Eram Treze

1931's "Eran Trece" (There Were Thirteen) still exists as the only foreign language version of a Charlie Chan feature, in this case Warner Oland's debut "Charlie Chan Carries On," one of four sadly lost titles among his first five (he completed 16 by the time of his 1938 death). All five of these early entries were adapted from recent publications by original Chan creator Earl Derr Biggers, Fox beginning their run of globetrotting originals in 1934 with "Charlie Chan in London," continuing all the way up until the 1942 release of "Castle in the Desert," the 11th outing for Oland's capable replacement, Sidney Toler. The problem with the Spanish "Eran Trece" is not just the absence of Warner Oland, Manuel Arbo cast as the Chinese detective living with his growing family on Punchbowl Hill, but its slavish adherence to the Biggers novel "Charlie Chan Carries On," the character kept off screen for the entire first half as a rather lazy investigation is conducted by Scotland Yard's Inspector Duff (Rafael Calvo). Murder strikes a London hotel during a world cruise organized by Dr. Lofton (Julio Villarreal), all the suspects allowed to continue to their final destination in San Francisco due to lack of evidence or even motive, though it later becomes clear that the killer is using a phony name to infiltrate the party to avenge himself on a wife who ran off with another man, both now marked for death. The largely unknown Spanish cast ensures that tedium results from so many interchangeable characters cluttering up a nonexistent storyline, which would have benefitted greatly with their English speaking counterparts, in particular Warren Hymer and Marjorie White as the comic relief Chicago couple. Only when a stopover in Honolulu finally introduces Chan is there a reprieve, Arbo at least a physical match for Oland, yet he is given little to do but wander from one place to another as the ship moves on to California, his only recourse to set a trap for the culprit because of the absolute lack of clues available (the 1929 "Behind That Curtain" would have fared even worse, as the studio practically wrote Chan out of the story until the very end). Manuel Arbo may not be an ideal replacement for Warner Oland, but he enjoyed a lengthy career with over 200 credits in Mexico, working right up to his 1973 death. While "Charlie Chan Carries On" remains a lost film, one can happily indulge in its 1940 remake, "Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise," this time keeping Sidney Toler's Chan front and center while eliminating Inspector Duff in the opening reel, and including not one but two Chan sons for company, Lionel Atwill as the cruise director.

One of the few Chan movies to actually be based on one of the original novels this is essentially the start of the series of movies that many people know and love so well. The story was later shortened and reused as Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise. This was shot at the same time as an alternate Spanish version of the now lost Charlie Chan Carries On, and is an excellent take on the great detective.

The plot begins in London where a friend of Chan's, an Inspector Duff, is called in to investigate the murder of one of a travel group touring the world. It transpires that one of the group is not who they say they are and is out for revenge of a past wrong. Two more murders follow as the group continues the tour, but still there is no sign of the killer. When events in China put another member of the party in danger, Duff is forced to act and he races to Hawaii to see his old friend Charlie Chan to ask his help with the case before the party leaves. While visiting Chan in his office Duff is shot down. Chan feeling an obligation to his fallen friend tells the medics who rush Duff to the hospital to tell his friend that "Charlie Chan carries on". Chan joins the party as they board a ship for San Fransisco, vowing to either solve the murder by the time they arrive or retire if he hasn't. (The appearance of Chan is half way into the movie, and its the point at which Murder Cruise begins).

This is a really good little movie and its understandable why a series sprang from it. Even though Chan doesn't show up for a good while into the proceeding, he hangs over the film since Duff is constantly quoting things that his friend Chan might say. The mystery is tightly plotted and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Its so well done that I didn't mind not seeing Chan in action and found myself actually wishing for a series of films with Inspector Duff of Scotland Yard.

