The Feathered Serpent

This is a somewhat entertaining little venture. Charlie's eldest sons accompany him into the Mexican jungle to try to find an archaeologist who has disappeared while searching for an ancient ruin. As it turns out, there are other guys who would like to accomplish the same thing and they are holding him prisoner. He has knowledge they want. An expedition set up by the guy's sister heads into the jungle. Once again, the old "light- goes-out-and-someone-gets murdered" bit is used. This time an oil lamp gets put out. Anyway, the bad guy are knuckleheads. People's lives are simply a part of the landscape. Killing doesn't seem to bother anyone. Two other things. In this one, Birmingham (Mantan Moreland) is really tiresome. His whole fear thing really gets tiresome. Secondly, has anyone ever wondered why Charlie Chan is wearing a three piece suit and tie in the jungles of Mexico. At one point he mops his brow. My goodness, he should be on the point of passing out. Just a thought.

"The Feathered Serpent" is the only Charlie Chan film featuring both Keye Luke and Victor Sen Yung together as Charlie's sons. Charlie here is portrayed by Roland Winters. He does a very good job, but I prefer Warner Oland in the role. He was also so warm and cheerful. Toler was very good, but more sardonic and sarcastic.

In this film, Charlie and two of his sons are asked to investigate a gang who has kidnapped an archaeologist to force him to search for a treasure in Mexico.

Mantan Moreland plays Charlie's chauffeur, Birmingham. I know his characterization is not politically correct today, but what a funny and talented man he was. I always enjoy him in these films.

By this time, Charlie Chan films were being made at a poverty role studio. As offensive as they are today, I take them for what they were and like them. We cannot view everything from today's viewpoints.

As most of you probably know, throughout the Warner Oland Charlie Chan films at Fox, his sidekick was "Number One Son" Lee, played by Keye Luke. Lee was the best of all the Chan children and sidekicks. He was charming and funny but you could also take him seriously as a potential detective, unlike son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung), who was pretty much always played for laughs. After Oland died, Luke left the series and returned here many years later. But the Charlie Chan series was in the sewer by this time. The series was at Monogram and on its last legs with the worst of all Charlie Chans, Roland Winters, as the star. Since Monogram's answer to every problem with the Charlie Chan series was to add more sidekicks, that's exactly what they do here. Welcome back, Lee Chan.

The plot sees Charlie and his sons Lee and Tommy investigating a kidnapping in Mexico. There's also some stuff about an Aztec treasure but that never goes anywhere interesting. This is the penultimate Charlie Chan film at Monogram. It's crap, of course, as all of the Winters Chans were. It seems likely to me they took some sort of jungle adventure script and shoehorned Chan into it to make it a mystery. Still, it's probably the best of the Winters Chan films because of the return of Keye Luke as well as seeing him team up with Victor Sen Yung as the erroneously-named Tommy. Unfortunately, there's also Roland Winters and Mantan Moreland. You take the good, you take the bad I guess.

In a Mexican village, a team of Americans plan a trip into the mountains to search for an ancient treasure and two missing scientists. Charlie Chan stumbles into the case and joins their expedition, along with his number one and number two sons and chauffeur. Soon they are all tenting it, spying on each other and sneaking in and out of camp.

Bob Livingston is part of the search party but we soon discover that he actually heads a gang that's after the treasure. They have kidnapped the missing professor and are holding him in a secret temple whose hidden door swings open when you step on a certain big rock.

Roland Winters does okay in a fairly active role as the great detective. Keye Luke is a rather mature and serious Lee Chan. Victor Sen Young and Mantan Moreland, as Tommy Chan and chauffeur Birmingham Brown, are teamed up as usual to handle the comic relief. No explanation is offered for Keye Luke's surprising return to the series; we can only note that at the beginning of the picture the Chans are setting out on a family vacation, and guess that Lee must have been invited.

The plot is a little different from most in this series--we know who the villain is from early on. The production, of course, is cheap and the dialog seems hastily hashed out, although Mr. Chan does offer one or two of his wise sayings. ("Very difficult to estimate depth of well by size of bucket.") Overall it's really not very good...but enjoyable enough for fans.

Note: a fun double feature would be this picture preceded by 1937's Riders of the Whistling Skull. Not only is this Chan picture is a remake of that Three Mesquiteers western, but the earlier movie also featured Bob Livingston--as one of the good guys, in that case.

Yes, strangely, this Monogram productions movie concerning the Chinese detective is far better than a Twentieth Century Fox film, starring Warner Oland. I did not know at all this one, where adventure and action is more important than pure mystery. That suits me well, actually. It is more exciting and a total surprise for the audience, used to closed in mysteries. I should have seen this film earlier, that would have made me searching more Charlie Chan's stuff. William Beaudine is the director, not Bruce Humberstone or Eugene Forde, the Twentieth Century Fox home directors. Worth watching, if you have to see onlly an handful of Charlie Chan adventures.