''Charlie Chan's Greatest Case'' (1933) is an American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

murder mystery film starring

Warner Oland Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American ...

as the Oriental detective

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alt ...

. It was based on the

Earl Derr Biggers Earl Derr Biggers (August 26, 1884 – April 5, 1933) was an American novelist and playwright. His novels featuring the fictional Chinese American detective Charlie Chan were adapted into popular films made in the United States and China. Biog ...

novel ''

The House Without a Key ''The House Without a Key'' is a 1925 novel by Earl Derr Biggers, the first of the Charlie Chan mysteries. Set in 1920s Hawaii, the novel acquaints the reader with the look and feel of the islands from the standpoint of both white and non-whi ...

'' (1925). Oland made a series of Charlie Chan films; along with three others, this one is considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reviewer wrote, "As far as the mystery of these particular murders is concerned it is not difficult for the audience to decide on the identity of the slayer, but the manner in which Chan makes his deductions is always interesting."

Cast

as Charlie Chan * Heather Angel as Carlotta Eagan *

Roger Imhof Frederick Roger Imhof (August 15, 1875 – April 15, 1958) was an American film actor, vaudeville, burlesque and circus performer, sketch writer, and songwriter. Early years Imhof was born in Rock Island, Illinois on April 15, 1875 to Nicholas ...

as The Beachcomber * John Warburton as John Quincy Winterslip *

Walter Byron Jacob Walter "Wally" Byron (Jacob Valdimar Björnsson;September 2, 1894 – December 22, 1971) was an Icelandic-Canadian ice hockey player who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics. He was the goaltender for the Winnipeg Falcons, the Canadian ...

as Henry Jennison * Ivan F. Simpson as Brade * Virginia Cherrill as Barbara Winterslip * Francis Ford as Captain Hallett *

Robert Warwick Robert Warwick (born Robert Taylor Bien, October 9, 1878 – June 6, 1964) was an American stage, film and television actor with over 200 film appearances. A matinee idol during the silent film era, he also prospered after the introductio ...

as Dan Winterslip * Frank McGlynn Sr. as Amos Winterslip *

Clara Blandick Clara Blandick (born Clara Blanchard Dickey; June 4, 1876 – April 15, 1962) was an American character, film, stage and theater actress. She played Aunt Em in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's ''The Wizard of Oz'' (1939). As a character actress, sh ...

as Minerva Winterslip *

Claude King Claude King (February 5, 1923 – March 7, 2013) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, " Wolverton Mountain". Biography King was born in Keithville in southern Caddo Parish sout ...

as Capt. Arthur Cope *

William Stack William Stack (March 5, 1882 – January 15, 1949) was an American actor who began his acting career in Great Britain. Over the course of his career he appeared in over 50 films in the U.S. and the U.K, including such notable films as Mary of S ...

as James Eagan * Gloria Roy as Arlene Compton *

Cornelius Keefe Cornelius Keefe (July 13, 1900 – December 11, 1972) was an American film actor.Pitts p.297 Selected filmography * '' A Society Scandal'' (1924) * ''Those Who Judge'' (1924) * '' Lend Me Your Husband'' (1924) *'' The Law and the Lady'' (1924) * ...

as Steve Letherbee *Frances Chan as Youngest Chan Daughter

References

External links

* * * * 1933 films Fox Film films American black-and-white films Films set in Hawaii Films directed by Hamilton MacFadden Lost American films 1933 mystery films Films based on American novels Films based on mystery novels American mystery films 1933 lost films 1930s American films {{mystery-film-stub