Our film for Monday Night: "Charlie Chan at the Race Track"
FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “When player cannot see man who deal cards, much wiser to stay out of game.”
This week our CHARLIE CHAN FILM TOUR 2016 takes us from Melbourne, Australia, to Honolulu, to Los Angeles as we follow Charlie Chan and Number One Son, Lee along a dangerous trail of international gamblers who will not hesitate to murder anyone who stands in there way, as we watch “Charlie Chan at the Race Track.”
As is out new custom, we will be sharing, before our featured presentation, a vintage Charlie Chan radio show; “The Frightened Sharaf,” which can be found on the Internet at YouTube at this address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCpldUqYz-o
OUR PRESENTATIONS:
1. “The Frightened Sharaf” (Australia; circa 1950; Runtime: 27:42)
2. “Charlie Chan at the race Track” (1936; Runtime: 71 minutes)
SUMMARIES:
“The Frightened Sharaf” - Two weeks ago in San Francisco, Jimmy Daiss was shot in a gunfight with the police. This afternoon Charlie Chan and his Number One Son, sit in the Daiss home. Charlie Chan gently sympathizes with the boy’s mother. (This is a complete story.)
“Charlie Chan at the Race Track” – Following the suspicious disqualification of his horse, Avalanche, in the Melbourne Cup, Major Kent, a friend of Charlie Chan, returning to the United States with the thoroughbred via steamship, is found kicked to death in the horse's stall. Chan investigates when the liner stops off in Honolulu. He discovers evidence of foul play, and when the detective uncovers fraud involving another race in Los Angeles, he, along with Number One Son, Lee, seeks to expose an international gambling ring as well as the murderer.
NOTES: The Roxy Theatre in New York billed this film as “At The Race Track with Charlie Chan.” ‘Variety’ reviewed the movie as “Chan at the Race Track.” According to ‘Motion Picture Herald’ and ‘Liberty,’ some scenes in the film were shot at Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, California, and the film contained footage of "some of the most spectacular events of the recent racing season." ‘Motion Picture Herald’ also notes that the film "has a semi-topical significance in as much as a great antipodean horse, Pharlap, brought to this country a few years ago [from Australia], died under circumstances that have never been fully explained." ‘Liberty’ notes that Technical Director Monroe Liebergold had been a jockey for the well-known horse breeder H. P. Whitney. Although ‘Hollywood Reporter’ production charts list Neil Fitzgerald and John Mooney as additional actors, and only Neil Fitzgerald's participation in the final film has been confirmed.
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 featured movie: “Charlie Chan at the Race Track.”
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 online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMJF_QJHEh8
PLEASE have a happy Monday, and let’s plan to meet together once again at our Chat Room as we share this week’s film: “Charlie Chan at the Race Track,” shall we?
