The famous Charlie Chan series of the 1930s starred Swedish actor Warner Oland as the main character. Yes, I understand that having a non-Chinese man playing Chan is NOT politically correct and they SHOULD have had a Chinese guy play the detective as well as play him less stereotypically, but considering this is the 1930s and the films are still entertaining, this is something the viewer is just going to have to overlook. In the 1940s, the series would continue with other non-Asians (Sidney Toler and then Roland Winters) as well as move from glamorous Twentieth Century Fox to poverty row Monogram Studios--where the production values would drop considerably and racial insensitivity would increase dramatically! Since this is one of the earlier Fox Charlie Chan films, it is a definite step up in quality and entertainment.
In this film, Charlie is supposedly on vacation in Paris but is actually on the trail of a counterfeiting scheme. How Chan seemed to travel to new exotic locale in each film is a mystery in and of itself, as he was always described as "the great Hawaiian detective" but never seemed to be there! Anyway, this film has a lot going for it in spite of Charlie's ability to solve crimes too easily (it's like they gave him a copy of the script). The best of Chan's sons, #1 son Keye Luke, is there to assist him and Mantan Moreland of the Monogram films is NOT--a good recipe for success. Plus, the plot and the whole idea of the handicapped beggar really took some imagination and showed that this wasn't just a slapped together entry in the series (like so many later ones were). A good example of the genre.
In this film, Charlie is supposedly on vacation in Paris but is actually on the trail of a counterfeiting scheme. How Chan seemed to travel to new exotic locale in each film is a mystery in and of itself, as he was always described as "the great Hawaiian detective" but never seemed to be there! Anyway, this film has a lot going for it in spite of Charlie's ability to solve crimes too easily (it's like they gave him a copy of the script). The best of Chan's sons, #1 son Keye Luke, is there to assist him and Mantan Moreland of the Monogram films is NOT--a good recipe for success. Plus, the plot and the whole idea of the handicapped beggar really took some imagination and showed that this wasn't just a slapped together entry in the series (like so many later ones were). A good example of the genre.