Plot
Charlie Chan has been investigating the whereabouts of Allen Colby, heir to a vast fortune. He recently made contact with his relations in San Francisco: his Aunt Henrietta Colby Lowell, her daughters Alice and Janice, and Janice's husband, Fred. The story opens as Allen is traced to a ship that has sunk, but it cannot be confirmed that he is dead. On the contrary, evidence is found that someone is trying to kill him to prevent his return to San Francisco to claim the estate.
Allen arrives at Colby House and is promptly murdered. His body is revealed in the course of a seance conducted that evening at Colby House with Chan in attendance. He is an old friend of Mrs Lowell; who, like her late brother, is a devout believer in psychic research. She has retained the services of Professor Bowen and his wife, Carlotta, who is a medium. Someone subsequently attempts to kill Mrs Lowell and eventually appears to succeed. The truth is revealed in another seance, at which the murderer makes a foolish mistake.
Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes and villains like Fu Manchu. Many stories feature Chan traveling the world beyond Hawaii as he investigates mysteries and solves crimes.
The Black Camel (1929) is the fourth of the Charlie Chan novels by Earl Derr Biggers.
Charlie Chan Carries On (1930) is the fifth novel in the Charlie Chan series by Earl Derr Biggers.
Warner Oland was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American characters: Dr. Fu Manchu, Henry Chang in Shanghai Express, and, most notably, Honolulu Police detective Lieutenant Charlie Chan in 16 films.
Sidney Toler was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second European-American actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his portrayal of the Chinese-American detective in 22 films made between 1938 and 1946. Before becoming Chan, Toler played supporting roles in 50 motion pictures, and was a highly regarded comic actor on the Broadway stage.
Roland Winters was an American actor who played many character parts in films and television but today is best remembered for portraying Charlie Chan in six films in the late 1940s.
The House in Paris is Elizabeth Bowen's fifth novel. It is set in France and Great Britain following World War I, and its action takes place on a single February day in a house in Paris. In that house, two young children—Henrietta and Leopold—await the next legs of their respective journeys: Henrietta is passing through on her way to meet her grandmother, while Leopold is waiting to meet his mother for the first time. The first and third sections of the novel, both called "The Present," detail what happens in the house throughout the day. The middle section of the book is an imagined chronicle of part of the life of Leopold's mother, Karen Michaelis, revealing the background to the events that occur in Mme Fisher's home on the day.
The Chinese Parrot is a 1927 American silent mystery film, the second in the Charlie Chan series. It was directed by Paul Leni and starred Japanese actor Sōjin Kamiyama as Chan. The film is an adaptation of the 1926 Earl Derr Biggers novel The Chinese Parrot. Another version of the novel was filmed in 1934 entitled Charlie Chan's Courage.
Charlie Chan in London is a 1934 American mystery film directed by Eugene Forde. The film stars Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. This is the sixth film produced by Fox with Warner Oland as the detective, and the second not to be lost, after The Black Camel (1931).
Charlie Chan in Paris is the seventh film produced by Fox with Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. Long thought lost, it is available on DVD as part of Twentieth Century Fox Home Video's Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 1. Hamilton MacFadden directed some early scenes before Lewis Seiler took over. It is the first entry in the series to feature actor Keye Luke, who would become a mainstay in his role as Chan's "Number One Son" Lee.
Charlie Chan in Shanghai is the ninth Charlie Chan film produced by Fox Film Corporation with the title character played by Warner Oland.
Charlie Chan at the Race Track is the 12th film in the 20th Century Fox-produced Charlie Chan series starring Warner Oland in the title role.
Charlie Chan at the Opera is considered by many to be the best Warner Oland Charlie Chan film, probably due to the presence of Boris Karloff as the principal suspect, as well as faux operatic music composed by Oscar Levant. This is the 13th film starring Oland as Chan; it was directed by H. Bruce Humberstone for 20th Century-Fox in 1936.
Charlie Chan in Rio is a 1941 American mystery film directed by Harry Lachman and featuring the Asian detective Charlie Chan. It was the tenth film to feature Sidney Toler as the title character, who is called upon to investigate the death of a suspected murderer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Henrietta Foster Crosman was an American stage and film actress.
Charlie Chan's Greatest Case (1933) is an American pre-Code murder mystery film starring Warner Oland as the Oriental detective Charlie Chan. It was based on the Earl Derr Biggers novel The House Without a Key (1925).
The Black Camel is a 1931 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Hamilton MacFadden and starring Warner Oland, Sally Eilers, Bela Lugosi, and Dorothy Revier. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Earl Derr Biggers. It is the second film to star Oland as detective Charlie Chan, and the sole surviving title of the first five Chan films starring Oland. The Black Camel marked the film debut of Robert Young.
Charlie Chan's Courage (1934) is the fifth film in which Warner Oland played detective Charlie Chan. It is a remake of the 1927 silent film The Chinese Parrot, based upon the novel by Earl Derr Biggers. Both are considered lost films.
Charlie Chan at the Olympics is a 1937 American mystery film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Warner Oland, Katherine DeMille and Pauline Moore. It is possibly the most topical Charlie Chan film, as it features actual footage from the 1936 Berlin Olympics. There is also a scene where Charlie crosses the Atlantic in the Hindenburg. This is the 14th film starring Warner Oland as Chan and produced by Fox.
Castle in the Desert is a 1942 film featuring the Chinese detective Charlie Chan. It was the eleventh film to feature Sidney Toler as the title character, and the last made by 20th Century Fox. The series continued with Toler, though under much reduced circumstances, at Monogram Pictures.
