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Charlie Chan
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Charlie Chan is a fictional character created by Earl Derr Biggers. Biggers loosely based Chan on Honolulu detective Chang Apana, and conceived of the benevolent and heroic Chan as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes and villains like Fu Manchu. Chan is a detective for the Honolulu police, though many stories feature Chan traveling the world as he investigates mysteries and solves crimes.Chan first appeared in Biggers' novels, then was featured in a number of media. Over four dozen films featuring Charlie Chan were made, beginning in 1926. The character was first portrayed by East Asian actors, and the films met with little success. In 1931, the Fox Film Corporation cast Swedish actor Warner Oland as Chan in Charlie Chan Carries On; the film became popular, and Fox went on to produce fifteen more Chan films with Oland in the title role. After Oland's death, American actor Sidney Toler was cast as Chan; Toler made twenty-two Chan films, first for Fox and then for Monogram Studios. After Toler's death, six films were made, starring Roland Winters.
Readers and movie-goers greeted Chan warmly (in the 1930s, audiences even in Shanghai found the character positive and funny), but twenty-first century critics have taken contending views. Some see Chan as an attractive character who is portrayed as intelligent, heroic, benevolent and honorable in contrast to the racist depictions of evil or conniving Asians which dominated Hollywood and national media. Others find that Chan, despite his good qualities, reinforces condescending stereotypes such as an alleged incapacity to speak idiomatic English and a tradition-bound and subservient nature. Many found it objectionable that he was played on screen by Caucasian actors in so-called Yellowface.
More recent film adaptations in the 1990s have been poorly received. The character has been featured in several radio programs, two television shows, and comics.
Played by the actors
Filmography of Charlie Chan (39 films)
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Castle in the Desert (1942)
Directed by Harry Lachman
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Horror, Crime
Actors Sidney Toler, Arleen Whelan, Richard Derr, Douglass Dumbrille, Henry Daniell, Victor Sen Yung
Rating69%
Mrs. Manderley, an eccentric descendant of the Borgias lives in a castle in the middle of the Mojave Desert with her husband Paul Manderley, a reclusive scholary millionaire. Someone is killed after being poisoned. Paul tries to cover up the murder in which Charlie Chan investigates. In addition to Paul Manderley and his wife (who may be insane and not responsible for her actions) other suspects include:
Charlie Chan in Rio (1941)
Directed by Harry Lachman
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Actors Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, Harold Huber, Sheila Ryan, Kay Linaker, Ethel Griffies
Rating68%
In the beginning of the film, detective Charlie Chan is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with his son, Jimmy, and the Rio chief of police, Chief Souto, to arrest singer Lola Dean, whom Chan suspects killed a man in Honolulu. After a performance, Lola’s boyfriend, Carlos, asks her to marry him, which she accepts. Her personal assistant, Helen Ashby, then reminds Lola she has an appointment with a Hindu psychic, Marana. Lola visits the psychic, who puts her in a semi-comatose state using coffee and cigarettes laced with a special natural herb. Lola reveals in this state that she did kill a man, Manuel Cardozo, after he refused to marry her in Honolulu. The psychic records the conversation. When Lola wakes up, the psychic tells her what she told him, but assures her that it will be kept confidential between them. On the way home, a worried Lola convinces Carlos to elope instead of marry at a later date. When she arrives home, she begins packing.
Dead Men Tell (1941)
, 1h1Directed by Harry Lachman
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Actors Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, Sheila Ryan, Donald Douglas, Kay Aldridge, Paul McGrath
Rating68%
Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is engaged by an heir to solve a mystery on a boat. Miss Nodbury (Ethel Griffies) seeks a pirate treasure on Cocos Island, and the ship she uses is an old sailing ship used in the recent past as a museum of pirate lore by one of her relatives. For safety, she has split her map into four pieces, which she gave to some of the passengers whom she has invited to go along with her, but tells no one who they are. When she is given a fright and succumbs to her heart disease Chan must clear up the mystery while the ship is still at the dock.
