FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Sometime jewel found in ashes.”

THIS WEEK: Charlie Chan and son, Lee, following the Race Track Case, attend the opera before heading back to Honolulu. However, this performance is like none other in the history of performing arts!

THE CHAT ROOM: Go to our “Chat Room” page, and, at the bottom of that page, click on the “Charlie Chan Family Chat Room ENTRANCE” link. You may then enter as a “Guest.”

OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION: “Charlie Chan at the Opera” (1936; 68 minutes)

FOR IN-DEPTH INFORMATION on our film, go to “Films” at charliechan.org, then scroll down to “Charlie Chan at the Opera.”

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 his 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 quieter 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). Baritone Tudor Williams provided Boris Karloff’s operatic singing voice.

THIS WEEK’S EXTRA: Please join us earlier before the start of our feature for this extra presentation:

Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott: Boris Karloff — The Man Behind the Monster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIET9NUa54I

(Running time: 8:43)

OUR MESSAGE BOARD: Please consider regular visits to our Message Board, and feel free to add a message to begin a conversation or state a thought! Please remember, the Message Board has been there for YOU since 2004! Take a trip back in time and take a look at what was happening with your Charlie Chan Family “way back when”! (Go to charliechan.org and click the “Message Board” link.)

AS ALWAYS, WE BEGIN OUR EVENING at 7:30 Eastern Time with a 45-minute time for arrivals and greetings, and the sharing of an extra…or two...or even three! (see above). Then, at precisely 8:15 ET, we begin running our feature film simultaneously starting our personal or online copies of this week’s feature!

AT OUR BULLETIN BOARD: THE CHARLIE CHAN FAMILY HOME 2022 NEWSLETTER is now available at our “Bulletin Board” at our Charlie Chan Family Home, charliechan.org! Also, at our Bulletin Board you will find a lot more in the form of links to other items of possible interest!

AND, please take a minute to cast your vote on our MARCH POLL, also available on our Bulletin board…or at this address: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CN7CSTR

NEXT WEEK: Charlie Chan and Number One Son, Lee face danger, intrigue, and death in “Charlie Chan at the Olympics”!

Take care, and I hope to see you at this week’s Monday Evening Chat at our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room at charliechan.org as we share “Charlie Chan at the Opera.”

Sincerely,

Rush Glick