FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Humility only defense against rightful blame.”
We have now reached the end of March as we continue along on our Charlie Chan Film Tour 2017. It’s “Warner Oland vs. Boris Karloff” as our film for this week, will be “Charlie Chan at the Opera.” Charlie Chan and Number One Son, Lee work together to unmask the ruthless killer who stalks the opera! Is it a malicious madman who is terrorizing the cast and crew of the opera, “Carnival”?
As is our custom, we begin arriving at 7:30 Eastern Time, we will be sharing, before our featured presentation, an “extra” in the form of a vintage Charlie Chan continuing radio drama! Following our “extra,” we will collectively run our feature at 8:15!
OUR PRESENTATIONS:
“The Landini Murder Case” (part 22) radio program (1936; Runtime: 14:38)
“Charlie Chan at the Opera” (1936; Runtime: 68 minutes)
FEATURE SUMMARY: Gravelle, a former baritone believed dead after an opera house fire seven years before, has been confined in a mental institution, suffering from amnesia. His memory, rekindled when sees a news story about his former wife's current appearance in an opera in Los Angeles, escapes and seeks revenge for the failed attempt on his life years earlier. When those involved in the crime are found stabbed to death, Charlie Chan and son Lee try to find out if the fugitive Gravelle is the one responsible.
FILM NOTES: The film's title card reads: "Twentieth Century-Fox presents Warner Oland vs. Boris Karloff in Charlie Chan at the Opera." Although contemporary reviews call Margaret Irving's character "Lucretia Barelli," she is called "Anita Barelli" in the film. A ‘Motion Picture Daily’ news item noted that the picture was banned in Germany for having "too many murders." The ‘Hollywood Reporter’ noted that public response to the film's preview was so positive that Twentieth Century-Fox planned to up the production and advertising budgets for the Charlie Chan series, and that future films would see "Warner Oland co-starred with a top name opposite." The first star the studio was said to be approaching to star with Oland was Peter Lorre. According to another Hollywood Reporter news item, this film marked the first time that a DeBrie camera, which was lighter and more quiet than other models, was used in the United States. According to modern sources, director H. Bruce Humberstone borrowed some of the sets from “Café Metropole” for this film. Oscar Levant, in his autobiographical writings, states that he was assigned to write an operatic sequence that would take advantage of a Mephistophelian costume that had been created for Lawrence Tibbett in a previous Twentieth Century-Fox film (presumably “Under Your Spell”). Levant also relates that the words for the opera were written originally in English by William Kernell and then translated into Italian by "studio linguists." Benson Fong, who later portrayed Number Three Son, Tommy Chan, appeared unbilled in this film as one of the opera extras (the third "soldier" from the left as they are first seen lined up). Baritone Tudor Williams provided Boris Karloff's operatic singing voice.
TIME: We begin with arrivals and greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share our “extra,” which will be followed at exactly 8:15 (EST) when we share our featured presentation “Charlie Chan at the Olympics.”
LOCATION: Our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room, which is accessed at http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html.
IF YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FEATURE: Often our features can be found available online. GOOD NEWS! Our feature for this week, “Charlie Chan at the Race Track,” is available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCTThxzTlNM&t=431s. Also, our “extra” can be found at: https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/crime/charlie-chan/charlie-chan-22-landini
NEXT WEEK: “Charlie Chan at the Olympics” starring Warner Oland.
PLEASE accept this humbly offered invitation join us as we enjoy “Charlie Chan at the Opera”!
