FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Theory like mist on eyeglasses - obscures facts.”

GREETINGS! Charlie Chan travels from Paris to the Land of the Pharaohs on what is to be a check on the illegal sale of ancient finds from a newly discovered tomb. However, the trail soon leads to MURDER!

OUR CHAT ROOM: 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

We Begin our evening at 7:30 Eastern Time with a 45-minute time for arrivals and greetings. During this time, we also have the opportunity to engage in open dialogue. Then, at precisely 8:15, we begin our feature film simultaneously starting our personal or online copies of this week’s feature!

THIS WEEK’S PRESENTATION: “Charlie Chan in Egypt” (1935; 72 minutes).

FEATURE INTRODUCTION: Charlie Chan travels to Egypt on behalf of the French Archeological Society to investigate Professor Arnold's excavation of Ahmeti's tomb, as artifacts from the tomb have been found in other museums, contrary to the agreement that Arnold had made with the Society. When the archaeologist disappears during the excavation of other ancient art treasures, Chan must sort out the stories of the archaeological team to find out why priceless treasures are ending up in the hands of private collectors, while confronting a series of seemingly supernatural events.

FEATURE NOTES: The ‘American Film Institute Catalog’ correctly lists the running time for “Charlie Chan in Egypt” as 72 minutes. However, recent sources have stated that it is actually 65 minutes in length. The larger figure certainly relates to the original running time, while the smaller running time may indicate that some surviving prints of this film have been shortened. The music and the appearance of the opening title and credits lend further credence to this probability, as the music and accompanying sound of water splashing can be traced to a scene that occurs 51 minutes into the film. It is likely that the original opening title sequence has been lost and the current version was a reconstruction, possibly owing the film having been shortened in length at some point in its existence. The present title card credits only Warner Oland, Pat Patterson, Thomas Beck, Rita Cansino, and Stepin Fetchit, and there are no closing credits. It is unlikely that this was originally the case. It is interesting to note, however, that publicity stills for Charlie Chan in Egypt also credit only these same five actors. “Charlie Chan in Egypt” features an early film appearance by Rita Hayworth, who was at that stage of her career still using her birth name, Rita Cansino.

CAST (as credited):

Warner Oland: Charlie Chan
Pat Paterson: Carol Arnold
Thomas Beck: Tom Evans
Rita Cansino: Nayda
Stepin Fetchit: Snowshoes

UNCREDITED CAST (alphabetical):

Anita Brown: Kitten
Frank Conroy: Professor [John] Thurston
John Davidson: Daoud Atrash [David Atrash]
Nigel de Brulier: Edfu Ahmad
James Eagles: Barry Arnold
John George: Ali
George Irving: Professor Arnold
Paul Porcasi: Fouad Soueida
Frank Reicher: Dr. Jaipur
Gloria Roy
Arthur Stone: Dragoman
Jameson Thomas: Dr. Anton Racine

THIS WEEK’S IMAGE: Dr. Racine accuses Charlie Chan of bungling the murder case.



IF YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FEATURE: Often our features can be found online. GOOD NEWS! Our feature IS available through the link provided at our Chat Room.

OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment, before it closes, to cast your vote in our JANUARY 2022 POLL, right here: February 2022 Poll

OUR JANUARY POLL RESULT:

QUESTION: If The Return of Charlie Chan had successfully resulted in a Charlie Chan television series starring Ross Martin, how long do you feel it would have run?

Less than one season 32%

One full season 40%

More than one full season 28%

NEXT WEEK (February 21): Please join us as we begin our Charlie Chan Film Tour 2022 with a shared viewing of “Charlie Chan in Shanghai.”

AND, AS ALWAYS… DON’T MISS THIS GREAT CHARLIE CHAN BLOG!: A great blog site, The Postman on Holiday, is 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 this address: www.thepostmanonholiday.com

OUR 2022 CHARLIE CHAN FAMILY NEWSLETTER!

This year’s Charlie Chan Family Newsletter, chronicling the year 2021, is now available! Thank you so much, Lou, for your continued, masterfully hard work and dedication! It can be accessed at the following link:

https://thepostmanonholidayhome.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/2021-newsletter-lou-final.pdf

AND, FINALLY, REMEMBER: PLEASE JOIN US for this week’s feature “Charlie Chan in Egypt.”

THANK YOU SO MUCH…

Sincerely,

Rush Glick