For a class I’m teaching on Charlie this summer… I want to do a 12-15 minute clip each of an Oland film, a Toler, and a Winters, to give people an idea of these three different Chans.
What clip, from which films, would you suggest for each:
Oland
Toler
Winters
I presume most of your time will be devoted to showing the "typical" activities of Chan. In addition, if you are looking for an "off-beat" clip that doesn't show the usual Chan character or dialogue, try the scene in "CC in Rio" where Charlie smokes the "funny cigarette" from the phony psychic.
If you are looking for three short clips to show some of the "essence": of Charlie Chan, here are three that might prove worthy.
Warner Oland: Perhaps the family at breakfast scene in "The Black Camel." Here we see Chan with his family in the earliest available film in the series. We see him reacting to his kids in a very human way. If you continue on, you could include the ride with assistant Kashimo to police headquarters.
Sidney Toler: I will choose, from "Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum," the table scene at Dr. Cream's crime museum. This shows Chan in an atmospheric location with the sounds of thunder in the background as all participants witness, during a live radio broadcast, a murder! VERY Charlie Chan!
Roland Winters: For winters, I suggest the scene toward the conclusion of "Docks of New Orleans," where Charlie Chan has been taken captive in his own residence and where he tricks the gang into thinking that poison gas has been released, dooming them all to a painful death.
Of course, there are many other possibilities, and these are just three that came to mind for me. I hope that this will help you, at least as something of a "starter."