"CHARLIE CHAN COLLECTION"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
BLURAY EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) STARRING Sidney Toler as CHARLIE CHAN Benson Fong as NUMBER THREE SON Mantan Moreland as BIRMINGHAM BROWN Victor Sen Young as NUMBER TWO SON Willie Best as CHATTANOOGA BROWN Not Rated Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
The TCM Spotlight Collection continues with four almost forgotten films. “The Charlie Chan Collection” brings together four of the classic Charlie Chan mysteries from the 1940s. Sidney Toler stars as the famous detective in “Dark Alibi” (1946) in a race to save a wrongfully-accused death row inmate, “Dangerous Money” (1946) in which Chan has to solve a mystery on a cruise ship and “The Trap” (1946) in which Chan travels to Malibu to find a murderer. Then Roland Winters appears in his debut as Charlie Chan in “The Chinese Ring” (1947) featuring a murdered Chinese princess.
WHAT I LIKED
Before looking through this collection, I had never seen a Charlie Chan movie. My mother, an avid mystery fan, had several of the original books, but the movies disappeared from the public’s consciousness long before I’d be interested in them. (Sure, there was the attempted revival “Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen” in 1981, but we shouldn’t really talk about that one... ever...)
I was quite surprised and impressed with how watchable these films are, even close to 65 years after they were made. The mysteries weren’t fantastic, but they were comparable to anything we’ve seen on television, like any of the random “Murder She Wrote” episodes.
There was also quite a bit of humor in the films, mostly courtesy of either Birmingham Brown (my favorite characters) or his cousin Chattanooga as they goofed around with Charlie Chan’s sons. “The Charlie Chan Collection” is a nice diversion from modern filmmaking in a very light, airy and completely digestible format. And with each film’s running time clocking in around 70 minutes, you don’t have to give up an evening to see one of the episodes.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
I suppose that no Charlie Chan story can be written without giving a nod to the horribly politically incorrect nature of the films. While Sidney Toler does a good job as an actor, and he definitely portrays Chan with an air of honor and brilliance, it’s very hard to get past the cultural insensitivity of casting a white guy as a Chinese man.
Of course, to be fair, when they started making these movies, they did cast an Asian man. But the American audiences of the day just weren’t interested.
Still, as offensive as the portrayal of Chan can be, it shouldn’t detract from the films’ entertainment quality. And if you have a problem with Chan, hold onto your shorts because the portrayal of Birmingham Brown is even more politically incorrect... as funny and entertaining as Mantan Moreland is.
DVD FEATURES
Each film has its own disc, but the collection itself does not include any special features.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Black-and-white movie aficionados who don’t mind a little political incorrectness.
