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The Chinese Parrot-Lost or Found

On the morning of January 5th, I received an email containing an updated listing of "lost" films. Among the "lost" films listed were three early Charlie Chan titles, "Charlie Chan Carries On" (1931), "Charlie Chan's Chance" (1932), and "Charlie Chan's Courage" (1934). These three films were produced by the Fox Film Corporation.

There was an interesting notation, from Wikipedia, related to the 1934 "Charlie Chan's Courage" listing. The 1934 film is the second filming of the Biggers' novel, "The Chinese Parrot" (1926). The notation stated that the earlier film version, titled the same as the novel, "The Chinese Parrot," still exists. Yes, that is what the notation claimed. The Wikipedia listing of "lost" films was last updated on 31 December 2011.

If this information is true, it means that the silent film, "The Chinese Parrot," may be sitting in a film vault somewhere, maybe a vault owned by Universal Studios. The "lost"/"found" film features Kamiyama Sojin as Chan and was produced in 1927 by Universal Pictures. The odds of this "lost" film being found are stronger than the other "lost" Chan films being found. As we know, many of Universal's silent films, from the 1920s, have survived throughout the decades, including "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925) and "The Cat and the Canary" (1927).

So where do we begin looking? Anybody have a contact at Unversal Studios?

Re: The Chinese Parrot-Lost or Found

Dear Steve,

Interesting, and thank you for sharing what you turned up. This is the first I have heard of "The Chinese Parrot" being "found." My gut feeling is that, as much as I would hope for this to be true, it is probably an error or, worse, a possible fabrication. Still...

Sincerely,
Rush