OUR CHARLIE CHAN FAMILY MONDAY EVENING CHAT FOR September 25, 2023: “The Trap”
CHAT NUMBER: 1,222
FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Levity is a great cure-all.”
THIS WEEK: We are sharing Sidney Toler’s final film, “The Trap.” While it may not be the best film in the Charlie Chan series, we can honor the fact that Mr. Toler, as physically ill as he was, puts everything he has into his final portrayal of Charlie Chan.
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.” (You may also register at RumbleTalk, our Chat Room’s host, if you so choose, however, this limits you to a specific name.)
OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION: “The Trap” (1946; 69 minutes) YES, our film IS available online this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba54ksD7niA&t=12s
FEATURE SUMMARY: The members of Cole King’s variety troupe occupy a Malibu, California beach house. One of the showgirls disappears, and her body is discovered by San Toy, a Chinese member of the troupe. Because Lois has been strangled, a murder technique said to be favored by the Chinese and the French, both San Toy and Adelaide, who is French, are under immediate suspicion. San Toy, who is a friend of Jimmy Chan, asks his father to investigate.
FEATURE NOTES: Working titles for The Trap were “Murder in Malibu Beach” and “Charlie Chan in the Trap.” This is one of two Chan films in the series proper to have been filmed in large measure on location, the other being “The Black Camel” (1931). “The Trap” marked the final film appearance for Sidney Toler, who died on February 12, 1947. Roland Winters assumed the role of Charlie Chan in the 1947 film “The Chinese Ring.”
LOOK FOR: a person in a white t-shirt passing quickly in front of the camera during the opening credits.
OUR MESSAGE BOARD: Please consider visiting our Message Board. Feel free to add a message to a post or begin a conversation…or state a 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! (please 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 SEPTEMBER POLL is available on our Bulletin Board or our Home Page…or directly at this address: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8TMCMTV
This month’s poll question: Have you read any "non-canon" (i.e. not written by Earl Derr Biggers) Charlie Chan mystery?
YES, YOU’VE GOT TO GET THIS NEW BOOK!
Our own "HonoluLou," Lou Armagno, has just published a fantastic, thoroughly researched, well-produced 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 entering the Roland Winters era of the Charlie Chan series as we share “The Chinese Ring,” Also, we will continue the 13-part serial, Chapter 12 of “Secret Agent X-9,” featuring Keye Luke with Benson Fong as the week’s “extra”!
SO, take care, and let’s meet again, as we have for more than two decades, within the humble yet always friendly confines of our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room at charliechan.org, as we share “The Trap.”