, 1h5Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, C. Henry Gordon, Marc Lawrence, Marguerite Chapman, Joan Valerie
Rating70%
Chan's testimony results in a death sentence for convicted murderer Steve McBirney (Marc Lawrence). However, he escapes and heads to a wax museum, a secret Mob hideout run by Dr. Cream (C. Henry Gordon). Cream, a crooked "facial surgeon", operates on McBirney, changing his appearance.
Charlie Chan in Panama (1940)
, 1h7Directed by Norman Foster
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Sidney Toler, Jean Rogers, Lionel Atwill, Mary Nash, Victor Sen Yung, Kane Richmond
Rating70%
Charlie Chan must stop a spy from destroying the Panama Canal, trapping a Navy fleet on its way to the Pacific after maneuvers in the Atlantic. As the U.S. fleet prepares to navigate the waters of the Panama Canal, Panama City becomes rife with spies.
Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940)
Directed by Eugene Forde
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, Robert Lowery, Marjorie Weaver, Lionel Atwill, Don Beddoe
Rating70%
The famed detective seeks to unmask a killer on a voyage across the Pacific Ocean.
Directed by Norman Foster
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Sidney Toler, Cesar Romero, Victor Sen Yung, Douglas Fowley, Pauline Moore, Donald MacBride
Rating71%
Charlie and Jimmy Chan are traveling by plane to San Francisco. Jimmy befriends insurance executive Thomas Gregory. Charlie's friend, novelist Paul Essex, dies aboard the aircraft after receiving a radiogram warning him not to ignore "Zodiac". His briefcase mysteriously disappears. Charlie meets with Deputy Police Chief J.J. Kilvaine, and runs into reporter and old friend Peter Lewis. Charlie also meets noted local magician Fred Rhadini, and discusses Essex's death with the three men. Rhadini tells Charlie about Dr. Zodiac, a psychic preying on the rich in San Francisco. Charlie, Rhadini, and Lewis go to Dr. Zodiac's home, where Dr. Zodiac who conducts an eerie séance. Lewis' fiancée, Eve Cairo, has been meeting with Dr. Zodiac, angering Lewis. Later, Kilvaine reveals that Essex was poisoned, but can't rule out suicide. Jimmy spends the afternoon following Thomas Gregory, whom he believes stole Essex's briefcase when leaving the plane. He discovers Essex's manuscript in Gregory's hotel room.
Charlie Chan in Reno (1939)
Directed by Norman Foster
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, Ricardo Cortez, Phyllis Brooks, Slim Summerville, Kane Richmond
Rating69%
Mary Whitman has arrived in Reno to obtain a divorce. While there, she is arrested on suspicion of murdering a fellow guest at her hotel (which specializes in divorcers).
City in Darkness (1939)
Directed by Herbert I. Leeds
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Sidney Toler, Lynn Bari, Harold Huber, Pedro de Cordoba, Dorothy Tree, C. Henry Gordon
Rating64%
Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) est en visite à Paris pendant la crise d’annexion de la république tchèque en septembre 1938, mais a du mal à trouver le moyen de retourner aux États-Unis, car des perturbations dans les transports sont provoquées par la menace de guerre et la crise de Munich. Lors de sa visite au bureau du chef de police Romaine (C. Henry Gordon), qui est en voyage d'affaires, on apprend que Petroff (Douglass Dumbrille), un millionnaire bien connu, a été assassiné. L'inspecteur de police Marcel Spivak (Harold Huber), le filleul embêté de Romaine, a été laissé en charge pendant l'absence du chef et est terrifié à l'idée de mener une enquête de meurtre d'une telle envergure. Il demande l'aide de Chan, ce qui est accepté.
Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938)
, 1h7Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Children's films
Actors Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, Phyllis Brooks, Eddie Collins, John King, Claire Dodd
Rating66%
The film opens with Detective Chan rushing to the hospital to be with his daughter as she prepares to give birth to his first grandchild. While Charlie Chan waits at the hospital, his "number two" son Jimmy intercepts a message intended for Charlie about a murder on board the freighter Susan B. Jennings.
Charlie Chan at the Opera (1937)
, 1h8Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Themes Films about music and musicians, Musical films
Actors Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, Keye Luke, William Demarest, Gregory Gaye, Frank Conroy
Rating70%
Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) gets to watch a performance that's to die for. For seven years, opera star Gravelle (Boris Karloff) has been locked in an insane asylum, his identity a mystery - even to himself. But when his memory unexpectedly returns, he begins to recall that his wife and her lover tried to murder him - and now he's determined to make them face the music. Gravelle escapes from the asylum and makes his way to the San Marco opera house and begins hiding out in the various rooms and passageways. Soon, members of the opera company are being murdered one by one.
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo (1937)
, 1h12Directed by Eugene Forde
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Actors Warner Oland, Keye Luke, Virginia Field, Sidney Blackmer, Harold Huber, Kay Linaker
Rating66%
Le détective Charlie Chan et son fils Lee enquêtent sur une affaire de meurtre et de chantage, de Monte-Carlo à Paris.
Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)
, 1h11Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Themes Sports films, Films about the Olympic Games
Actors Warner Oland, Katherine DeMille, Keye Luke, Pauline Moore, Allan Lane, Paul Panzer
Rating69%
When Chan's oldest son, Lee (Keye Luke), is chosen to compete in the Olympics, Chan is proud as can be. Meanwhile, over the skies of Chan's Honolulu, the "Hopkins plane" is demonstrating an improvement of remote radio control to the US military. However, the aircraft is hijacked by a concealed stowaway, the device stolen, and the test pilot murdered. When Chan, followed by his astute second son, Charlie Jr. (Layne Tom Jr.), tracks down the stowaway, he finds only the man's body.
Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937)
, 1h8Directed by Eugene Forde
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Actors Warner Oland, Keye Luke, Joan Marsh, J. Edward Bromberg, Douglas Fowley, Harold Huber
Rating69%
While Charlie Chan and his number one son, Lee, are aboard a New York-bound transatlantic liner returning from Germany in their previous adventure (Charlie Chan at the Olympics), they have a run-in with a mysterious woman, named Billie Bronson, who secretes a package in the trunk of the Chans. After the liner docks, Chan and Lee are met at the pier by Inspector Nelson and two rival reporters, Joan Wendall and Speed Patton. Bille, having left the country hurriedly a year ago when sought as a material witness in a political scandal, has returned to "blow the lid off the town." She follows the Chans to their hotel and attempts to regain her package from the trunk, only to be interrupted by Lee. She then goes to the "Hottentot Club", where "candid-camera night" is in full progress, followed by Lee. Already present are Joan and Speed. Billie is mysteriously murdered and Charlie is summoned from a police banquet in his honor. Present in the room with the body are club manager Johnny Burke; club dancer and Burke's girl-friend Marie Collins and the two reporters. While seeking a motive for the murder, a second killing is discovered in Charlie's hotel room, the package is missing from Charlie's trunk and it is realized that it must have contained her diary. Charlie neatly puts together a few scattered clues and names as the killer.
Charlie Chan at the Circus (1936)
, 1h12Directed by Harry Lachman
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Comedy, Crime
Themes Circus films, Children's films
Actors Warner Oland, Keye Luke, Francis Ford, George Brasno, John McGuire, J. Carrol Naish
Rating67%
Charlie Chan takes his wife and twelve children on an outing to a circus after receiving a free pass from one of the owners, Joe Kinney. Kinney wants Chan to find out who is sending him anonymous threatening letters. Nearly all of the circus workers are suspects, since Kinney is very unpopular. However, when Chan goes to meet him during the night's performance, he finds the man dead, seemingly killed by a rampaging gorilla who somehow escaped from his cage.