Review of Charlie Chan Chanthology (3 Disc Box Set)

Introduction

Charlie Chan was originally a character in a book by Earl Derr Biggers. Biggers had already published plays and articles before he moved to California for his health and his wealth in 1919. He was welcomed by the film industry which was thriving in the sunshine.

Biggers creation of Charlie Chan was reputedly based on a real life Chinese detective based in Honolulu called Chang Apana having read about him whilst holidaying there. He wrote six Charlie Chan novels before his premature death in 1933 at the age of 48. The Chan of the novels was considered to be a refutation of the popular Chinese as "yellow peril" stories of the time.

The films themselves began in 1931 with Warner Oland in the title role. There were three Chans during a long period between 1933 and 1949.

There are 6 films in this set on three discs and they are all of the Sidney Toler years when the films were produced by Monogram Pictures on very slim budgets. There seem to be very few of the others available on any medium.

Sidney Toler played the role of Charlie Chan until his death in 1947 and it is recorded that he was very ill and barely able to move in the last film.

The three provided to me for review are as follows; please see main page for other reviews of the further three films.

All of these were made in 1944.

Meeting at Midnight

A fake séance results in the death of one of the participants. Charlie`s daughter has was present and is detained by the police until Charlie agrees to help them with the case. Birmingham Brown appears in this a new servant in the séance house. He spends the whole film attempting to leave it. Brown appeared in all Toler`s Chan films as comic relief. Sometimes he was chauffeur to Charlie.

Secret Service

Charlie is now working for Secret Service and when an inventor mysteriously drops dead he must investigate. All those staying in the house are under suspicion including a wheelchair bound man and a straight-laced housekeeper. Chan is variously hampered by two of his children; Tommy and Iris, and sidekick Birmingham Brown.

Chinese Cat

Charlie is asked to investigate a `cold case` where the wife of a murdered business man has been named in a scurrilous novel. He wants to help because the woman`s daughter is anxious to marry her boyfriend but he is one of the investigating officers. Once again Chan is plagued by one of his sons and by Birmingham Brown providing comic relief.

Video

The discs are of variable quality and in theory the actual retail discs will not have the following fault; Meeting at Midnight -the disc jumped back to the beginning during the first chapter. Hopefully this won`t be a production problem but watch out for it.

As to the picture-all three are well below average with a lot of wear apparent.

Audio

It is poor and there is a great deal of hiss. Do not expect the best quality. The presentation of these discs in a boxed set may give a misleading impression that someone actually cares about the quality for films being presented but that would be untrue.

Features

Nowt

Conclusion

These are the sort of films that used to fill up Saturday afternoon schedules a few years ago. They are very dated and quite pedestrian and of course with the passing of time the character of Birmingham Brown is rather insulting.

They still retain the lumbering charm of the bygone age and despite the stereotyping it is the Chinese character who is the omniscient Confucius of the piece. Charlie Chan dispenses wisdom, remains calm and solves the crimes others cannot even conceive of. We all know of course that the actor playing Chan was not Chinese but the quiet dignity he brings to the role in what is essentially a B movie is impressive.

Dated and aged and alas in poor condition these films have suffered but at least they are still around and many people will want them because they have a fondness for the Saturday Matinees of the past.