DVD Reviews

TCM Spotlight: Charlie Chan Collection – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll May 27, 2010, 15:09 GMT

The "TCM Spotlight: Charlie Chan Collection" includes "Dark Alibi", "Dangerous Money", "The Trap" and "The Chinese Ring". "Dark Alibi": A race against time! Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) must act quickly to stop the execution of an innocent Death Row inmate. With Number Three Son (Benson Fong) and Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). "Dangerous Money": "We\'ll show Pop how modern criminology works." Number Two Son (Victor Sen Young) and Chattanooga Brown (Willie ...more

You never hear the English complaining about Sherlock Holmes, but Charlie Chan is probably not looked at to reboot thanks to political correctness (Fu Manchu neither). 

It’s more the fact that anyone but a Chinese usually plays him, but there is some touchy racial areas that mostly come from his sidekicks.  

Come to think of it maybe the English should’ve complained that the latest Sherlock wasn’t English at all it was American Robert Downy Jr.  Charlie Chan is based on Earl Derr Biggers’ literary creation, a Honolulu based Chinese-American detective whose sleuthing skill rivaled Sherlock. 

In the 1930s, he was brought to the silver screen by Fox and they cast the Swedish Warner Oland.  Success followed and it made Oland an international star as Chan, but in 1937 he suddenly died and the films paused (ironically the final film Oland was shooting was retooled with Peter Lorre’s Mr. Moto - a German playing Japanese no less). 

Fox recast Chan with Scottish American Sidney Toler and they continued cranking out Chan films till 1942 when Fox thought that they could do no more with the character. 

Toler bought the rights to Chan and took him to poverty row studio Monogram in 1944 and they cranked out pictures till Toler’s death in early 1947.  Toler literally died in saddle as behind-the-scenes of his last few films he was fading away from cancer and most of the action was taken up by supporting characters. 

Roland Winters took over for the late Toler in 1947 but his Chan would only appear in five more pictures.  This set collects Toler’s last three films and the first one of Winters.  

Dark Alibi (1946): A bank is robbed and a night watchman is killed.  Fingerprints are found on the scene but the person they belong to claims to be innocent of the crime.  June Harley (Teala Loring), his daughter, hires Charlie Chan (Toler) to figure out who really robbed the bank and he has a boarding house full of suspects.  This keeps Chan, number three son Tommy (Benson Fong), and chauffer Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) busy.  

Dangerous Money (1946): Chan (Toler), number two son Jimmy (Victor Sen Young), and chauffer Chattanooga Brown (Willie Best) are on a cruise to American Samoa.  Chan is contacted by a government treasury agent who is on the trail of some “hot money,” but after he lets Chan in on his mission he’s killed and Charlie has a boatload of murder suspects as well as trying to find the counterfeiters.  

The Trap (1946): A group of entertainers is renting a seaside cottage.  When one of their company is murdered all eyes fall on the only Chinese gal in the group, after all the victim was strangled with a silk cord and only the Chinese do that (um, okay).  The accused recently met a detective named Jimmy (Young), but when she calls the Chan household all Birmingham (Moreland) hears is “murder” and “Chan” so Charlie is called in on the case.  That’s best since Jimmy was only flirting anyway.  

The Chinese Ring (1947): A Chinese princess (Barbara Jean Wong) arrives to consult with Charlie Chan (Roland Winters) but she’s murdered in his study by a poison dart.  With her final breath she scrawls “Capt. K” on a piece of paper.  Now Charlie has to find out who killed the princess with the bumbling help of Jimmy (Young) and Birmingham (Moreland). 

The Chan films were probably much better when Fox was in charge since the budgets were much bigger.  Monogram and others were known as poverty row for a good reason and the films under them had significantly less dollars to work with.  They added comedy relief characters that our modern eyes (if they be politically correct) don’t think too much of, I’m looking at you Birmingham. 

However, Mantan Moreland does manage to cause a giggle or two.  The Monogram films do have a certain charm to them and I’d have to say that it all emanates from Sidney Toler.  He has a certain genius about him that comes with all the master detectives, even if he was suffering from cancer at the time. 

Winters isn’t a horrible replacement, but he pales in Toler’s shadow.  I suppose the next set, if it arrives, will collect these final Chans and I’ll reserve judgment on Winters till then.  I suppose it’s the laws of diminishing returns in both the films and special features as each dropped off as time went on.  

All of the films are presented in fullscreen.  There are no special features unless you count English subtitles.  They barely even have a menu.  However they are brief (each is barely over an hour), fun mysteries (although sometimes not too mysterious as to who the killer is).  The first two films look pristine, but the final two do have some print damage (The Trap has an entire sequence that has a horrible scratch).  

Charlie Chan had a long theatrical life and was a popular draw in his day.  The same can be said of these films as they’re quite fun.  Mostly thanks to the man playing Chan, no matter that he’s not Chinese. 

Sidney Toler would become instantly recognizable as the famous detective, as Oland before him, but the films wouldn’t last much longer without him.  Don’t let political correctness of lack of special features steer you away from these enjoyable throwbacks.  Thanks to Turner Classic Movies, the classic movie experts, and Warner Brothers for letting them out of the vault.  

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