLIE CHAN WARNER OLAND SET #3

A collection of 4 Charlie Chan movies with Warner
Oland!! These are on 4 discs, each in their own case!!
All of these are restored from the best copy available!
And all of them have subtitles!!

This set includes one of the oldest of all the Charlie Chan
movies in existence, Behind That Curtain!! From 1929, this
movie was really more about the other characters than
Charlie, and he doesn't show up in the movie until quite
late!!

BEHIND THAT CURTAIN(1929):

A lot of people pan this because of the stiff acting!
What do you expect from one of the first "talkies"
ever made!?! But I totally agree about Warner
Baxter! He is pretty slow in this!! However, Claude
King and Philip Strange are both very good!! Lois
Moran, however, is again pretty stiff!! Peter
Gawthorne is also pretty good!

Now on to the story: A man(perhaps a P.I.), has
been murdered and there are no clues as to who
the culprit is!! However, there is a man who knows
and he decides to blackmail the guilty party, who is
married to one of the main characters in this!!!!

The movie then moves to India, and that's where Sir
Fredrick, a police officer, has tracked down the
killer!! Much later in the story, Fredrick contacts
Charlie Chan for help!!

Truly this is, if not the weakest, certainly one of
the weakest Chan movies!! Mostly because Charlie's
just not in it very much at all!! B

A review from IMDb.com:

As a fan of Charlie Chan/Earl Derr Biggers, this
was an interesting movie. Charlie plays a minor
role, but I liked E. L. Parks. He makes a much better
Charlie Chan than Roland Winters.

A couple scenes are over dramatized (as is typical
of several movies of the twenties), ie. the love
scene in the tent in the desert and the confrontation
in the elevator.

Although you don't see any of the Charlie Chanisms
(such as "sponge full of holes, sponge hold water"
from The Black Camel) I would recommend it to
Charlie Chan fans just to see an early version of
his character. - anonymous

This is the oldest surviving Oland Charlie Chan movie!
It starts out with an actress that is trying to decide
whether or not to marry a rich man, and she goes to
a fortune teller to find out what she should do! Before
she meets him, Charlie talks to him about a murder
three years prior of an actor!! Turns out that the
actress appears to be involved somehow!!

Co-starring the great Bela Lugosi as the fortune
teller!! Also in this is Robert Young!!

A hilarious fopaux is early on in the film, where
there's a group of "children" "singing" to the
guests!! Only thing is, there's not one mouth
moving!!!!

SPECIALS ON DISC:

A recreation of one of the Oland Charlie Chan movies,
"Charlie Chan's Chance", with an almost radio type of
presentation, with some stills from the movie, along
with some voice actors reading the screenplay of the
movie! This is presented this way as there are no surviving
copies of the original film!! Quite interesting!! B+

RESTORATION COMPARISON!

STILL GALLERY

A review from IMDb.com:

As an avid Charlie Chan film buff..i,ve managed over
the years to obtain all of the "feature films"..The Black
Camel is the earliest of all of the surviving films with
Warner Oland portraying the great oriental slueth.
This particular film was shot on location in Honolulu
and is very entertaining..It also features Bela Lugosi
as the fortune teller..Tarneverro..A fast moving story
and a great cast of characters make this a "must have"
for classic film buffs!!! - mike battlesB+

In this one we have a case of a ship that has sunk
off of the coast of Hawaii!! On board, there appears
to be a man who was thought of to be dead!! His
being alive brings all kinds of problems to a wealthy
family, and Charlie is brought in to investigate!!

Of course, since this is Charlie Chan movie, there
must be a murder somewhere, sometime, somehow!!
This happens back at the Colby house(the rich family)
and of course it's the man thought dead!! Many
suspects, many clues!!! A

SPECIALS ON DISC:

Charlie Chan And The Rise Of The Modern Detective:
With the input of Ronald Thomas(Author, "Detective
Fiction And The Rise Of Forensic Science"), Matthew
Pearl(Author, "The Poe Shadow"), Dr. Henry C Lee(Chief
Emeritus, Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory),
discuss how Charlie Chan fit into the detective scene
at the time the stories were written!! A

Dr. Hanry Lee: The Modern Day Charlie Chan:
Dr. Henry C. Lee(Chief Emeritus, Connecticut
State Police Forensic Laboratory) talks about
Charlie's influence on his detective style!! A

Restoration comparison

A review from IMDb.com:

More serious Chan story has the detective
going it alone as he tries to solve the mystery
of a missing heir. The mystery becomes a question
of murder in short order and the detective tries
to find the killer before he is the next victim.

Atypical Chan is undeservedly forgotten, even by
me. I remember the film not because of what it
is, a cracking good mystery, rather because of
what its not, a film with little humor and no of
his kids to help him. Its a wonderful change of
pace that marked a break from the formula
that would dominate most of the films in the
series. The film also has one of the best mysteries,
as in the plot of what is really going on, in the
entire 40 plus film series.. Closer in a way to
the darkness of some of the later films, this
is one of the Chans thats really is perfect for
a dark and rainy night.
Recommended - dbborroughs

This is Oland's second to last Charlie Chan movie!!
He's taken a ship to New York to be honored for
his detective skills! On the ship he and no. 1 son
run into a woman who seems to be either in trouble
or about to cause trouble!! Everyone seems to be
interested in her, except Charlie, though his son
Lee finds her very interesting!! But when she's killed
both Charlie and Lee get on the case!!

