This Week's Chat/Film Viewing: "Castle in the Desert"
Greetings as we reach the end of the month of July, bringing us, as well, to the end point of the Twentieth Century-Fox era of the Charlie Chan film series.
Our film for this week’s Monday Evening Chat and Film Viewing will be “Castle in the Desert,” starring Sidney Toler and featuring Victor Sen Yung. In this adventure, Chan and son, Jimmy, find themselves at a mysterious, isolated castle in the middle of the Mojave Desert where apparent murders are taking place with eerie ties to a family “tradition” of killing.
FILM NOTES: Although an August 15, 1941 ‘Hollywood Reporter’ news item stated that John Larkin would write the screenplay for this film based on an original story by producer Ralph Dietrich, no other contemporary source confirms Dietrich's contributions to the picture as a writer. According to a studio press release and another’ Hollywood Reporter’ news item, Janis Carter was originally cast as Brenda Hartford. The ‘Variety’ review erroneously lists the film's running time as 51 minutes. ‘Castle in the Desert’ was the last Charlie Chan film produced by Twentieth Century-Fox as the oversea market had virtually disappeared due to the war. After Sidney Toler obtained the film rights to the character from the widow of Earl Derr Biggers, he continued to make Chan films at Monogram Pictures.
Please join us in our Chat Room which is located at our Charlie Chan Family Home: www.charliechan.info, and use any of the “Chat Room” links to join us. We begin with arrivals and greetings at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and we roll our personal copies of our film exactly 15 minutes later (8:15).
Even if you cannot access a copy of the above-noted film, please do join us anyway, as you will NOT be left out of our ongoing chat and festivities. Also, as is our custom, newcomers are offered the seat of honor at our humble table. Many of our films, such as this week’s entry, may be found available for viewing online through such outlets as YouTube, etc. Again this week we have HAPPY NEWS! A check at YouTube reveals that “Castle in the Desert” IS available online at YouTube for viewing. You may find it at this address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQS80mziA5c
NEXT WEEK we will be viewing “Charlie Chan in the Secret Service,” starring Sidney Toler.
Take care, and let’s all get together for another Chan-filled evening of fun and sharing as we watch “Castle in the Desert.”
