FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Murder know no law of ‘relativity.’"
THIS WEEK: Our film for this Monday evening, “The Jade Mask,” introduces us to Charlie Chan’s Number Four Son, Edward, or “Eddie,” although as we shall see, he HATES being called that! This Chan son is played by Edwin Luke, Keye Luke’s younger brother. In a mid-1980s interview, Keye Luke noted how he first heard of Charlie Chan: “Before I went to Hollywood, I was in Seattle, and my brother used to say to me, ‘Hey, you ought to read these stories about this Chinese Detective in The Saturday Evening Post. Oh, he's so clever!’” The brother mentioned would be none other than Edwin Luke!
OUR PRESENTATIONS: “The Jade Mask” (1944; 66 minutes) …AND, the third installment of “The Baffling Murder of Colonel Willoughby,” (Radio Drama: 1936; 15 minutes).
FILM SUMMARY: Charlie Chan is assigned by the government to investigate the murder of Harper, an eccentric scientist who had been experimenting with a formula that could turn wood into a substance as hard as steel. Chan, with Number Four Son, Edward and Birmingham Brown in tow finds himself in a strange mansion that is teeming with an odd assortment of suspects, virtually all having a possible motive to do away with Harper. Several additional murders occur as the detective closes in on his quarry.
FILM NOTES: The working title of this film was “Mystery Mansion.” The title card on the print reads: Charlie Chan in "The Jade Mask." Early ‘Hollywood Reporter’ production charts include Russell Simpson in the cast, but it is unlikely that he appeared in the released film. The ‘Variety’ review mistakenly identifies Edwin Luke's role as Tommy in the accompanying list of credits. Edwin Luke, who played Edward Chan in this picture, was the younger brother of actor Keye Luke, who had previously played son Lee Chan in numerous films in this series.
TIME: We begin with arrivals and greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share our special short “extra” which will be followed at exactly 8:15 when we roll our feature for this Monday evening, “The Jade Mask.”
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, and, I am pleased to announce that our feature IS available online at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcTtjoSMkDQ
And, for our Charlie Chan radio drama, you may use this link: http://podbay.fm/show/288425504/e/1244009280?autostart=1
OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment to cast your vote in our August 2018 Poll, located at our Entrance Page (http://www.charliechan.info/index.html)!
NEXT WEEK: Join us on Monday, August 20, as we share a viewing of “The Scarlet Clue.” We also continue with Part FOUR of our Charlie Chan radio mystery, “The Baffling Murder of Colonel Willoughby” as an “extra” prior to the viewing of our film!
SO, PLEASE JOIN US for our Monday Evening Chat and Film Viewing as we share “The Jade Mask.”