You can tell that Warner is really beginning to go
downhill health-wise in this!! His usual vim and
vigor is definitely just not there!! A

SPECIALS ON DISC:

The World Of Charlie Chan:
With the input of Ken Hanke(Author, "Charlie Chan At
The Movies"), Scott McIsaac(Film Historian), Rush Glick
(Webmaster, Charliechan.info), Michael Sherman
(Publisher, Skeptic Magazine, Columnist, Scientific
American), Khaled Azzam(Architect And Egyptologist),
Suzanne Wilson Barnett(China Historian, University
Of Puget Sound), Nancy Bristow(Professor Of History),
Robert Sabia(Circus Historian), Jon White(HRTV Commentator,
Horse Racing Historian), Mike Kreuger(President, Institute
Of The American Musical), David Wallechinsky(Author,
"Complete Book Of The Summer Olympics"), discuss
how Charlie Chan's movies gave the movie goers in
the US a glimpse of what life outside the US was like!! A

Chanograms: The Aphorisms Of Charlie Chan:
Ken Hanke(Author, "Charlie Chan At The Movies"),
Rush Glick(Webmaster, charliechan.info), & Suzanne
Wilson Barnett(Chian Historian, University Of Puget
Sound), talk about Charlie Chan's famous one liners!! A

Restoration comparison

Still Gallery

A review from IMDb.com:

A nightclub singer with a diary full of other peoples'
secrets gets bumped off and her diary is stolen.
Charlie Chan gets to work investigating all the
suspects with (mostly unwanted) help from
"Number One Son" Lee. This is a fun entry in
the series helped by a great cast. Keye Luke
is a treat, especially in his scenes with the lovely
Toshia Mori. Each of the Chan films he was in
is better just by his presence. Harold Huber
plays the obligatory baffled police inspector.
Donald Woods, J. Edward Bromberg, Joan
Marsh, Leon Ames, Marc Lawrence, and Douglas
Fowley all offer good support. Lon Chaney, Jr.
has a quick cameo. Avoid reading too much
about this one before you see it or the identity
of the killer might be spoiled for you. I was
taken by surprise! - utgard14

Charlie and No. 1 son are in Monte Carlo, to
show a painting that Lee has done!! While
there, a young woman has been confronted
by her brother about some missing stocks in
the family company! As in most of these, one
thing leads to murder!!

Oland's last Chan movie! And again you can
tell that he has slowed down a lot! Too bad,
he was a great Charlie Chan!!! A

SPECIALS ON DISC:

Charlie Chan Is Missing: The Last Days Of Warner Oland Featurette:
Paul S. Oland(Warner's Grand-Nephew), David Lewis
(Warner Oland Biographer), Ken Hanke(Author, "Charlie
Chan At The Movies"), Valere Yaros(Screen Actors Guild
Historian), Rush Glick(Webmaster, charliechan.info), Kay
Linaker(Actess, "Charlie Chan At Monte Carlo), discuss
the last days of Warner!! Very poignant at times!! A

Restoration comparison

Still Gallery

Warner Oland Is Charlie Chan Advertising Gallery

The 1929 movie, "Behind That Curtain":
See below for review, IMDb.com review & cast list!

A review from IMDb.com for Charlie Chan At Monte Carlo:

Charlie Chan and "Number One Son" Lee
are visiting Monte Carlo when a bank messenger
is murdered and some bonds stolen. Sadly, this
was Warner Oland's last Charlie Chan film. He's
good in this, though he does seem a little 'off.'
Whether this is my imagining things because I
know about his problems offscreen, I don't know.
He just doesn't seem as happy in this one as
earlier films. Keye Luke is great, as always. Harold
Huber, who appeared in Charlie Chan on Broadway
as a different character, is fun here as a French
police chief. It's not the best of the series, but
still enjoyable. All of the Fox Chan films were at
least watchable, whether Warner Oland or Sidney
Toler were Chan. After the series moved to
Monogram, quality declined greatly. The
worst moments of Charlie Chan at Monte
Carlo are better than anything in the
Monogram series. - utgard14

COMPLETE LIST OF DVDs
LIST OF MOVIE DVDs
LIST OF ANIME/ANIMATION DVDs
LIST OF BOND DVDs
LIST OF DISNEY DVDs
LIST OF ELVIS DVDs
LIST OF MUSIC DVDs
LIST OF STAR TREK/STAR WARS DVDs
LIST OF SUPERHERO DVDs
LIST OF TELEVISION DVDs

TO PHOTO PAGES OF MOVIES:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J-K
L
M
N
O
P-Q
R
S
T
U-V
W
X-Z

ANIME/ANIMATION
ANIME SUPERHERO
BOND
DISNEY
ELVIS
HOLIDAY
MUSIC
MUSICALS
OTHER
SERIALS
SETS #-M
SETS N-Z
STAR TREK/STAR WARS
SUPERHERO
TELEVISION A-B
TELEVISION C-D
TELEVISION E-F
TELEVISION G-H
TELEVISION I-K
TELEVISION L
TELEVISION M
TELEVISION N-O
TELEVISION P-Q
TELEVISION R
TELEVISION Gene Roddenberry
TELEVISION S
TELEVISION T
TELEVISION U-W
TELEVISION X-Z
TELEVISION STAR TREK/STAR WARS
TELEVISION SUPERHERO

There is no music for any of these movies!