The "Spanish Guy" as you put him was named Manuel Arbo.

This is a difficult question to answer for two reasons:

Firstly, some of the people who played Chan in these movies played them differently. Peter Ustinov, for example, played Chan quite well, but many people might not like the movie because it was a spoof. E.L. Park did not play Chan long enough for anyone to make an honest assessment of him as an actor. He was Chan for what? 90 seconds out of the film?

The second and most important reason is: How many people actually remember all of these Chans? George Kuwa's 1927 epic isn't available for public viewing, nor did I see but one episode of "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan".

If I had to pick one, I would pick Ustinov. I enjoyed him as Chan in that movie, even though he was certainly heavier than most other Chans that I had seen play.

I wouldn't mind putting up a poll asking fans of the series to rate each movie in the '31-'49 series on a 10-point scale, since the former scale used by the Webmaster on Charliechan.net was deleted last week. Might make an interesting barometer to find out what people think of these movies and whether it's worth a looksee.

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Replying to:

Thank you all for the information on the Roland Winters Chan movies.

I have one more question or poll results for the people on the Chan message board.

With the Big three out of this question (Warner Oland, Sidney Toler and, Roland Winters),

Who was the best of the rest?
J. Carol Naish
Ross Martin
The Actor in The Spanish Chan Movie
Peter Ustinov
Keye Luke in the Cartoon Chan Clan
E.L. Park
Sojin
George Kuwa

I hope to get your results to this question

I would like to do a write in vote for Xinyuan Xu. I have little to go on to base my vote, but he at least did have a sequel made, so that should count for something.

Manuel Arbo but I'm not sure how well any of us could really decide on who because we've either never seen the performance or it might have been years . . . .

And Manuel Arbo does come closest to the Charlie Chan we know and love.

Virginia

I too would vote for Manuel Arbo. It's a shame he didn't get to do more.

J. Carol Naish would be a close second though.

Chris

J.Carrol Nash gets my vote. Manuel Arbo is very good, but the language barrier detracts a point or two for me. I am often too busy reading the subtitles to watch the actors. I manage, but it is a bit distracting. And then there is the fact of the only one movie. J. Carrol Nash was a fine actor and if he had a full hour show, instead of the half hour with so little time to develop characters and storylines, I think we would be remembering him above Roland Winters. As it is I think he is the "best of all the rest". Call me crazy, but I see a bit of the old Chan charm in him. He has over 3 dozen TV episodes to his credit and even has on screen time with a # 1 son. The silent and other early Chan actors amount to little more then cameos. Ross Martin, if I recall him correctly, was "stereotypicaus ridiculos". I am not sure peter Ustinov's spoof film portrayal should count. I think I'd sooner count Harry Who