Just wrapping up reading The Black Camel novel... and wow. It feels een better than the film... and I love the film. Even having seen the film several times (probably part of why I hadn't read it before), the book fleshes CC out in ways I hadn't expected. Wonderfully fuller descriptions of CC's character, aphorisms, relations to family, feel of Honolulu life and geography, etc....
It is the only of the books I hadn't read, and it simply feels much more alive. Derr Biggers at his best... and easy to see why Charlie caught people's imaginations and hearts.
Good news is that it is now available on Kindle for very affordable price.... which is where I bumped into it.
I recommend a read for all CC'ers.
Agreed, Len. Great book and lots of nice details that a movie had to leave out due to the story needing to be presented in 72 minutes! I took a vintage copy of "The Black Camel" (given to my wife's grandmother as a gift in 1929!) with me ten years ago and read it "on location" at Waikiki on the beach. At that time I tracked down a few of the locations noted in the text. Years later, Hawaii Steve provided a much more in-depth study for me, as you know!
I do find the book to be a very nice companion to the film, offering a few insights that will be missed otherwise, such as, for example, knowing that when actress Shelah Fane calls out to "Val," the film director seen at picture's beach beginning as played by Hamilton MacFadden, we know that he was Val Martino in the book. We also see an unnamed lady who is a guest of Shelah at her beach house. From the book, we realize she is "Miss Dixon."
I am so pleased that you enjoyed the book, and I hope that others will take you up on your recommendation.
Yes. I also like the reference to the Manoa Valley where Balou's live... up the hill from Waikiki... and site of the Chinese Cemetary. Can picture Derr Biggers wandering around up there just to get some local flavor in re: the chinese community. Of course he couldn't have known that Chang Apana would be buried there... which is another nice tie in.
I agree with your comments listed above. This is Earl Derr Biggers at his best. His attention to location detail made Old Hawaii come alive for me. 84 years after the original release of the book, one can still find many of the sites mentioned in the novel, i.e. Honolulu Harbor, the old hotel on Fort Street, Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the old Police Dept building, etc.
After reading this novel, one can see elements of character development and story structure in the Chan films that followed "The Black Camel."
For example, in the films, there is usually a rich playboy type romancing some pretty young thing. And there's usually a character pretending to be somebody else.
From time to time, when Charlie is about to reveal a clue to a gathered group of suspects, the lights go off in the room. When the lights come back on, the clue is gone and somebody is lying on the floor. In "The Black Camel," it's Inspector Chan who's been knocked to the floor. Am I right?
For Chan fans, it should be required reading to read "The Black Camel" (1929). Of the six Chan novels, this may be the darkest story of them all.
