OUR CHARLIE CHAN FAMILY MONDAY EVENING CHAT FOR August 21, 2023: “The Shanghai Cobra”
CHAT NUMBER: 1,217
FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Too many hands sometime spoil pudding.”
THIS WEEK: An “noir” Charlie Chan adventure? YES!!! “The Shanghai Cobra” fits that genre, as we join Charlie Chan and company on a dark, wild ride in a mystery that has its roots in world events and an incident involving Chan that dates back nearly a decade!
OUR CHAT ROOM: Go to our “Chat Room” page, and, at the bottom of that page, click on the “Charlie Chan Family Chat Room ENTRANCE” link. You may then enter as a “Guest.”
OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION: “The Shanghai Cobra” (1945; 64 minutes) Our film is available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYALa-Q9av0
FEATURE SUMMARY: Charlie Chan is sent by the government to investigate several murders connected with a bank where a vital store of radium is kept. A number of employees of the bank have been killed by an injection of cobra venom. Chan remembers a similar case back in Shanghai in 1937, but the suspect in those murders, his face disfigured in an explosion, escaped. Number Three Son, Tommy, and assistant Birmingham Brown help the detective as the trio places themselves in mortal danger as they track down the illusive “Cobra Killer.”
FEATURE NOTES: The title card for this film reads: “Charlie Chan in The Shanghai Cobra.” In “The Shanghai Cobra,” we see an odd one-way video jukebox operated from a distant location. This is very probably an adaptation of the idea of “Soundies,” which were popular during the early to mid-1940s. Soundies, precursors of today’s music videos, were viewed on special 16 mm rear-projected machines called Panorams. These machines were located in bars, restaurants, nightclubs, etc.
THIS WEEK’S EXTRA:
Secret Agent X-9: Chapter 6, Strafed by a Zero (1945)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXt53QjeaTA
Running time: 17:44
(Sorry! I couldn’t resist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euBzxXFEuA4)
OUR MESSAGE BOARD: Please consider visiting our Message Board! While there, feel free to add a message to a post or begin a conversation…or state a Chan-related thought! Our Message Board has been there for YOU since 2004!
AS ALWAYS, WE BEGIN OUR EVENING at 7:30 Eastern Time with a 45-minute block of time for arrivals and greetings, and the sharing of an extra…or two...or even three! (see above). Then, at precisely 8:15 ET, we begin running our feature film simultaneously starting our personal or online copies of this week’s feature!
AT OUR BULLETIN BOARD: THE CHARLIE CHAN FAMILY HOME 2022 NEWSLETTER is now available at our “Bulletin Board” at our Charlie Chan Family Home! Also, at our Bulletin Board you will find a lot more in the form of links to other Chan-related items of possible interest!
OUR AUGUST POLL, also available on our Bulletin Board or our Home Page…or directly at this address: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6JKZHB6
A MOST WONDERFUL, “MUST GET” NEW BOOK!
Our own "HonoluLou," Lou Armagno, has just published a fantastic new book focusing on the aphorisms of Charlie Chan as found in the original Chan mysteries by Earl Derr Biggers! To learn more about this book, please visit our BULLETIN BOARD section: https://charliechan.org/bulletin-board/
Thank you so much, Lou, for creating the most unique of Charlie Chan studies!
NEXT WEEK: We will be sharing “The Red Dragon.” Also, we will include Chapter 7 of the 13-part serial, “Secret Agent X-9,” featuring Keye Luke with Benson Fong as the week’s “extra”!
Take care, and please join us within the always-friendly confines of our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room at our Charlie Chan Family Home, located at charliechan.org, as we share “The Shanghai Cobra”!
