The original Fox Charlie Chan movies with Warner Oland were the best but the Sidney Toler Fox movies were pretty good, too. When the series (and Toler) moved to Monogram in 1944, it resulted in a sharp drop in quality. There were still a few watchable movies left but nothing to brag about. As it went on, Toler's performance got worse along with the general quality of the movies themselves. It got to the point where all he did was show up, half-remember the poorly-written lines of dialogue, and occasionally throw in one of the irritating feces-eating grins of his that were so commonplace in the Monogram films. After Toler died, Roland Winters took over for the remainder of the series. This is the first of the Roland Winters Chans and, yes, it is terrible. All of the Winters films are garbage and the worst of the entire Charlie Chan series from Fox to Monogram. It's truly sad that several early Warner Oland Chan films have been lost to time but these have survived.
The plot here is a remake of Mr. Wong in Chinatown with few changes. Roland Winters is a dull, lifeless Charlie Chan. He seems to be trying to emulate Oland more than Toler. He fails more than any person has ever failed at anything ever. Mantan Moreland is still in the series as comic relief Birmingham Brown. As there are no "spooks" for him to be afraid of in this one, he serves no purpose. He appears to have lost some weight and looks older since his last appearance. Victor Sen Yung returns but, for some bizarre reason, he's now Tommy Chan instead of Jimmy! Tommy, for those who know the series, was the terribly dull son played by Benson Fong in most of the Toler Monogram films.
The writing had been crap for the entirety of the Monogram years but here it's at an all-time low. So don't expect any witty Chan aphorisms from Winters. Here we have this gem: "Strange events permit themselves the luxury of occurring in strange places." Just stupid. There's nothing about this I can or would recommend. Avoid at all costs.
The plot here is a remake of Mr. Wong in Chinatown with few changes. Roland Winters is a dull, lifeless Charlie Chan. He seems to be trying to emulate Oland more than Toler. He fails more than any person has ever failed at anything ever. Mantan Moreland is still in the series as comic relief Birmingham Brown. As there are no "spooks" for him to be afraid of in this one, he serves no purpose. He appears to have lost some weight and looks older since his last appearance. Victor Sen Yung returns but, for some bizarre reason, he's now Tommy Chan instead of Jimmy! Tommy, for those who know the series, was the terribly dull son played by Benson Fong in most of the Toler Monogram films.
The writing had been crap for the entirety of the Monogram years but here it's at an all-time low. So don't expect any witty Chan aphorisms from Winters. Here we have this gem: "Strange events permit themselves the luxury of occurring in strange places." Just stupid. There's nothing about this I can or would recommend. Avoid at all costs.