Rush:

Here are the film titles with literal translations into English...

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珍珠衫 (1938) -- The Pearl Shirt (1938)

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播音台大血案 (1939) -- Murder at the Taiwan National University Radio Station (1939)

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This next one appears under two alternate Chinese titles that differ by just one character (the third character over 礼 or 理). The other characters are the same. It actually causes this film to be listed twice in online lists. The character difference is only about how to write 'Charlie Chan' in Chinese. It can be written either as 陈查礼 or 陈查理 and both come out sounding like 'Chen Chali' (approximately) in Mandarin. In Chinese, the family name is said first.
陈查礼大破隐身术 (1941)
陈查理大破隐身术 (1941)
-- The Great Charlie Chan Breaks a Stealth Technique (1941)

The approximate meaning of this title becomes clear from the plot description. There are criminals that can somehow get into and out of places unseen. It almost seems like invisibility to me since Charlie Chan apparently tries to use some special glasses to be able to see them. Anyway, Charlie Chan or perhaps his clever daughter Meina eventually figures out how to 'break' or perhaps 'put a stop to' the use of this technique. A better title in English might be 'Charlie Chan and the Invisible Thieves' or something similar.

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天网恢恢 (1947) -- The Net of Divine Retribution (1947)

This title appears to be a saying or proverb in Chinese. I get the impression it means something like 'Crime Doesn't Pay' perhaps. One translator interpretted this as 'Justice is Inescapable'.

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一代枭雄 (1948) -- Hero of Our Time (1948)

This also appears to be some sort of expression in Chinese. I don't see why the film is called this really. The plot deals with a counterfeit ring. Note that the first character that looks like a dash is part of the title. I would forget to copy it because it looks so much like a dash rather than the start of the title.

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陈查礼智斗黑霸王 (1948)
陈查理智斗黑霸王 (1948)
-- The Wise Charlie Chan Fights the Dark Monopoly (1948)

Again, we have two variant titles depending upon how 'Charlie' is written in Chinese.

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The above six films are definitely Charlie Chan films from China that started the actor Ziyuan Xu (or Xu Ziyuan as the Chinese would say) as Charlie Chan.

I can tell this either because I have found a plot summary for the film and Charlie Chan is described specifically or the name 'Charlie Chan' is in the title of the film (with Ziyuan Xu in the cast, obviously as Chan).

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There are also three films with Ziyuan Xu that may or may not be Chan films. I just don't have enough info to confirm this. Except for the second of these, the actress Meijun Gu is also in the cast. Meijun Gu plays the role of Chan's daughter Meina Chan in other films.

These Ziyuan Xu titles that are unconfirmed as Chan films are listed below...

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兰闺飞尸 (1937) -- Lan Guifei’s Corpse (1937)

艳尸复仇记 (1941) -- Avenging a Beautiful Dead Woman (1941)

千里眼 (1942) -- Clairvoyance (1942)

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Doug

Rush:

Yes, I have found rather blurry still photos from three of the films. Here are the links to those photos.

This is from The Pearl Shirt (1938) --

http://www.cnmdb.com/upload/images/title/2006/07/21/211051362_s.jpg

This is from The Net of Divine Retribution (1947) --

http://www.cnmdb.com/upload/images/title/2005/12/30/171522178_s.jpg

This is from Hero of Our Time (1948) --

http://www.cnmdb.com/upload/images/title/2005/12/31/101538134_s.jpg

Doug

Another version of the still from 'The Pearl Shirt'

http://movie.18dao.com/imgs/211051362.jpg

By the way, a couple of people (in China I assume) rated 'The Pearl Shirt' in one of those online ratings of films. One gave it 10/10 and the other 8/10. This would imply it's a good film perhaps, but also it implies that this film might exist since people with internet access have seen it and rated it. People probably wouldn't be rating a film that is lost.

Rush:

Also as I explained in an earlier posting on another thread below,

Xinhua Motion Picture Company is the same as New China Motion Picture Company. Xinhua is a Chinese word that just means New China.

Doug

Dear Douglas,

I have thought that Zhong guo ("Center Land") means "China." The character for zhong is a square with a vertical line drawn through it. Depending on the character, of course, "hua" in "xinhua," I took to perhaps mean "flower." So, perhaps your Mandarin speaking friends can clarify and verify the movie company names, just to be sure.

Sincerely,
Rush

Rush:

In your section on other Chan films you write...

"What follows is a list of "other" Charlie Chan pictures, including two Chinese productions and one Mexican-Cuban co-production, as well as a Spanish language version of Charlie Chan Carries On."

You could change "two Chinese productions" to "at least six Chinese productions" or some similar wording.

Doug

Rush:

One suggestion...

Not to burden you with extra work, but it might be interesting to divide the 'Other Chan Films' section into Silent, Spanish-language, and Chinese-language sub-pages. The other films fall rather neatly into those three divisions.

Doug

...oh, except for the two more modern productions. That's the last category.

Dear Douglas,

Thank you, again, for all of the great work! Sadly, the characters you provided in the earlier post (up at the top of this thread) only show as squares on my computer. Is there some program that I can add to make them appear as they should?

Thank you...

Sincerely,
Rush

Rush:

Tell me, are you able to see the Chinese characters of the title when you look at one of these websites?

http://www.mtime.com/movie/45071/
http://www.cnmdb.com/title/47169/

The first website shows three Chinese characters plus the English title 'The Shirt with Pearls' and then the year (1938). The second has only the characters and then the year. Or do you only see boxes here too?

Doug

Dear Douglas,

Sadly, neither worked. I tried to instal the "Language Pack" offered, but that requires a disc that I do not have.

Could you perhaps try sending the titles via email? That might work.

Thank you...

Sincerely,
Rush