Charlie Chan Carries On

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...

'Charlie Chan Carries On' with Warner Oland was remade with Sidney Toler as 'Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise'. It is about Charlie meeting a Scotland Yard detective in Honolulu who tells Charlie about the case he is working on. The English detective gets murdered and so Charlie Chan carries on with his investigation.

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.

(Spanish version) This movie is so badly directed and acted to be embarrassing to all associated with or viewing this movie. It is a complex plot with continuity problems and intentional miscues.

There is some almost extreme overacting, overreacting to situations. I have seen other early movies where the acting was extreme. At least the male actors were not wearing lipstick and eye makeup as with many movies of this era.

In one scene in the telegraph office, a man shoots from between a window and a door through the window. We see only the arm extending from the shooter which places him between the door and window. He shots then "disappears" without going past the door and would have to had duck-walked or crawled under the window. Someone is out the door looking in about 3 seconds. He sees nobody. That's almost impossible. Poor staging! Unbelievable action!! It is watchable but almost laughable without intending to be funny. And so many unresolved red herrings! I would write a synopsis but this is the most confusing story I have seen in a long time. Many plot threads opened and left open for a long time or forever.

I am hoping for a good group-in-a-room ending with lots of explanation to make sense of this mess.

The group scene happened and the villain was caught but, by the end, you won't care much who it was...

No, I did not watch the English-language version and acknowledge all the previous reviewers comments. I found the Spanish language version on YouTube where it is titled Charlie Chan Carries On. No dubbed, but totally different actors speaking Spanish. They did use one shot (surfing in Hawaii) I think was in the opening of The Black Camel and a photo of the Chan clan that I am sure I saw in a later film. So, having said all that, is it worth watching. Yes. Not a great movie and I acknowledge all of the foibles mentioned by other reviewers. But if you've watched all the other Chan movies, you will want to watch this as well. The plot is somewhat different and the ending is not the typical "Charlie Chan" ending where the detective reveals only what he knows and the audience does not. The ending is satisfactory in that there was a very plausible motive, and the killer had both the means and opportunity. In fact, we are told the killer's name earlier on along with the likely motive. But the killer is using a different name and everyone who knows what the killer looks like is ..... well, you'll just have to watch it to find out. Don't take it too seriously and you will likely spend an enjoyable hour and some minutes watching how Charlie Chan carries on.