Hello. First off I'd like to say that this website is great. I discovered Charlie Chan a few years ago when the Fox Movies channel started playing them (before they disappeared from tv). Naturally when they came out on dvd I had to buy them. I have both Volume 1 and 2 of the Charlie Chan movies boxsets that Fox has released.

Anyway, I have a question that I hope someone might know the answer to. I feel like I'm going crazy.

In the movie Charlie Chan at the Opera, at the very beginning, there's two guards talking outside an Insane Asylum. In the background you can see Boris Karloff (who plays a "madman") playing the piano through a window.

I could've sworn that when I originally saw this movie on Fox's movie channel on tv a few years back, that one of the guards says something like "You act like Frankenstein was in there" to the nervous guard.

I remember this part because I found it pretty funny since Boris Karloff played Frankenstein. I remember even telling a friend, who never saw a Charlie Chan movie before, about the part.

A few days ago I watched Charlie Chan at the Opera on the dvd in the Volume 2 Boxset that Fox released. I was surprised when that part was missing from the movie! I even watched the beginning twice to make sure. I don't understand..am I going crazy? Was that part edited out of the dvd version? And if so, could there be more parts edited from other Charlie Chan movies in the Volume 1 and 2 boxsets??

If anyone can help me figure this mystery out, I'd appreciate it! Where's Charlie Chan when you need him?

Randy,
Great!

Now I have to watch it again because I don't remember any splice or jump in that scene and I think I would have caught it.

Okay, the rest of you all!! Get your DVDs and tapes out and see what you can see!

Virginia

Dear randy,

First, weclome to you! May your posts here be many and frequent.

Next, you are not going crazy! You are slightly mistaken regarding the statement about Frankenstein being at the beginning of "Charlie Chan at the Opera," though. Later in the movie, the stage manager of the opera "Carnival" shouts out in frustration something to the effect: "This opera will go on tonight even if Frankenstein HIMSELF shows up!"

I am sure that by now you have seen the entire picture and have already noted this for yourself. However, if you have not yet had the opportunity, you will be in for a treat when you do so. The quality of this restored film alone is worth it!

Sincerely,
Rush Glick

Hi again. Thanks for the welcome, Rush.

Unfortunately, I think I might be crazy after all I did see that part with the stage manager mentioning Frankenstein later on in the movie but that wasn't the part that I was remembering.

I could've sworn that one of the guards said something like "You act like Frankenstein was in there" to the other guard at the very beginning of the movie..just as they show Boris Karloff playing the piano.

I know it sounds crazy, but I was wondering if they either edited it out of the dvd or for some reason there might be two versions of the movie, one that got that added line later on and that's what I saw on the Fox movies channel. I don't see why either one of those possibilities would've happened, though.

Thanks anyway, though. It's just weird.

Hi Randy,

You are not alone in remembering scenes that never existed. Very often I combine elements of two separate films and create a scene that I am sure I saw somewhere only to be surprised when I eventually see the film in question and realize it is my feeble aging brain playing tricks on me. :)

Another good example is the urban legend that Mantan Moreland said "Feets Don't Fail Me Now" in a Chan film. People swear up and down they've seen this yet there is not a single shot in any Chan film that matches this and nobody can cite a single Moreland film that has this line. It's like the line that Bogie never said "Play it again, Sam".

Perhaps the scene you remember occured in another Karloff film? It does seem like the Frankenstein reference was used on multiple occasions as a comic in-joke reference.

Steve