''Charlie Chan's Secret'' is a 1936 American

mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, ...

directed by

Gordon Wiles Gordon Wiles (October 10, 1904 – October 17, 1950) was an American art director and film director. He won an Oscar for Best Art Direction for the film '' Transatlantic''. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes ...

and 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 ...

Henrietta Crosman Henrietta Foster Crosman (September 2, 1861 – October 31, 1944) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Crosman was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, Wheeling, Virginia, to George Crosman Jr. a Civil War Major, and Mary B. Wick, ...

and

Rosina Lawrence Rosina May Lawrence (December 30, 1912 – June 23, 1997) was a British-Canadian actress and singer. She had a short but memorable career in the 1920s and 1930s in Hollywood before she married in 1939 and retired from entertainment. She is best ...

. It is the tenth film in

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu Police Department, 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 ...

series featuring Oland as the detective.

Plot

Charlie Chan has been investigating the whereabouts of Allen Colby, heir to a vast fortune. He recently made contact with his relations in San Francisco: his Aunt Henrietta Colby Lowell, her daughters Alice and Janice, and Janice's husband, Fred. The story opens as Allen is traced to a ship that has sunk, but it cannot be confirmed that he is dead. On the contrary, evidence is found that someone is trying to kill him to prevent his return to San Francisco to claim the estate. Allen arrives at Colby House and is promptly murdered. His body is revealed in the course of a seance conducted that evening at Colby House with Chan in attendance. He is an old friend of Mrs Lowell; who, like her late brother, is a devout believer in psychic research. She has retained the services of Professor Bowen and his wife, Carlotta, who is a medium. Someone subsequently attempts to kill Mrs Lowell and eventually appears to succeed. The truth is revealed in another seance, at which the murderer makes a foolish mistake.

Cast

, famous Chinese-American detective from Honolulu *Jerry Miley as Allen Colby, the murdered heir, son of Bernard Colby and nephew of Henrietta Colby Lowell *

as Mrs Lowell, Allen's aunt, who is currently administering her late brother's fortune as she awaits his son's return *

as Alice Lowell, one of Henrietta Lowell's daughters, engaged to Dick Williams, lives at Lowell House with her mother *

Charles Quigley Charles Quigley (February 12, 1906 – August 5, 1964) was an American actor. Early years Quigley was the son of Charles P. Quigley, who was a sales manager for a hardware business. He was a 1924 graduate of New Britain High School, and h ...

as Dick Williams, Alice's fiancé, a newspaper reporter, always on the lookout for a big story *

Astrid Allwyn Astrid Allwyn (born Astrid Christofferson; November 27, 1905 – March 31, 1978) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Allwyn was born in South Manchester, Connecticut, part of a family that included four sisters and a brot ...

as Janice Lowell Gage, Mrs Lowell's other daughter; she thinks her mother should be entitled to ''something'' from her late uncle's estate, regardless of Allen's claims *Edward Trevor as Fred Gage, Henrietta's son-in-law, married to Janice; he is the accountant for the estate and knows the layout of Colby House *

Herbert Mundin Herbert Thomas Mundin (21 August 1898 – 5 March 1939) was an English character actor. He was frequently typecast in 1930s Hollywood films like ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' as an older cheeky eccentric, a type helped by his jowled featur ...

as Mrs Lowell's butler, Baxter, who despite the butler stereotype decidedly did ''not'' do it; he provides comic relief throughout the film *

Jonathan Hale Jonathan Hale (born Jonathan Hatley; March 21, 1891 – February 28, 1966) was a Canadian-born film and television actor. Life and career Hale was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Before his acting career, Hale worked in the Diplomatic Co ...

as Warren Phelps, Mrs Lowell's attorney and executor of Bernard Colby's estate; he recently suffered serious losses on the stock market, and will be out of a job if Allen returns *

Egon Brecher Egon Brecher (18 February 1880 – 12 August 1946) was an Austrian-born American actor and director. He also served as the chief director of Vienna's Stadttheater, before entering the motion picture industry. Early years Brecher was born on 1 ...

as Ulrich, the caretaker at Colby House; he has a grudge against Allen for jilting his daughter, who subsequently committed suicide * Arthur Edmund Carewe as Prof. Bowen, Mrs Lowell's advisor psychic researcher; he apparently knows of Allen Colby's death, but it is not explained how *

Gloria Roy Dolores Rousse (August 17, 1901 – December 16, 1985)California, Death Index. 1940-1997 atabase on-line Via Ancestry.com. Provo, Utah. was an American film actress who performed under the name Gloria Roy later in her career. Career In May 1922 ...

as Carlotta, Prof. Bowen's wife; she is a ''genuine'' medium although Bowen is somewhat fraudulent; but both will no longer be employed by Mrs Lowell if Allen returns *Ivan Miller as Detective Inspector Morton of the San Francisco Police, in charge of the case * William Bailey as Detective Harris *

Bud Geary Bud Geary (born Sigsbee Maine Geary;Freese, Gene Scott (2014). Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s—1970s: A Biographical Dictionary'. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 103. ."California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994", Famil ...

Chuck Hamilton Charles George Hamilton (January 18, 1939 – September 17, 2023) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played four games in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens and St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a pr ...

and Brick Sullivan as SFPD officers *James T. Mack as the forensic officer dusting for fingerprints *

Landers Stevens John Landers Stevens (1877–1940) was an American stage and film actor. A character actor he appeared in prominent screen roles in the early 1920s before switching to smaller supporting parts, often authority figures, in the following decade. He ...

as the pathologist who examines Allen Colby's body at the scene * Francis Ford as the captain of a ship salvaging the remains of the ''S.S. Nestor'', on which Allen Colby was travelling when it sank

Production copyright

The film is the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

due to the omission of a valid

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

notice on original prints.

External links

* * * * *
''Charlie Chan’s Secret'' Film details
a
The Charlie Chan Family Home
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charlie Chan's Secret 1936 films Charlie Chan films American black-and-white films 20th Century Fox films Films directed by Gordon Wiles Articles containing video clips 1936 mystery films American mystery films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language mystery films

Plot

Cast

Production copyright

See also

External links