Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen

This thing is no fun whatever.

Too bad, because it had a lot going for it.

First, there is the Charlie Chan legacy. It was something that walked with the movie-going public during that decade when our current notions of visual narrative evolved. It wasn't particularly influential except for the early notion that our on-screen eye differed from those around him in matters of cognition encoded visually by race. The explicit irony was the Chineseness of the man was deliberately bogus.

Second there's the appearance of Peter Ustinov. For this bit, you have to know the absolute importance of the fictional Hercule Poirot in how film discovery evolved. Ustinov had just played Poirot in the to-then most high budget detective story filmed. So when we see him (or did when this was new) as a similarly portly, pretentious, internally cogitating detective, it matters.

Third, someone involved was intelligent enough to set the thing properly. It begins with a faded black and white "old-style" Chan movie with our modern characters but a couple decades previously. The mystery shown bears on the one in our movie. Later, at the end of our movie, the action takes us to an old moviehouse in Chinatown where a Charlie Chan movie festival is being held. (No mention in our film that Chan has a film persona.) The trademarked end (copied from Poirot) where Chan gathers all the suspects and tells each one why they are the murderer, until revealing the real murderer (after a separately scripted false alarm) — this happens in the scenery loft of the theater where a Chan film is playing below.

Naturally the chase to catch the murderer takes each character in front of the giant screen where the audience applauds them.

But its the truest of parodies. Usually parodies put new life into old form by adding a new layer of reference. Its a mistake to think that the "new life" would be funny, or more entertaining in any way. This is true parody: it took something that was dead and added enzymes to the decomposition.

There's one joke I appreciated. The Chan films are generally pretty vile in how they handle race. One trick is to set the bottom racially so that Chan can drift at the top in some cerebral racial advantage. That meant that the black driver was nearly subhuman. Stupid, ignoble.

The driver here is a black man also. Poised, attractive, articulate. We learn some noble things about him at the end.

Oh, another small matter of interest. It has a very young Michelle Pfeiffer, very pretty — before she had all that work done on her face.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Ok. One of my all time favorite movies. Silly, pointless, aged stereotypes but just silliness from start to finish. Don't go in expecting a cinema masterpiece, just enjoy!

This is not a great movie, yet my wife and I laughed ourselves into pain. The great Peter Ustinov spins his previous role in oriental parody from "One Of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing"; Richard Hatch creates the most incompetent bumbler in decades of motion picture bumblers with some hilarious slapstick results; Lee Grant is a gorgeous grandmother; Roddy McDowell is the supercilious butler in a motorized wheelchair; and Michelle Pfeiffer is a ditzy Goldie Hawn clone - as well as being luminously beautiful and excellent at playing a brainless idealist just perfectly designed for the klutzy Lee Chan Jr. It is designed for fans of Charlie Chan, and it is a parody, but a loving one. The topical references are side-splitting; it helps to be old enough to have been an adult in 1981. The references to other movies abound, some subtle some obvious. The visual humour is on the level of slaps with a halibut but fun nonetheless. I gather the movie was a critical and box office flop. Even I missed it back then but I find it a guilty pleasure to disagree with almost everyone else on earth (except my wife, and that is what counts for more!): I enjoyed this idiotic little movie. And the dog deserved an Oscar.

This is a blandoid tale of the famous inscrutable detective Charlie Chan (Sir Peter Ustinov) , this time he is called out of retirement to help a San Francisco police inspector (Brian Keith) to solve a mysterious series of murders. As Detective Charlie Chan helps resolve the many bizarre murders and along the way confronts his old nemesis , the Dragon Queen (Angie Dickinson) , who is the prime suspect , and, ultimately , reveals the true identity of the murderer . His clumsy grandson Lee (recently deceased Richard Hatch) , who's getting married , (to Michelle Pfeiffer) "helps" , while has something to do with convoluted family shenanigans . The premise is the following one : whether the Dragon Queen behind these grisly killings or other supect criminals are involved into the slaughters are happening in San Francisco ¿. .Murderer force victim to eat 10,000 goldfish . First time fish stuff man. Murderer who turn victim into human baked potato have real appetite for crime.

