Charlie Chan in Paris

... as he appears as someone who Charlie thinks is at first an intruder in his hotel room, but emerges from the bathroom in a hotel robe, hotel towel covering his hair and face. When he uncovers his face we get his trademark - "Hi Pop!" as Charlie's number one son. This is not only his first appearance in a Chan film, but his first credited film role. Keye Luke is actually in his early thirties at this point, but plays early twenties quite effectively.

But back to the story. Charlie's appearance in Paris is a mystery for about twenty minutes. He makes a call to a colleague who says she has crucial evidence and will talk to him after her dance number at the club. Charlie gets a message soon afterwards saying his reason for being here is known and his life is in danger. There are not the usual red herrings. Instead there is a sinister looking man, a beggar, on crutches, who seems to be making it obvious he is up to no good. Charlie spots him at several places, making his presence known. Why??? Watch and find out.

It turns out all of the secrecy is because some forged bonds have been found in London that were issued by a bank in Paris and Charlie is keeping his investigation under wraps so as to not start a panic. John Miljan is in the cast, and he always played the bad guy, even in MGM shorts, so he is not up to any good here either, but believe me I am not giving anything away by telling you that. He does manage to get the bank president's daughter involved in a scandal in what turns out to be a significant side plot.

Once again Charlie solves the mystery with his sharp powers of observation in this very atmospheric entry. He is very polite considering how Paris law enforcement is acting. At one point, the police are allowing witnesses and passer-bys to trample all over a murder scene, and they are also allowing witnesses to talk amongst themselves rather than isolating them somewhere that is NOT the crime scene.

"Charlie Chan in Paris" (Fox, 1935), directed by Lewis Seiler, the seventh installment to the long running and extremely popular 'Charlie Chan' mysteries starring Warner Oland, is an immediate sequel to "Charlie Chan in London" (1934), in which the story opens with the Oriental sleuth arriving in Paris following his latest case in London. What makes this particular episode special, other than the near perfect Paris backdrop sets and interesting suspense buildup near the conclusion, is the introduction of Keye Luke playing Charlie Chan's Number One Son, Lee. The chemistry between Oland and Luke worked out so well that Luke became a regular, thus, setting the pattern to the future installments that has made the series based on Earl Derr Bigger's created character so successful.

Following the montage of stock footage of Paris, the story immediately gets underway as Charlie Chan (Warner Oland), getting off the airplane where he is set to visit his friend, Victor DeCartier (Thomas Beck). While at the airport, Charlie comes across a crippled beggar, and after boarding a taxi, a rock crashing through the window that nearly misses him is picked up by Charlie with a note attached reading, "The purpose of your visit is known. If you place the least value of your life, leave France tonight. This is your only warning." Of course Charlie is not easily frightened. Having met other characters, including Max Corday (Erik Rhodes), Yvette Lamartine (Mary Brian) and Renee Jacquard (Ruth Peterson), Charlie is entertained at a café where he witnesses the Apache dance, where Naldi (Dorothy Appleby), a woman working as a dancer, actually an undercover agent, is murdered. While attempting to keep his appointment at Le Singe Bleu, Charlie encounters the mysterious beggar again. The beggar becomes the key element to the mystery, leading to more murders. Aside from his involvement with Yvette, accused of murdering her blackmailer, Albert DeFresno (John Miljan), Charlie encounters an intruder in his hotel room only to find him to be his son, Lee (Keye Luke), taking time away from college to visit and afterwards assist his father in solving his latest caper.

Featured in the supporting cast are: Minor Watson as Mr. Renaud; Henry Kolker as Monsieur LaMartine; John Qualen as Concierge; Murray Kinnell as Henri LaTouche; and Perry Ivins as Bedell. For his introduction to the series, Keye Luke's Lee addresses his father as "Dad," although he does call him "Pop" on a couple of occasions, though "Pop" would be the standard name for his father. As the series progressed, the Lee character changed from a serious-minded son to comic relief.

Close to being virtually forgotten today, "Charlie Chan in Paris" is best known as being a lost entry in the series with a print to actually be discovered in the 1970s, while earlier episodes, "Charlie Chan Carries On" (1931), "Charlie Chan's Chance" (1932), "Charlie Chan's Greatest Case" (1933) and "Charlie Chan's Courage" (1934), all featuring Oland, continue to be among the missing links. Thanks to its discovery, "Charlie Chan in Paris" has become a welcome addition to the television markets, and at long last, introduced to television, in the New York City area anyway, on August 12, 1978, becoming the final installment to the eight-week television series, titled "Lost and Found" (1978) hosted by Richard Schickel on WNET, Channel 13. "Charlie Chan in Paris" was also the only sound movie to the list of formerly lost silent movie titles presented. For the "Chan" segment, Schickel did go on to mention in his discussion about Keye Luke's performance as Chan's son to be actually a one-time commitment resulting becoming an addition to the series. In later years, "Charlie Chan in Paris" became one of several Chan titles to be distributed on video cassette, as well as being presented on American Movie Classics from 1989 to 1990, and seven years later, was resurrected on AMC from 1997 to 1998. With Warner Oland as one of the more notable Charlie Chan portrayals, his venture in Paris ranks one of the better entries and worthy screen entertainment for any mystery lover or follower to the 'Charlie Chan' mysteries. Next installment: "Charlie Chan in Egypt" (1935), with Warner Oland, but without Keye Luke. (**1/2)

Excellent mystery with Warner Oland on trail of bond forgers who would undermine the Banque Lamartine. Aided by Lee Chan (Key Luke), Chan methodically unravels fraud and murder and ducks an attempt on his life. As with other entries in this series, the viewer cannot figure out the solution because key evidence is only revealed at the end. Chan knows more than the police and the viewer. If you know this and just sit back and enjoy, you will have a pleasant time. Of note is a dance apache done by Nardi at the Cafe du Singe Blue -- apache signifying a member of the Paris underground and not an American Indian tribe. Racial slurs grate us today but reflect the times. Lots of clues but as Chan says, "must turn up many stones to get to hiding place of snake." Recommended.

Charlie Chan In Paris was recently released on VHS and DVD in the UK and I was pleased I purchased a VHS copy.

Charlie Chan comes to Paris making out he is having a holiday but is actually over to investigate a forgery racket but also ends up investigating murders after two people are killed. With the help of his No 1 son, he gathers clues and the investigation takes them under Paris in the sewers and the culprit is caught at the end, in heavy disguise...

This mystery is atmospheric at times, especially the sewer scenes.

Charlie Chan is played well by Warner Oland. I'm not familiar with the rest of the cast though.

If you like a good old mystery, you will enjoy Charlie Chan In Paris. Great fun.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

In one of the few times that another Charlie Chan film made reference to its immediate predecessor, Charlie Chan In Paris notes that Warner Oland is in Paris having picked up a client in London. Fans of the series will remember that Oland was in London solving the murder in a stable on an estate, a fact also specifically mentioned.

The clients who hired Oland are some bondholders who have bought what looks forged bonds from a respected Paris bank. These bonds have flooded the European market and threaten to bring financial panic on the alleged issuing bank run by Henry Kolker.

I have to say that the conspirators really had a clever scheme of forgery and a pretty good method of committing murder to protect the enterprise. Two murders are committed, one of them of John Miljan who has played a slew despicable villains on screen. In fact Miljan is branching out into a racket all his own when he's killed. That other racket though manages to cast suspicion on a false perpetrator.

Charlie Chan In Paris is one of the cleverest films in the Chan series and fans of Charlie should not miss this one.