HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WARNER OLAND: "Charlie Chan in London"
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WARNER OLAND!
FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Murder not very good joke - quite unfunny.”
Happy Monday! As we move along on our CHARLIE CHAN FILM TOUR 2016, we will be viewing “Charlie Chan in London,” starring Warner Oland, as we celebrate the honorable Mr. Oland’s birthday! In this film we find Charlie Chan in his classic form as he works against the clock to save a condemned man from his scheduled execution!
We will also be sharing, before our featured presentation, another episode of “The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, “The Fat Lady Caper,” which can be viewed at this link: http://www.toon.is/the-amazing-chan-and-the-chan-clan-06-fat-lady-caper-video_1c119212f.html. With this cartoon episode, we note that the running time has increased by two minutes in order to accommodate a full-song appearance of the Chan Clan band.
OUR PRESENTATIONS: “Charlie Chan in London” (1934). Runtime: 79 minutes…AND “The Fat Lady Caper” (originally aired October 14, 1972; Runtime: 22 minutes)
SUMMARIES:
“The Fat Lady Caper” - As the Chan family visits the Zambini Circus, it's owner, Mr. Zambini, informs Charlie Chan that someone is out to ruin his circus. When Dimples the fat lady is stolen, Chan and the kids, suspecting an inside job, seek to find the missing star performer and solve the case.
“Charlie Chan in London” - When a young Englishman, Paul Gray, is convicted of murder and sentenced to hang, his sister, convinced of his innocence, asks Charlie Chan, who is visiting London, to investigate and find the real murderer. To that end, Chan visits a large country manor house in England where the killing occurred. There are a number of suspects among the large group of fox hunters who are staying at the manor, and it soon becomes clear that the killer is still actively trying to avoid capture. Charlie Chan must work fast to discover the real murderer's identity and save Paul Gray from the gallows.
TIME: We begin with arrivals and greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share “extra” which will be followed at exactly 8:15 when we roll our feature, “Charlie Chan in London.”
LOCATION: Our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room, which is accessed at http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html.
IF YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FILM: Often our features can be found available online, happily, tonight’s feature is presently available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEgbh7i4seI
THIS WEEK’S IMAGE FROM OUR FILM: (Please see attachment). Charlie Chan, who was preparing to return to Honolulu, is met at his hotel room by Pamela Gray and Neil Howard, hoping that he will take on the job to prove the innocence of Pamela’s brother who has an impending date with the hangman. (Available to those on our weekly email list. If you are not on our list, currently, you may do so my emailing us at: charliechanfamily@lycos.com!)
OF NOTE: This was the first film in the Charlie Chan series that was not based on a particular novel by Chan's creator, Earl Derr Biggers. The ‘New York Times’ commented that this film, written by Philip MacDonald, a noted detective novelist himself, "maintains the Chan tradition."
PLEASE have a pleasant, safe Monday, and I hope to see you in our Chat Room as we share our features together…and…HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WARNER OLAND!
