''Charlie Chan in Shanghai'' is the ninth
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 alter ...
film produced by
Fox Film Corporation
The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...
with the title character played by
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 ...
.
Plot
Charlie Chan arrives in Shanghai at the behest of the U.S. government to help stop an
opium smuggling ring. He receives a warning aboard ship not to stop in Shanghai. He is met by his Number One Son, Lee Chan, as well as Philip Nash and his fiancée, Diana Woodland. Charlie is the guest of honor at a banquet held that evening, hosted by Sir Stanley Woodland (
David Torrence in an uncredited role). When Sir Stanley opens a box to give a handwritten scroll to Charlie, he is shot and killed by a gun inside the booby-trapped box. Charlie meets with Colonel Watkins, the commissioner of police, and agrees to investigate the crime. The next day, American
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
man James Andrews arrives in Shanghai, accompanied by his valet, Forrest (
Gladden James
Gladden James (February 26, 1888 – August 28, 1948) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1911 and 1946. He was born in Zanesville, Ohio and died in Hollywood, California, from leukemia.
Family
In 1914 he ...
in an uncredited role). That night, an assassin shoots what seems to be a sleeping Charlie Chan in bed. But Charlie, suspecting another attempt on his life, rigged a dummy and escaped death.
Watkins, Nash, and Woodland try to meet with Andrews. Nash sneaks off and goes through Andrews' briefcase, suitcase, and other papers. Charlie arrives, and while he is speaking with Andrews is nearly shot. Charlie and Andrews managed to retrieve the gun, but the assassin escaped. A fingerprint on the gun reveals that Nash is the likely suspect, and he is arrested. A letter Nash had stolen from Andrews' things seem innocuous, but Charlie takes it as evidence. Charlie returns to his hotel and meets with Lee. They receive a note from Col. Watkins asking them to come to an office downtown. They check with police headquarters, which assures them the note is genuine. Charlie goes, but Lee realizes the note is fake when Col. Watkins calls soon thereafter. Charlie is kidnapped and taken into a room to meet with a mysterious Russian (Ivan Marloff). Lee tries to save his father, but is caught. The two bluff their way out of danger, and after a brief fight manage to escape.
That evening, Charlie and Andrews meet with Col. Watkins. Diana Woodland arrives and asks to see Nash; her request is granted. But Diana sneaks Nash a pistol, and the two escape. Later that day, Andrews and Charlie return to the house where Charlie was held. The gang has left, but Charlie finds an ink pad in the fireplace and takes it as evidence. Lee shows up dressed as a beggar, and Charlie sends him home. Oddly, Charlie arrives at the hotel first. Lee shows up later, and reveals that he saw their kidnapper in a taxi on the street and followed him to the Cafe Versailles. Moments later, Andrews calls and summons Charlie to his apartment. Before he leaves, Charlie sends Lee off on a secret mission. Charlie arrives at Andrews' apartment, where the FBI agent has caught a gangster involved with the Marloff gang. After a punch to the jaw, the gangster reveals that the Cafe Versailles is where the opium gang is hiding out. Andrews calls the police, and asks them to meet them at the club. Charlie and Andrews leave for Cafe Versailles. After Charlie and Andrews depart, Andrews' valet, Forrest, frees the gangster and the two leave. At the club, Nash (disguised as an able seaman) sees some of the Marloff gang heading toward the basement and follows, but is captured. Charlie and Andrews arrive moments later, and follow a gang member into the basement as well. The basement is where opium is being shipped out via riverboat, reached by a trap door. Andrews urges Charlie to go first, but Charlie hesitates when his flashlight mysteriously refuses to work. The police arrive by boat, and after a brief shootout capture the gang.
Charlie surprises everyone by arresting James Andrews. Lee Chan reveals that his father sent him off to cable America, and he has just received a reply which indicates that the real Agent Andrews was murdered in San Francisco three weeks earlier. The false "James Andrews" is really the leader of the Marloff gang, and intended to have the gang murder Charlie in a shoot-out when they descended through the trap door. Charlie knew Andrews did not really call the police, and had Lee summon them instead. Nash's escape from police custody was planned by Charlie. Charlie reveals that Forrest used the ink pad to put Nash's thumbprint on the revolver to frame him. Nash is declared innocent, and Andrews and Forrest go to jail.
Cast
*
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
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 alter ...
*
Irene Hervey
Irene Hervey (born Beulah Irene Herwick; July 11, 1909December 20, 1998) was an American film, stage, and television actress who appeared in over fifty films and numerous television series spanning her five-decade career.
A native of Los Angeles ...
as Diana Woodland
*
Jon Hall as Philip Nash
*
Russell Hicks as James Andrews
*
Keye Luke
Keye Luke (, Cantonese: Luk Shek Kee; June 18, 1904 – January 12, 1991) was a Chinese-born American film and television actor, technical advisor and artist and a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild.
He was known for playing Lee Chan, t ...
as Number One Son, Lee Chan
*
Halliwell Hobbes
Herbert Halliwell Hobbes (16 November 187720 February 1962) was an English actor.
Early years
The future actor was the son of William Albert Hobbes (1841-1909), a Warwickshire solicitor, and his wife, Marion Hobbes, née Dennis, (1838-1925). ...
as Colonel Watkins, police commissioner
*Frederick Vogeding as Ivan Marloff
*
Neil Fitzgerald
Neil Fitzgerald (15 January 1893 – 15 June 1982) was an Irish actor.
Cornelius James Fitzgerald was born at Henry Street (now O'Brien Street), Tipperary, the son of James Joseph Fitzgerald, a grocer, and Ellen McGrath. He was educated in Tri ...
as Dakin, Colonel Watkins' aide
Critical reception
Writing for ''
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'' in 1936,
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
gave the film mild praise, describing it as "a well-made, if conventional piece of genuine Chan". Comparing the film to the
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a c ...
film, ''
The Case of the Lucky Legs
''The Case of the Lucky Legs'' is a 1935 mystery film, the third in a series of Perry Mason films starring Warren William as the famed lawyer.
Plot
Margie Clune wins the "Lucky Legs" beauty contest concocted by Frank Patton, but has trouble ...
'', Greene noted that this film contained considerably more honest detection than the other, ultimately ranking
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 alter ...
as the only other "sustained detective character on the screen".
[ (reprinted in: )]
References
External links
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{{Charlie Chan
1935 films
1935 mystery films
American black-and-white films
Charlie Chan films
Films set in Shanghai
20th Century Fox films
Fox Film films
American mystery films
Films directed by James Tinling
1930s English-language films
1930s American films