''The Chinese Ring'' is a 1947 American film directed by

William Beaudine William Washington Beaudine (January 15, 1892 – March 18, 1970) was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres. Life and car ...

. The film is also known as ''Charlie Chan in the Chinese Ring'' (American poster title) and ''The Red Hornet''. This is the first to feature

Roland Winters Roland Winters (born Roland Winternitz; November 22, 1904 – October 22, 1989)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 287. was an Ame ...

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 ...

. It is a remake of the 1939 Monogram Pictures film '' Mr. Wong in Chinatown'', with an identical story line and very little alterations of secondary characters. Script writer W. Scott Darling reworked the plotline of '' Murder at Midnight'' (1931) for both later films.

Plot

Charlie Chan (

) is a private investigator living in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. One day a Chinese

princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

comes to visit him in his home. She has just arrived from the East by boat. The princess manages to give Chan’s

butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

Birmingham Brown (

Mantan Moreland Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in numerous films. His daughter Marcella Moreland appeared as a child actress in several films. E ...

) an artifact - an ancient heirloom ring - before she is shot and killed by a

poisoned arrow Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for the purposes of hunting and warfare. They have been used by indigenous peoples worldwide and are still in use in areas of South America, Africa and Asia. Notable examples are the poisons se ...

through the window. She leaves a note behind, with the name ”Captain K”. Chan calls for the police to investigate this murder. Bill Davidson (

Warren Douglas Warren Douglas (born Warren Douglas Wandberg; July 29, 1911 – November 15, 1997) was an American actor and screenwriter. Career Born in Minneapolis, Douglas was a 1929 graduate of Minneapolis South High School. He later attended the Minneapo ...

) with the SFPD comes to Chan, but his friend, the reporter Peggy Cartwright (

Louise Currie Louise Currie (born Louise Gunter; April 7, 1913 – September 8, 2013) was an American film actress, active from 1940 into the early 1950s. Biography Currie was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Charles W. Gunter, a banker, ...

), also arrives uninvited to the scene. By examining the ring, it turns out the princess’ name was Mei Ling (

Barbara Jean Wong Barbara Jean Wong (March 3, 1924 – November 13, 1999) was an American actress, primarily on the radio. Early life and career Wong was a fourth-generation Chinese-American born in Los Angeles, California, to produce market owners Thomas and Ma ...

). She arrived in San Francisco weeks earlier with two men, Captain Kong (

Philip Ahn Philip Ahn (born Pillip Ahn (), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was an American actor and activist of Korean descent. With over 180 film and television credits between 1935 and 1978, he was one of the most recognizable and prolific Asi ...

) and Captain Kelso (Thayer Roberts), to try and acquire fighter planes to fight off an enemy back home. For this purpose she had brought a substantial amount of money, $1,000,000, with her on the journey. A search for the money ensues, but it soon turns out there are more people looking for the lost money. Peggy helps out in the hunt, and she meets the princess’ maid, Lillie Mae (Chabing), and a deaf-mute boy living in the princess apartment. When Chan comes to talk to the maid, he finds her murdered in the apartment, and the deaf-mute boy manages to tell him that a man came to visit the apartment shortly before the maid was found dead. Chan continues his search for the money, visiting the banker (who reads and writes in fluent Chinese) in charge of handling the princess’ assets abroad, Armstrong (

Byron Foulger Byron Kay Foulger (August 27, 1898 – April 4, 1970) was an American character actor who over a 50-year career performed in hundreds of stage, film, and television productions. Early years Born in Ogden, Utah, Byron was the second of four ...

). While they are talking, Kong and Kelso, eager to get their share of the money, break in and kidnap both men and hold them for ransom. They are taken to the Chinese cargo vessel, but Birmingham manages to track them to the ship. Together with Chan’s son Tommy (

Victor Sen Yung Sen Yung, later known professionally as Victor Sen Young (born Sen Yew Cheung; October 18, 1914 – c. November 9, 1980); one source lists his given name as Victor Cheung Young with the birth year 1915)) was an American character actor, best kn ...

), they manage to free Chan and Armstrong, and when Bill and Peggy arrive to the ship with the police, Kong and Kelso are captured and arrested. Chan discovers that Armstrong is guilty of the princess’ murder, and of stealing her money. Armstrong also killed the maid to cover his tracks, and buried the little deaf-mute Chinese boy and buried him secretly in a pet cemetery plot to hide the crime.

Cast

as Tommy Chan *

as Police Sgt. Bill Davidson *

as Birmingham Brown *

as Peggy Cartwright *

as Captain Kong *

as Armstrong *

Lee Tung Foo Lee Tung Foo (also known as Frank Lee) was a Chinese American Vaudeville performer born in California who performed in English, German, and Latin.

Armstrong's butler *Thayer Roberts as Captain James J. Kelso *

as Princess Mei Ling *Chabing as Lillie Mae Wong *George Spaulding as Dr. Hickey

Controversies

The screenplay for The Chinese Ring was written by

W. Scott Darling William Scott Darling (May 28, 1898 – October 29, 1951) was a Canadian-born writer and a pioneer screenwriter and film director in the Hollywood motion picture industry. He is often known in Hollywood histories as Scott Darling, though he was ...

. The plot is nearly identical to Mr. Wong in Chinatownbr>
the 1939 film starring

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established h ...

and released eight years earlier. That film was also an adaptation of Scott Darling's script for the 1931 film Murder at Midnight.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese Ring 1947 films Charlie Chan films 1940s comedy mystery films 1940s English-language films American black-and-white films Films directed by William Beaudine Monogram Pictures films 1947 comedy films Articles containing video clips American comedy mystery films 1940s American films