FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “What detective needs is great patience.”
Monday already! Time seems to fly by! Our film for our Monday Night Chat and film Viewing is “The Scarlet Clue,” starring Sidney Toler. This one offers us all the opportunity to tag along with Charlie Chan, Number Three Son, Tommy, and Birmingham Brown (along with some moments of “incomplete talk” with Ben Carter) as they search for a killer who inhabits a radio station that also features a very early television broadcast studio. Who is the mysterious killer who communicates only by a Teletype machine?
Also, we will be sharing, before our featured film presentation, an “extra.” This week our extra consists of another featurette from the 20th Century-Fox Charlie Chan DVD sets: “Charlie Chan’s Lucky Director: H. Bruce Humberstone” which is found on the “Charlie Chan at the Opera” Fox disc.
OUR PRESENTATIONS: “The Scarlet Clue” (1945); runtime: 65 minutes…AND “Charlie Chan’s Lucky Director: H. Bruce Humberstone” (2006); total runtime: 23:00.
FILM SUMMARY: Charlie Chan of the Secret Service is searching for the killer of an enemy agent. The trail leads to a radio and television broadcast center, where Number Three Son, Tommy and assistant Birmingham Brown accompany the detective as he winds his way through a host of suspects and hidden dangers.
TIME: We begin with arrivals and greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share our special short “extras” which will be followed at exactly 8:15 when we roll our feature, “The Scarlet Clue.”
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, our feature is presently available at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVeHS_0qtuM
OF NOTE: The working title of this film was “Robot Murder.” The title card reads: “Charlie Chan in ‘The Scarlet Clue’". ‘Hollywood Reporter’ production charts include Harry Bradley and William Gould in the cast, but their participation in the released film has not been confirmed. ‘Hollywood Reporter’ production charts also note that director of photography William Sickner was borrowed by Monogram from Universal to work on this film. The minor role of actor "Horace Carlos" is obviously based on film actor Boris Karloff, while the film's killer wears a mask modeled on actor Rondo Hatton. Modern sources add the following actors to the cast: Charles Jordan (Nelson) and Kernan Cripps (Detective).
AND, A REMINDER OF SOME GOOD NEWS: I have tracked down a site on the Internet which features ALL 16 of the episodes from “The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan” cartoon series, featuring Keye Luke as the voice of Charlie Chan! To access these episodes, please go to the following link which takes you to the first episode. From there you can click “Next” for Episode Two, and so on, or, if you scroll down, you may choose from any of the other episodes! Here is the link: http://www.toon.is/the-amazing-chan-and-the-chan-clan-01-the-crown-jewel-caper-video_323e82e4e.html Please enjoy, and, perhaps we can begin viewing these cartoons as a “bonus” each Monday before our featured film!
SO, please have a happy, safe Monday, and let’s return once again to our Chat Room at our House on Punchbowl Hill for another fun, Chan-filled evening!
