L'anello cinese

After the death of Sidney Toler, Monogram kept going with the Charlie Chan series, and Roland Winters became the third Chan, Warner Oland being the first.

The Charlie I am most familiar with is Toler, with his dry delivery and his annoyance with Jimmy. Oland was much more energetic and cheerful. Both brought something to the role.

"The Chinese Ring" is actually a do-over of a Mr. Wong script, and here, Sen Yung is not Jimmy Chan but Tommy for some reason. Mantan Moreland is on hand as Birmingham.

The story concerns a Chinese princess who comes to the US to purchase planes for her brother's army. She has a one million dollar check to deliver to a ban. Unfortunately, she is murdered by a poison dart that comes through the open window of Charlie Chan's home as she waits for him. She is able to write a partial message before she dies. Amazing that this Chinese woman, in the throes of death, writes in English.

This is an okay entry into the series. Winters is a serious but charming Charlie. Since this is a Wong story, "Tommy" and Birmingham, usually good for some humor, don't have much to do.

Winters made six Chan films in all. The Charlie Chan films are the absolute opposite of politically correct, but they were made in a different time and enjoyable for what they are.

Winters' debut as Chan is okay, but film is a near line-by-line remake of MR. WONG IN CHINATOWN, and the story wasn't great then. Foulger has meaty part as nervous banker, Ahn looks inscrutable, Moreland rolls his eyes, and Louise Currie is gorgeous, but pedestrian direction and cheapo production sink this for all but Chan fans.

As Chans go, not the best, but the story itself is fine. Roland Winters is a perfectly good Chan - the role was defined by the time this episode in the series was made, so he basically just had to show up and recite the lines to get the job done. Although Victor Sen Young shows up as Tommy, he plays a very small part in the film - a good thing in my opinion. Birmingham Brown is present as comic relief, but doesn't shine in this one. Sargent Bill Davidson and plucky girl reporter Peggy Cartwright play the clichéd role of battling couple with unfortunate results. After the third or fourth exclamation of "Bill Davidson!" by our intrepid girl reporter, I was ready to strangle her. By the sixth or seventh time, I was ready to strangle myself. You'd think the writers were paid to keep the word count down. Worse, while the two argue in Davidson's office, he grabs her and shakes her in a rage, nearly knocking her off her feet. Of course, that's what men do to women they love, right? Don't worry, it all ends up in a kiss. Good God.

That's what you have to deal with when watching sixty year old movies - sometimes there's a real culture shock.

As Charlie Chan, Roland Winters seems to be struggling to get a handle on the character. His delivery of the Pidgin English seems really forced, even more so when most the Chinese actors in the movie speak English fluently.

As others on here have said, this movie is basically a cookie cutter version of "Mr. Wong in Chinatown", a better movie, in my opinion. All in all it's an OK Charlie Chan movie. It doesn't compare well with some of the early Chan movies.....but it's still Charlie Chan and therefore definitely worth watching.

I cannot say that "The Chinese Ring" is a bad mystery movie, because it isn't. The production values are good enough, especially considering the studio that made it. Although the story and some of the dialog is literally a remake of an older Monogram "Mr. Wong" film, the producers seem to be trying to put forth a dignified continuation of the established Chan series; I do not believe that this is a "take the money and run" fast-buck ripoff (like say Jaws 4,5, 9 etc). It is a legit effort and William Beaudine was probably as fine and established a director as Monogram could afford to hire.

Roland Winters was a good actor who had a long and distinguished career. He was the studio's choice to continue the Chan character and probably wasn't the best choice but I guess he is adequate. Winters seems tentative here but has the thankless task of following up his two beloved and deceased predecessors in the ongoing role of Charlie Chan. His acting approach here is too careful and very deliberate but doesn't lack skill, and he manages to avoid what could have been career suicide. He does become a little more forceful and lively in his subsequent Chan films.

Moreland and Sen Yung are capable in support and manage to avoid the outright buffoonery that was required of them in previous Chan outings. Phillip Ahn is a very recognizable actor in a villain role. He does a good job and he is another example of the studio's commitment to the Chan project, since they could have used a much cheaper unknown actor if so inclined.

This is an OK mystery story (after all, its a tried-and-true story from a good prior film). It works as a mystery and moves along at a brisk enough clip for the most part. Overall not a great film, but not a bad one.