Tonight's Monday Evening Chat/Film Viewing: "The Chinese Ring"
I hope that everyone is having a restful and meaningful Veterans Day as we move deeper into the month of November. Our tour bus has now reached the Roland Winters era of the Charlie Chan series. Therefore, our feature for this edition of our Monday evening Chat and Film Viewing will be “The Chinese Ring.” With the passing of Sidney Toler who had portrayed Charlie Chan in 22 films – 11 for Fox and 11 for Monogram – Mr. Winters was quickly chosen to be the next Chan.
“The Chinese Ring” brings us some familiar faces and an unusual change in a key character. Mantan Moreland continues as the lovable and funny Birmingham Brown while Victor Sen Yung is no longer referred to as Jimmy and is now called “Tommy” (please insert your theory here). In this picture we see Phllip Ahn who was son-in-law Wing Foo in “Charlie Chan in Honolulu” as Captain Kong. Also, Lee Tung Foo from “Dead Men Tell” appears in TWO roles in this movie (can anyone determine the SECOND role, as we view along together?). Jean Wong (Barbara Jean “BJ” Wong appears as Princess Mel Ling. Miss Wong was also seen in “Charlie Chan in Honolulu,” “The Red Dragon,” and “The Trap.”
FILM NOTES: The title card on this film reads:” Charlie Chan in ‘The Chinese Ring,”. The film's working titles were “The Mandarin's Secret,” “The Red Hornet,” and “Charlie Chan and the Chinese Ring.” ‘Independent Film Journal’ reviewed the picture as “The Red Hornet.” Although Call Bureau Cast Service lists Valerie Ardis as "Stenographer," the ‘Variety’ review and studio production files list Charmienne Harker in the role. As noted above, this film marked the first Charlie Chan film to star Roland Winters, who was chosen to replace Sidney Toler who had died earlier in 1947.
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. GOOD NEWS…this week our film, “The Chinese Ring,” IS available at YouTube! You will find it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn8Jir3hW5o
NEXT WEEK (November 18) we will be celebrating the birthday of Boris Karloff as we share a viewing of “Mr. Wong in Chinatown,” starring Mr. Karloff as master sleuth James Wong.
HUMBLE REMINDER: If you have not already done so, please consider ordering your copy of the new “Charlie Chan Collection” Warner Brothers box DVD collection! The best price I have found thus far is from Amazon.com at $28.79 with FREE postage! Hawaii Steve notes that this collection may be purchased at Oldies.com for $21.80 plus postage! So, get yours now!
EMAILING LIST: If you would like to become a part of our Charlie Chan Family weekly email list, receiving this message plus a quality scan of a vintage movie still from each week's featured film, please email us at charliechanfamily@lycos.com.
Please take care, have a restful, contemplative day, and let’s all get together for another Chan-filled evening of fun and sharing as we watch “The Chinese Ring.”
