OUR CCF MONDAY EVENING CHAT AND FILM VIEWING

FOR OCTOBER 21, 2019

“The Chinese Ring”



FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Man who ride tiger cannot dismount.”

OUR CHAT ROOM: Our Chat Room can be accessed the same way that we accessed by going to our “Chat Room” link at charliechan.info, or use this direct link: http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html

THIS WEEK’S PRESENTATIONS: “The Chinese Ring” (episode 1; 1947; 25 minutes); The Final Curtain (1957, 68 minutes), AND we have as our “extra” presentation, Chapter 1 of the radio drams, “The Baffling Murder of Col. Willoughby“ (September 17, 1936; 15 minutes) starring Walter Connolly.

“THE CHINESE RING” CAST:
Roland Winters: Charlie Chan
Warren Douglas: Sergeant Bill Davidson
Mantan Moreland: Birmingham Brown
Louise Currie: Peggy Cartwright
Victor Sen Young: Tommy Chan
Phillip Ahn: Captain Kong
Byron Foulger: Armstrong
Thayer Roberts: Captain James J. Kelso
Jean Wong: Princess Mei Ling
Chabing: Lilly Mae Wong
George L. Spaulding: Dr. Hickey
Paul Bryar: Sergeant (not credited)
Thornton Edwards: Hotel Clerk (not credited)
Lee Tung Foo: Butler (also the voice of the Apartment Manager) (not credited)
Richard Wang: Hamishin (not credited)
Spencer Chan: Chinese Officer (not credited)
Kenneth Chuck: Chinese Boy (not credited)
Jack Mower: Ballard (not credited)
Charmienne Harker: Stenographer (not credited)
Leon Alton: Detective (not credited)
Jimmy Base: Detective (not credited)
Joseph C. Naecisse: Dock Worker (not credited)
Cap Somers: Dock Worker (not credited)

FEATURE SUMMARY: Mei Ling, a Chinese princess, arrives in San Francisco aboard the boat Shanghai Maid, and, several weeks later, visits Charlie Chan at his home. She gives Chan's butler and assistant, Birmingham Brown, an ancient Chinese ring, and while she is momentarily alone, an assailant kills her by shooting a poison dart through the window. As she is dying, the princess is able to write "Capt. K" on a piece of paper, but is unable to finish the full name. Chan, with the help of Number Two Son, Tommy, and Birmingham, soon finds himself in the midst of international intrigue and danger as he seeks to discover the identity of the mysterious Captain K and the murderer of Princess Mei Ling.

FEATURE 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. 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.

TRIVIA: Walter Connolly, who played Charlie Chan on the radio from 1932-1936 (including our radio drama “The Baffling Murder of Col. Willoughby”), portrayed the character “Uncle” in the 1937 film, “The Good Earth,” with Keye Luke.

TIME: We begin with arrivals and greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share our “extra” presentation, “The Baffling Murder of Col. Willoughby,” which will be followed at exactly 8:15 when we roll our first feature for our Monday evening, “The Chinese Ring.”

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 online. Happily, our feature as well as our extra are available online. Please use the links provided at our Chat Room.

OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment to cast your vote in our OCTOBER 2019 POLL, found as you scroll down our Entrance Page (http://www.charliechan.info/index.html)! This month’s question: “Which would you most likely participate in to celebrate the Charlie Chan family Home’s platinum 20th anniversary, Sunday, October 3, 2021?”

OUR SEPTEMBER POLL RESULT:

To which son does Charlie Chan give the hardest time?

Lee 0%
Jimmy 57%
Tommy 43%

OUR CCF CHAT ARCHIVE: Please take a look at our growing collection of CCF Chat Texts from previous years and this year: http://www.charliechan.info/id630.html

NEXT WEEK: Please join us on Monday, October 28, as we join together for our ANNUAL CHARLIE CHAN FAMILY VIRTUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY with a viewing of “Dead Men Tell.” Come VIRTUALLY costumed as any character, good or bad, human or animal from the Charlie Chan film series!

DON’T MISS THIS GREAT CHARLIE CHAN BLOG!: A great blog site, The Postman on Holiday, offered by our own Lou Armagno which is: "A place to explore all things surrounding Detective Charlie Chan, his creator Earl Derr Biggers, and their connection with Hawaii, Cleveland, and mystery fiction." It can be found at this address: https://thepostmanonholiday.com/

DO YOU HAVE A POLL QUESTION? Please feel free to suggest a Monthly Poll question! Send your ideas to: charliechanfamily@lyahoo.com!

“CHARLIE CHAN” IN OTHER MOVIES! This Saturday, while watching the Bowery Boys in “Angels in Disguise” (1949), Leo Gorcey’s character, Slip Mahoney, jokingly calls a police detective “Charlie Chan.” There have been many more over the years both in the movies and on TV. Does anyone have any favorites Charlie Chan references to share with us?

SO, PLEASE JOIN US for this week’s Monday Evening Chat and Film Viewing as we share “The Chinese Ring.”

THANK YOU SO MUCH…

Sincerely,

Rush Glick