Manuel Arbó is a great Chan. A very physical actor he moves and does things that Warner Oland , and the other actor's playing Chan rarely did, he got on his knees to detect, rifles through drawers and actually does hands on investigating. Chan is also a very clearly two men. Outwardly he is the quiet font of Chinese wisdom that most people feel they can under estimate. Inwardly and when he is in the hunt he is a man of action who knows what has to be done and how to do it. Watch how he searches a room, or in the final reel sets the trap for the killer. He moves in a way that none of the other Chans ever did. He is not just a man of words, but a man of action who is very clearly in control of what is going on. Arbo is made to look physically like Oland, no doubt to use shots from the other version, however there is something more commanding about his presence. You are very aware of his presence in a scene, even when he is on the out skirts of it. I would love to have seen how the series would have played out had Arbo been allowed to play the detective. (Perhaps what makes this film so great is that it doesn't follow the the pattern of the series).

This is a movie to search out. If you can find it somewhere by all means do see it. There is an English subtitled version floating around if you don't speak Spanish (This may carry the English translation of the title They Were Thirteen). Even if you are not a Charlie Chan fan this is just a really good mystery. This is the sort of thing that people don't make any more, it feels like a movie you'll want to curl up with on a dark a stormy night.

I just watched this film on DVD--it is in the new Charlie Chan box set on the disc with CC in Shanghai. It has English subtitles also. There is a scene where Charlie Chan is getting ready to board the boat to San Francisco. His wife and son are seeing him off at the dock. His wife speaks with to him in Japanese and at the end says "sayonara" to him (he answers in Spanish, of course. I guess back then they assumed that people would not know the difference between Japanese and Chinese!! By the way, another disc in the set, The Black Camel has a reading from the script of Charlie Chan's Chance, using still photos as a background. It is the complete script and since this is another lost Chan film, this might be the only was to see it

This is a gem for film historians. Almost all the early Charlie Chan films are lost--the silent ones and even several sound ones. This is one of the earliest known Chan film, though it's a Spanish language version using the same sets yet an alternate cast. That's because in the early days of talkies, Hollywood studios often filmed several alternate language versions of the same film instead of dubbing the films or using captions. Most had entirely different casts that filmed at night when the American cast went home to bed. In a few odd cases, such as with Laurel and Hardy, the stars appeared in multiple versions of their films--learning lines phonetically in German, Spanish, Italian or French. As for the Chan films, this is the only one done in multiple versions and this is a blessing as the original version starring Warner Oland is lost.

In this case, Manuel Arbó stars as the intrepid detective. While Oland was a Swedish-American and didn't exactly look or act authentically Chinese, Arbó looked and sounded even less like a Chinese-American than Oland. Also, oddly, Chan doesn't even appear until about half way through the film--something that also apparently occurred in other earlier Chan films. Instead, a murder mystery is being competently investigated and Chan only enters the scene once the trail has gone completely cold.

While this is an odd entrance for Chan compared to the later style of the series and Manuel Arbó isn't the greatest Chan, the script is definitely a winner. In fact, it compares very well to the rest of the Fox series and is better than most. This really, really makes me hope that someday they'll unearth the Oland version ("Charlie Chan Carries On")--and fortunately, in recent years, many supposedly lost films have been uncovered.

By the way, this film was included as an extra in Volume 1 of the Charlie Chan collection which was released by Fox in 2006.

This is the very rare Spanish language version of the lost original Charlie Chan film, "Charlie Chan Carries On". I believe that there is not a version that has English subtitles as I viewed the film with the help of a detailed synopsis I found in Cult Movies magazine #27.

The film has entirely different actors and a different crew from the American film, which was shot 7 months earlier. In fact, it was released after "The Black Camel" came out - the 2nd Warner Oland Chan film.

Eran Trece is an interesting film, though. It is particularly interesting to watch Manuel Arbo portray Chan in a very impish way, more physical than Oland or Toler. He moves around quite a bit in his limited screen time (Chan appears half way through the movie). He is very charming in his own original way and his tone is also warm. It's worth noting that at this time detectives in films were hard-boiled and/or intellectual and Chan, even in this early form stands out as very polite, and hard-working. Arbo gives a different take than Oland, but he is still very much Chan throughout.

As for the plot, it is complicated and without subtitles very difficult to follow the details. I was grateful to have the long synopsis, but if anyone is interested they should read the novel "Charlie Chan Carries On" by Earl Derr Biggers, or watch the remake with Sidney Toler, "Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise". All in all, Eran Trece is a worthy Chan film.