FROM CHARLIE CHAN: "Guilty conscience like dog in circus - many tricks.”
THIS WEEK Charlie Chan travels to the Mojave Desert to visit a mysterious castle in the desert located near Death Valley. Followed by Number Two Son, Jimmy, the detective soon finds himself in the midst of death and danger.
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 38) radio program (1936; Runtime: 15:01)
“Castle in the Desert” (1942; Runtime: 63 minutes)
FEATURE SUMMARY: A guest is murdered at Manderley Castle, a medieval reconstruction located in the middle of the Mojave Desert, which is owned by wealthy historian Paul Manderley and his wife, Lucy, who is a descendent of the notorious Borgia family. Charlie Chan, who was summoned to the castle earlier, and Number Two Son, Jimmy, away on leave from the U.S. Army, quickly get to work trying to unravel the mystery.
FILM NOTES: Although an August 15, 1941 ‘Hollywood Reporter’ news item stated that John Larkin would write the screenplay for this film based on an original story by producer Ralph Dietrich, no other contemporary source confirms Dietrich's contributions to the picture as a writer. According to a studio press release and another ‘Hollywood Reporter’ news item, Janis Carter was originally cast as Brenda Hartford. The Variety review erroneously lists the film's running time as 51 minutes. “Castle in the Desert” was the last Charlie Chan film produced by Twentieth Century-Fox. After Sidney Toler obtained the film rights to the character from the widow of Earl Derr Biggers, he continued to make Charlie Chan films at Monogram Pictures.
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 (EDT) when we share our featured presentation “Charlie Chan in Rio.”
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, “Castle in the Desert,” is available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBtPu2qF2so&t=1679s. Also, our “extra” can be found at: https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/crime/charlie-chan/charlie-chan-38-landini
NEXT WEEK: “Charlie Chan in the Secret Service” starring Sidney Toler.
PLEASE accept this invitation share part of your Monday evening with us as we share and enjoy “Castle in the Desert.”
I am sorry that you were somehow blocked from joining with us on Monday. It has been found recently that it is better to use "Flash" to be enabled to enter the Chat Room. Did you try that? If that didn't work, you may be in need of an updated version of Flash on your computer. Please give this a try and test things out this week, and, hopefully, you will be able to join us this coming Monday!
