Please allow me to present you with my theory about the placement of the movie poster "Charlie Chan in Honolulu" in the film "Mr. Moto's Last Warning" (1939).
The placement of the Chan poster in the Moto film is NOT a tribute to the late actor Warner Oland. Mr. Oland was alive and well, sort of, during the entire filming of "Mr. Moto's Last Warning."
"Mr. Moto's Last Warning" was in production from June 6, 1938 to June 29, 1938. Mr. Oland died on August 6, 1938. Production ended five (5) weeks prior to Mr. Oland's passing in Sweden.
The Chan poster placed within the Moto film was a franchise plug (a promotion) for the Chan series. Both detective series were produced by the 20th Century-Fox film studio.
The Chan movie poster was a subtle reminder to the movie-going public that the Charlie Chan franchise was still alive. At the time of the release of the Moto film (1/29/39), the movie-going public had not seen a Chan film on the silver screen since December of 1937. "Charlie Chan in Honolulu" was released on December 16, 1938.
A question to ask ourselves: Why would 20th Century-Fox pay a tribute to an actor who was difficult to work with? At the time of his death, the studio was considering suing Mr. Oland for the expense of shooting footage for "CC at the Ringside." Except for a few short scenes, the "Ringside" footage was thrown away due to Mr. Oland's walk-out.
Another note. 20th Century-Fox never placed a tribute to any of its late contract actors in any of their films. This my theory and I'm sticking to it.
Thank you! I think you nailed it. It is interesting that Fox took six months to release the Moto film. All you say makes perfect sense, though. Yes, "Honolulu" would have been a Warner Oland Chan film, and, from all indications it would have been the next in the series had he not passed away.
