FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Dead hands cannot hide knife.”

GHOULISH GREETINGS! It is that time of the year again, when dark skies blanket our world in gloom, and the moon weeps in fear of what might come as graves tremble and ghosts stir! YES! It is time for our Annual Charlie Chan Family Virtual Halloween Party, where we gather together, VIRTUALLY COSTUMED as any character – good or otherwise, human or animal or apparition! - from a movie from the Charlie Chan film series! Our identities will be “unmasked” at the end of our evening! And, lest I neglect to tell you, our featured film will be “Charlie Chan at the Opera,” as it is Oland versus KARLOFF!

OUR CHILLING CHAT ROOM: If you dare, our Chat Room can be accessed the same way that we accessed by going to our “Chat Room” link at charliechan.info, or use this direct link: http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html

THIS WEEK’S PRESENTATION: “Charlie Chan at the Opera” (1936; 68 minutes) along with our extra-special “extra, “Charlie Chan in Transylvania”! (2011; 19 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.

FEATURE NOTES: The working title for this film was “Murder in the Opera.” The 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, briefly appeared unbilled in this film as one of the opera extras (the third "soldier" from the left as they are first seen lined up).

CAST (as credited):

Warner Oland: Charlie Chan

Boris Karloff: Gravelle

Keye Luke: Lee Chan

Charlotte Henry: Mademoiselle Kitty (also known as Kitty Gravelle)

Thomas Beck: Phil Childers

Margaret Irving: Madame Lilli Rochelle

Gregory Gaye: Enrico Barelli

Nedda Harrigan: Madame Anita Barelli

Frank Conroy: Mr. Whitley

Guy Usher: Inspector Regan

William Demarest: Sergeant Kelly

Maurice Cass: Mr. Arnold

Tom McGuire: Morris



UNCREDITED CAST (alphabetical):

William Bailey: Detective

Charles Bancroft: Opera Extra Soldier

John Bleifer: Orderly

Myrta Bonillas: Villager in Opera

Raymond Brown; Guard

Stanley Blystone: Police Officer with Rifle

Carita Crawford: Dancer in Opera

Patrick Cunning: Villager in Opera

Zari Elmassian: Madame Rochelle's Singing Voice

Frank Fanning: Police Officer

Jim Farley: Detective

Adolph Faylauer: Opera Spectator

Larry Fisher: Police Officer

Benson Fong: Opera Extra Soldier

J.C. Fowler: Opera Spectator

Otto Fries: Innkeeper in Opera

Bud Geary: Police Officer

Milton Gowman: Villager in Opera

Herschel Graham: Villager in Opera

Harrison Greene

Julia Griffith: Opera Spectator

Cliff Herd: Stagehand

Charles Anthony Hughes: Ambulance Doctor

Selmer Jackson: Hudson, Los Angeles Bulletin Wire Photo Technician

Gladden James: Secretary

Jane Keckley: Second Wardrobe Mistress

Fred A. Kelsey: Dugan

Leonard Mellon: Villager in Opera

Tony Merlo: Villager in Opera

Dodo Newton: Barmaid in Opera

Eddie Parker: Police Officer

Richard Powell: Police Officer

Enrique de Rosas: Florist

Tony Roux: Villager in Opera

Dick Rush: Guard

Alexander Schoenberg: Prompter

Eddie Shubert: Guard

Lee Shumway: Sanitarium Guard

Mary Louise Smith: Villager in Opera

Harry Strang: Police Officer

Eddie Tamblyn: Call Boy

Marjorie Timm: Villager in Opera

Sam Tong: Opera Extra Soldier

Harland Tucker: Private Detective

Hilda Vaughn: Agnes

Emmett Vogan: Smitty, Chicago Sun Wire Photo Technician

Billy Wayne: Electirician

Tudor Williams: Boris Karloff's Operatic Singing Voice

Joan Woodbury: Opera Dancer

FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION ON OUR FEATURE: Please go to http://www.charliechan.info/id31.html

TRIVIA: Baritone Tudor Williams provided Boris Karloff's operatic singing voice.

TERM OF THE WEEK: soup and fish - (Informal) A tuxedo or other men's eveningwear.

Charlie Chan: "Please, do not need soup and fish."

THIS WEEK’S IMAGE: (Attached) Boris Karloff…as Gravelle, back from the DEAD!



For a viewing of more than 500 images from ALL films in the Charlie Chan series, please visit our Gallery: http://www.charliechan.info/id448.html

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 online. Happily, OUR FEATURE IS AVAILABLE ONLINE! (SOMETIMES there are occasional 5-second commercial intrusions. If so, after the 5 seconds, click on “Skip Ad”.)

OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment to cast your vote in our October 2021 POLL, found as you scroll down our Entrance Page (http://www.charliechan.info/index.html)!

DO YOU HAVE A POLL QUESTION? Please feel free to suggest a Monthly Poll question! Send your ideas to: charliechanfamily@lyahoo.com.

OUR CCF CHAT ARCHIVE: Please take a look at our growing collection of CCF Chat Texts from previous years and this year: http://www.charliechan.info/id630.html

NEXT WEEK: It’s MELBOURNE CUP NIGHT again! This is another annual event that we have been celebrating since the very beginning of our Chat Room gatherings in 2000! Will YOU be the winner of this year’s vintage 1936 silver half-dollar?

AND… DON’T MISS THIS GREAT CHARLIE CHAN BLOG!: Continuing strongly in 2021, great blog site, The Postman on Holiday, offered by our own Charlie Chan and Earl Derr Biggers expert, Lou Armagno which is: "A place to explore all things surrounding Detective Charlie Chan, his creator Earl Derr Biggers, and their connection with Hawaii, Cleveland, and mystery fiction." Updated each month, it can be found at: thepostmanonholiday.com

SO, REMEMBER, IF YOU DARE, PLEASE JOIN US for this week’s feature, “Charlie Chan at the Opera” as we do the “Monster Mash” together during our ANNUAL CCF VIRTUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY!

THANK YOU…SO MUCH…

Sinisterly Yours,

Rush Glick

Have fun wish I could make it but have home chores to do....maybe next week

Great fun tonight at the Chan Family Halloween Party. Wonderful silly characters by one and all of the guests. Love the jokes, even the bad puns. A great turnout.

As for the film, "Chan at the Opera" is by far one of the best. The scenes between Karloff and Oland are spellbinding. With a great supporting cast, and a rich script, it doesn't get any better.

For the past three weeks, we have had the opportunity to see three different actors play Charlie Chan. A chance to compare performances and interpretations.

On October 11th, we viewed two episodes of the Chan TV series with J. Carrol Naish. On October 18th, we watched Roland Winters in his first Chan film. Tonight, we saw Warner Oland in the role that made him an international movie star.

It has been several years since I have watched the above-mentioned films and TV episodes. Mr. Naish and his constant pointing of his finger are annoying to me. After speaking with James Hong, I do not believe the father and son relationship at all.

For me, Mr. Winters does not have a complete understanding of the character. It's his first film as Chan. Maybe he gets better in the later films. I don't know why the producers selected him to carry on the role.

Mr. Oland is, by far, the complete Charlie Chan.