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OUR CCF MONDAY EVENING CHAT AND FILM VIEWING FOR March 21 “Charlie Chan at the Opera”

FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Unwise officer who eat apple not yet ripe get official tummy ache.”

GREETINGS! In Los Angeles, Charlie Chan and Number One Son, Lee, are on their way back to Honolulu, but first spend a very eventful, night of murder at the opera!

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 or perhaps an impromptu sharing of a short video upon request! 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 at the Opera” (1936; 68 minutes). (Distributed: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, January 8, 1937)

FEATURE INTRODUCTION: 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."

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

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 SoldierJohn 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

THIS WEEK’S IMAGE: Lee Chan shows his Pop that he has taken care of all necessary details for their departure to Honolulu.



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

OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment, before it closes at the end of this month, to cast your vote in our MARCH 2022 POLL, right here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XZTQ3JG

OUR FEBRUARY POLL RESULT: To see our February Poll result as well as ALL of our polls going back to 2003, please use this link: http://www.charliechan.info/id93.html

NEXT WEEK (March 28): Please join us as we continue our Charlie Chan Film Tour 2022 with a shared viewing of “Charlie Chan at the Olympics”!

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 at the Opera.”

AS ALWAYS: THANK YOU SO MUCH…

Sincerely,

Rush Glick