The Chinese Ring (1947)

Soon after a Chinese princess comes to the US to buy planes for her people, she is murdered by a poison dart fired by an air rifle.

Director:

William Beaudine

Writers:

Earl Derr Biggers (character), Scott Darling (screenplay) (as W. Scott Darling)

Stars:

Roland Winters, Warren Douglas, Mantan Moreland

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Roland Winters	...	Charlie Chan
Warren Douglas	...	Police Sgt. Bill Davidson
Mantan Moreland	...	Birmingham Brown
Louise Currie	...	Peggy Cartwright
Victor Sen Yung	...	Tommy Chan (as Victor Sen Young)
Philip Ahn	...	Captain Kong
Byron Foulger	...	Armstrong
Thayer Roberts	...	Captain James J. Kelso
Jean Wong	...	Princess Mei Ling
Dimples Cooper	...	Lillie Mae Wong (as Chabing)
George Spaulding	...	Dr. Hickey (as George L. Spaulding)

Storyline

Princess Mei Ling pays a visit to the Chan residence, where upon being admitted by man-of-all-work Birmingham Brown she refuses to give her name, but hands Birmingham her ring to show to Charlie. While Chan is being summoned, a mysterious figure shoots a dart at the beautiful Princess who manages, before she dies of poison, to scrawl the name "Captain K" on a handy piece of paper. When the police arrive, Charlie has to admit that he does not know the identity of his murdered visitor, but that he means to find out. What he learns is that Mei Ling has brought with her to America the sum of one million dollars, in order to buy airplanes for the Chinese struggle for freedom. Someone has stolen the money, and someone may be trying to divert the planes into enemy hands. Can the famous detective, despite the fact that his Number Two Son has unaccountably changed his name from Jimmy to Tommy, who used to be his Number Three son, and despite the fact that Charlie, who used to be a Honolulu ...

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Plot Keywords:

chinese princess | chinese woman | chinese | air rifle | kidnapping | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

It seems unlikely that a Chinese princess recently arrived in the US would write her dying words in English rather than in her native Chinese.

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Goofs

Early in the movie Tommy is referred to as Number 2 Son by Charlie, but in previous Charlie Chan movies Jimmy was Number 2 Son and Tommy was Number 3 Son.

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Quotes

Charlie Chan: Man who ride on tiger cannot dismount.
Birmingham Brown: He can't?

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Connections

Follows Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939)

User Reviews

Classic Charlie Chan....almost.

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.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 December 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Red Hornet

Filming Locations:

Monogram Studios - 1725 Fleming Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Monogram Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1