CHARLIE CHAN IN EGYPT
US, 1935, 71 minutes, Black-and-white. All
Warner Öland, Pat Patterson, Thomas Beck, Rita Cansino (Rita Hayworth), Stepin Fetchet, Frank Conroy, Nigel de Brulier.
Directed by Luis King.
This is one of the lesser Charlie Chan films. Its archaeological setting in Egypt is very much studio-bound. It has the familiar story of archaeologists and excavations, the finding of mummies, sudden deaths and disappearances, a daughter upset at the disappearance of her archaeological investigating father, various business partners, an eccentric brother who plays the violin, a mysterious local…
The mysterious local is played by Rita Haworth early in her career. And the daughter, played by Pat Patterson, was the wife of Charles Boyer. There are other regular supporting actors including Frank Conroy as a suave villain and Nigel de Brulier as the eccentric brother.
The film also features black American comic, Stepiun Fetchit, who had appeared in a number of comedies and with Shirley Temple in Dimples. However, his bumbling manner of speech delivery, rolling eyes and seemingly kowtowing behaviour intended as comic is very much of the past and, with contemporary eyes, seems a kind of racist exploitation.
There are quite a number of suspects, Charlie Chan doing his usual investigations, interrogations, local authorities who have to bow to his superior skills, the villain being the expected professor interested in stealing treasure, murdering the archaeologist and concealing his body in a sarcophagus.
CHARLIE CHAN FILMS
Charlie Chan was the creation of novelist Earl Deer Biggers, creator of the popular novel Seven Keys to Baldpate (adapted for the stage in the early 20th century and the plot of many films of the same name and variations). Biggers saw the beginning of the popularity of the films of Charlie Chan in the silent era but died at the age of 48 in 1933, just as the series with Warner Land was becoming more popular.
20th Century Fox was responsible for the early Charlie Chan films with Warner Oland and gave them more prestigious production values than many of the short supporting features of the time. After Oland’s death, Fox sold the franchise to Monogram Pictures with Sidney Toler in the central role. They were less impactful than the early films. There were some films later in the 1940s with Roland Winters in the central role.
The films generally ran for about 71 minutes, and similarities in plots, often a warning to Charlie Chan to leave a location, his staying when murders are committed, displaying his expertise in thinking through situations and clues. He generally collaborates with the local police who, sometimes seem, characters, but ultimately are on side.
Warner Oland was a Swedish actor who came with his family to the United States when he was a child. Some have commented that for his Chinese appearance he merely had to adjust his eyebrows and moustache to pass for Chinese – even in China where he was spoken to in Chinese. And the name, Charlie Chan, became a common place for reference to a Chinese. In retrospect there may have been some racial stereotype in his presentation but he is always respectful, honouring Chinese ancestors and traditions. Charlie Chan came from Honolulu.
Quite a number of the film is Keye Luke appeared as his son, very American, brash in intervening, make mistakes, full of American slang (and in Charlie Chan in Paris mangling French). Luke had an extensive career in Hollywood, his last film was in 1990 been Woody Allen’s Alice and the second Gremlins film.
Quite a number of character actors in Hollywood had roles in the Charlie Chan films, and there was a range of directors.
Oland had a portly figure and the screenplay makes reference to this. His diction is precise and much of the screenplay is in wise sayings, aphorisms, which are especially enhanced by the omission of “the� and “a� in delivery which makes them sound more telling and exotic.
There was a Charlie Chan film the late 1970s, Charlie Chan and the Dragon Queen with Peter Ustinov in the central role.
