Dear Rush: I agree with your assessment as to what constitutes a Chan film. After all, the Casino Royale film staring David Niven and Woody Allen in the 1960s can't honestly be counted as true Bond movie. The whole thing was an obvious satire. The early TV show with Barry Nelson as CIA agent James Bond hardly qualifies either, imagine Charlie Chan played by a hip, happening, young Asian American girl complete with karate chops and fast cars. (Yes, Know something like that may actually soon happen. There is already a film called “The Hardy Men” staring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson headed for the big screen.) Then there is the cameo that George Lazenby made in The Return of The Man From Uncle. Kind of like the cameo that Charlie makes in that early Chan entree. No, the series begins with Charlie Chan Carries On. That is the beginning of the Charlie Chan we’ve come to know and love. After all who remembers Cathy Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman.
