A Astúcia de Chan

In my recent review of Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise, I mentioned that was based on the book "Charlie Chan Carries On" and that all I remembered from that novel was the fact that Chan didn't appear until the middle of it! So I just watched the trailer of the first filmed version of that book on YouTube and it was very fascinating seeing Warner Oland portray the Honolulu detective for the first time! Unfortunately, the movie itself is lost so this is all that remains of the first filmed version but in the future, who knows? Now I may review the rest of the series that I hadn't watched or reviewed on this site from 1929's Behind That Curtain to 1971's The Return of Charlie Chan...

Although I accept the fact that this film is indeed lost, I've never seen it in my life, BUT, to contradict the reviewer above who says it was destroyed in a 1931 fire, at some point in the past ten years (cant remember exactly) I saw on internet a copy of this film was being shown at one of UCLA's theater programs. If that's true, there's at least one copy in someone's private collection, out there somewhere. Never give up hope! re: the Spanish version of Dracula Universal 1931 was considered lost for decades until someone found a print copy in a Havana Cuba Warehouse early 1990s, it's now restored and widely available! Keep hoping and keep searching: You'd be surprised where these "losties" turn up!

Only on the IMDb can a lost film that nobody has seen get an accumulative vote of eight stars. I guess they see it in their imagination or, one suspects, it's all just a game. What I can say is that the new DVD set of Chan movies from Fox contains the Mexican version of Charlie Chan Carries On - Eran Trece - shot on the same sets with Mexican actors. It's actually quite entertaining and the print is in better shape than the other Chans in the set (apparently all the early negatives are lost). Such a shame that we can't see the Oland version of this or the other pre CC in London films. The new box set from Fox is wonderful - the transfers are as good as we're going to get for now, and the films a very entertaining still. Oland is just great as Chan, and the other actors in these early films are excellent, including a young Raymond Milland in London, and a very young Rita Cansino (Hayworth) in Egypt. Egypt still has the burned in video main and end titles, but they're all more than watchable and are highly recommended.

I love IMDb--perhaps that is why I have written so many reviews. However, it annoys the heck out of me when I am searching on films and find reviews and lots and lots of scores for films that have disappeared over the years and cannot possibly have been seen. Unless you are about 100 years-old and have PERFECT recall, you have no business scoring this film as it does not exist--the film having been destroyed in a fire in 1931. So stop scoring films that don't exist--it screws it up for people who really want to find out about a film--not see the votes of some cult-like followers of a particular series. The same is true of the Marx Brothers first film--a short that Grouch described as a terrible film. Yet, despite not having been seen since the 1920s, it has tons of scores on IMDb! Do yourself a favor. Get the Charlie Chan box set and see "Eran Trece"--this is the Spanish language version the studio made at the same time they were making "Charlie Chan Carries On"--a common practice during the early days of sound films. Studios like Fox and MGM often made multiple versions of films for international release and sometimes even used the original stars--having them deliver their lines phonetically. Interesting.

The only version of "Charlie Chan Carries On" I've found is one on Youtube which stars Manuel Arbó and is called Eran Trece. It is labeled on Youtube as starring Warner Oland, but Mr. Oland is not in this version.