Fun but average and excessively silly comedy dealing with the adventures of Charlie Chan while is investigating a twisted criminal case . Here all roles result to be bungling , idiot or daft , as Chan has an adoring botcher half-Jewish as grandson who in turn has an adoring halfwit doll of a girlfriend . As Charlie Chan/Peter Ustinov is accompanied by his bumbling grandson Lee Chan, Jr. : Richard Hatch as his sidekick , who is about to marry Michelle Pfeiffer , along with the hysterical , shouting grandmother : Lee Grant , and an eccentric maid : Rachel Roberts and the sympathetic wheelchair-bound Roddy MacDowall , too . It packs farce , noisy action with diverting chase sequences , humor , slapstick , slapdash , amusement , entertainment , several scenes with no much sense and one-lines all fall mirthlessly through the bottomless script . It was a whole mess with staggering cost approx 9 million dollars.

However , it contains a moving and lively musical score by Patrick Williams . As well as colorful and brilliant cinematography by Paul Mohlann . The motion picture was regularly directed by Clive Donner . He was a good craftsman who usually directed for TV , such as : Charlemagne, le prince à cheval , Merlín and the sword , The Scarlet Pimpernel , To Catch a King Dead , Adventures of thief of Baghdad, Man's Folly , Rogue Male , Spectre , Francis Drake , Oliver Twist , Christmas Carol and occassionally for cinema , such as : Stealing Heaven , Some People , Nothing But the Best , The Sinister Man , Marriage of convenience ,Heart of a Child , The Nude Bomb , Vampira , The caretaker ,Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush , Alfred the Great and his greatest hit : What's New Pussycat.

There are various renditions about detective Charlie Chan , these are the following ones : Charlie Chan in Paris 1935 by Lewis Seiler with Warner Oland , Mary Brian . Charlie's Chan's secret 1935 by Gordon Wiles with Warner Oland , Charles Quigley . Charlie Chan at the opera 1936 directed by Bruce Humberstone with Warner Oland . Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum 1940 by Lynn Shore with Sydney Toler . Charlie Chan in Rio 1941 by Harry Lachman with Sidney Toler , Mary Beth Hughs , Victor Jory . Charlie Chan and the secret service 1944 by Phil Rosen with Sidney Toler , Moreland , Arthur Loft . Rating : 5.5/10 . Mediocre but with some funny moments .

I guess because of the fact that back in the day Charlie Chan, Earl Derr Biggers famous Chinese detective from the Honolulu PD was played by Occidentals like Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, and Roland Winters it was OK to have Peter Ustinov do a spoof. Maybe it could have worked in other hands with a better script and better direction, but we've kind of grown past that kind of mimicry.

Charlie's come over to San Francisco from retirement in Honolulu for his grandson's wedding. Turns out that Lee Chan the number one son married a nice Jewish girl. His grandson however was raised by his Jewish grandmother Lee Grant who super doted on him. Now Richard Hatch as the grandson wants to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and become a detective. He's also marrying a nice Jewish girl in Michelle Pfeiffer.

Hatch maybe Charlie Chan's grandson, but he acts more like Inspector Clouseau in training. And there've been some random murders or seemingly random murders and looking good for it is Charlie Chan's arch nemesis the Dragon Queen played here by Angie Dickinson.

Hatch investigates, but of course it's Ustinov who solves it. Some others in the cast are Roddy McDowall as the butler and Rachel Roberts as the maid to Lee Grant. Best in this cast is Brian Keith a rather thick police chief who can't quite grasp the subtleties of Ustinov's mind and aphorisms.

This might have worked better if Ustinov spoofed his own character Hercule Poirot. But having us westerners play easterners just does not go over that well any more.