Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)

Director:

H. Bruce Humberstone

Writers:

Robert Ellis (screen play) and
Helen Logan (screen play) ...
(more)

Release Date:

21 May 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

DEATH FIRES THE STARTING GUN!...and you'll be breathless at the finish!

Plot:

When a strategically important new aerial guidance system is stolen, Charlie traces it to the Berlin Olympics, where he has to battle spies and enemy agents to retrieve it.

Plot Keywords:

Olympic Games | Enemy Agent | Clock | Brandenburg Gate | Track And Field

Cast

Warner Oland	...	Charlie Chan
Katherine DeMille	...	Yvonne Roland
Pauline Moore	...	Betty Adams
Allan Lane	...	Richard Masters
Keye Luke	...	Lee Chan
C. Henry Gordon	...	Arthur Hughes
John Eldredge	...	Cartwright
Layne Tom Jr.	...	Charlie Chan Jr.
Jonathan Hale	...	Hopkins
Morgan Wallace	...	Honorable Charles Zaraka
Frederick Vogeding	...	Captain Strasser (as Fredrik Vogeding)
Andrew Tombes	...	Police Chief Scott
Howard C. Hickman	...	Dr. Burton (as Howard Hickman)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Begg	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Brooks Benedict	...	Zaraka Henchman (uncredited)
Stanley Blystone	...	New York Policeman (uncredited)
Walter Bonn	...	Polizei Officer (uncredited)
Don Brodie	...	Radio Announcer (uncredited)
Glen Cavender	...	Polizei Officer (uncredited)
George Chandler	...	Ship's Radio Operator (uncredited)
Arno Frey	...	Carlos (uncredited)
Hans Fuerberg	...	Polizei Radio-car Officer (uncredited)
Theresa Harris	...	Black US Team Member On Sidelines Rooting for Jesse Owens (uncredited)
Oscar 'Dutch' Hendrian	...	Miller (uncredited)
David S. Horsley	...	Test Pilot Edwards (uncredited)
Selmer Jackson	...	Navy Commander (uncredited)
Hans Joby	...	Polizei Radio-car Officer (uncredited)
Edward Keane	...	Army Colonel (uncredited)
Al Kikume	...	Uniformed Officer at Microphone / Desk in Police Station (uncredited)
Tommy Klein	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Tony Merlo	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Ralph Metcalfe	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Philip Morris	...	Cop (uncredited)
Louis Natheaux	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Virgil B. Nover	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Jesse Owens	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Paul Panzer	...	German Undercover Officer Posing as Snack Vendor (uncredited)
Caroline Rankin	...	Miller's Landlady (uncredited)
Fritz Schilgen	...	Himself - Olympic Flame Lighter (archive footage) (uncredited)
Perry E. Seeley	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Lee Shumway	...	Cop (uncredited)
Minerva Urecal	...	Gang Member Posing as Olympics Matron (uncredited)
Dale Van Sickel	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan	...	Ship's Officer (uncredited)
Wilhelm von Brincken	...	Polizei Officer (uncredited)
Billy Wayne	...	Ship's Steward Guarding Stateroom (uncredited)
Frank Wykoff	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
H. Bruce Humberstone

Writing credits
Robert Ellis		(screen play) and
Helen Logan		(screen play)
Paul Burger		(original story)
Earl Derr Biggers		(based on: the character "Charlie Chan" created by)

Produced by
John Stone	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Samuel Kaylin

Cinematography by
Daniel B. Clark		(photography)

Film Editing by
Fred Allen		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Chester Gore
Albert Hogsett

Costume Design by
Herschel McCoy		(costumes) (as Herschel)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jasper Blystone	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound
E. Clayton Ward	....	sound

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Samuel Kaylin	....	musical director

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1937) (USA) (theatrical) (as 20th Century Fox) (released through)
• 20th Century Fox Film (1937) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Teakwood Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox (1937) (France) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #3090) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1968)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Stock footage of the dirigible Hindenburg was retouched, frame by frame, to blot out the swastikas emblazoned on the airship's tail.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Charlie Chan, Jr. enters a room where his father and another officer are, Chan, Jr. says, "Pop, here are some cut-up tea and sandwiches," when what he really means is, "Pop, here are some cut-up sandwiches and tea."

Quotes:

Charlie Chan:All work and no play make Charlie Chan very dull policeman.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Black Magic (1944)

Decent entry, but "pulled from circulation shortly after its release"?

Some unnamed source at IMDb alleges that CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS, a film capitalizing on the then recent 1936 Berlin Olympics (taking place in Germany under Chancellor Hitler) and released on May 21, 1937, in the U.S and in the early fall of that year in Europe, was "pulled from circulation shortly after its release because it takes place in Nazi Germany." Could someone please define "shortly after its release"? The film, while sympathetically portraying the civilian police force in Berlin (interestingly played for irony and possibly surprise or subtext by frequent film villain Frederik Vogeding), pointedly incorporated actual newsreel footage of Jessie Owens' Olympic triumph which was so upsetting to the Herr Hitler. The film plot had considerable hurdles to surmount in avoiding the identification of the foreign power trying to steal the "McGuffin" military device. Most U.S. or British films of the period would have been more blatant in assuming the national guilty party, but Germany was still a major market for U.S. motion pictures (even if the Chan character himself must have been an anathema to Nazi Party leadership).

Even with the unsettling Anschlus in Austria and the Munich Crisis over the dismembering of Czechoslovakia; with the invasion of Poland and the formal start of European hostilities in World War II still a little more than a year away (U.S. entry into the conflict more than four years away!), America and much of the rest of the world was doing its best to ignore distressing realities within the Reich. While CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS had to do a fine dance to play to that desire to turn a blind eye, it largely succeeded. It is difficult to believe that 20th Century Fox would withdraw an entry in the wildly popular Chan series in anything which could be realistically considered "soon" (anything less than six months). A specific DATE of the withdrawal would be appreciated.

While the film over all may be one of the lesser Chan efforts, it has moments (the initial set-up in the U.S., the travelogue race to Berlin, the scenes in the Olympic Stadium and the final confrontation with the killers) which are as good as any in the canon. To be dismissed as "pulled from circulation shortly after its release" if it is demonstrably not true would be unfortunate.