Our Monday Evening Chat/Film Viewing for this week: "Charlie Chan in Egypt"
FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Waiting for tomorrow waste of today.”
Greetings on this Monday, Presidents Day! As we continue to move along on our
CHARLIE CHAN FILM TOUR 2016, we will be viewing “Charlie Chan in Egypt,” starring Warner Oland. As was true last week, this week’s movie has a connection in continuity with “Charlie Chan in Paris,” which we watched last week. In “Egypt,” Mr. Chan has wrapped up a grueling case in the City of Light, and, as he heads home around the world, passes through Luxor, Egypt. This time, he is on a mission for the French Archeological Society to track down the source of illegal antiquities sales on the black market. In the midst of this intrigue, Charlie Chan finds himself involved in yet another case of murder with undertones of an ancient Egyptian curse!
Also, per our newly inaugurated custom, we will be sharing, before our featured film presentation, a vintage Charlie Chan radio show produced in Australia: “The Case of the Romantic Engineer” which can be found on the Internet at: http://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/crime/charlie-chan/charlie-chan-the-romantic-engineer
OUR PRESENTATION: “Charlie Chan in Egypt” (1935). Runtime: 72 minutes…AND “The Case of the Romantic Engineer” (radio program, summer ca. 1950; Runtime: 26:14).
SUMMARIES:
“The Case of the Romantic Engineer” – “It is written that honesty of man is measured by greed of same.” In this radio adventure, as Charlie Chan and son work in san Francisco, we hear of persons who subtracted greed from honesty and obtained murder!
“Charlie Chan in Egypt” - Charlie Chan travels to Egypt on behalf of the French Archeological Society to investigate Professor Arnold's excavation of Ahmeti's tomb, as artifacts from the tomb have been found in other museums, contrary to the agreement that Arnold had made with the Society. When the archaeologist disappears during the excavation of other ancient art treasures, Chan must sort out the stories of the archaeological team to find out why priceless treasures are ending up in the hands of private collectors, while confronting a series of seemingly supernatural events.
NEW TIME: We begin with arrivals and greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share our radio program which will be followed at exactly 8:15 when we roll our feature, “Charlie Chan in Egypt.”
LOCATION: Our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room, which is accessed at http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html.
IF YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FILM: Often our features can be found available online, happily, tonight’s feature is presently available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbOEy2K-BCI
OF NOTE: The American Film Institute Catalog correctly lists the running time for “Charlie Chan in Egypt” as 72 minutes. However, recent sources have stated that it is actually 65 minutes in length. The larger figure certainly relates to the original running time, while the smaller running time may indicate that some surviving prints of this film have been shortened. The music and the appearance of the opening title and credits lend further credence to this probability, as the music and accompanying sound of water splashing can be traced to a scene that occurs 51 minutes into the film. It is likely that the original opening title sequence has been lost and the current version was a reconstruction, possibly owing the film having been shortened in length at some point in its existence.
PLEASE have a pleasant, safe President’s Day, and I hope to see you in our Chat Room as we share our features together!
