Monday, May 7, 2018

Charlie Chan Goes Agatha Christie

Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan.
While Warner Oland is my favorite Charlie Chan, I still enjoy many of Sidney Toler's outings as Earl Derr Biggers' Hawaiian police detective. One of Toler's best entries in the long-running film series is Castle in the Desert.

Like many Chan movies, the setting plays a critical role in the plot. The "castle" in Castle in the Desert turns out be an isolated $20 million mansion in the Mojave Desert with no electricity and no phone. It's owned by Paul Manderley, a wealthy recluse who wears a scarf over half of his face, and his wife Lucy. She is a descendant of the Borgias and, as if that wasn't bad enough, her brother stood trial for murder by poison.

In the film's opening scene, a genealogist named Professor Gleason arrives at the Manderleys' estate. He barely has time to meet his hosts and drink a cocktail before collapsing to the floor--the apparent victim of poison! Shortly thereafter, Charlie Chan receives a typed letter from Mrs. Manderley stating that her life is danger. When Charlie goes to investigate, his No. 2 son Jimmy Chan--who is on leave from military service--follows his "Pop."

Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Young, and Douglas Dumbrille.
Released in 1942, Castle in the Desert shares several similarities with Agatha Christie's classic whodunit And Then There Were None. The most notable is the isolated setting that prevents suspects from leaving. In Christie's novel, the suspects are stranded on an island. In Castle in the Desertsomeone steals the distributor cap from the only automobile--thus stranding everyone at the Manderleys' desert estate. Interestingly, 1974's Ten Little Indians, an adaptation of Christie's novel, changes the novel's setting to the desert (though an Iranian desert instead of the Mojave).

Veteran villain Henry Daniell.
Unlike some of Oland's Chan films, the cast of Castle in the Desert doesn't feature any future stars like Rita Hayworth and Ray Milland. However, it does have villain extraordinaire Henry Daniell as on one of the suspects. But he's too obvious to be the murderer...or is he?

As occasionally happens in older films, there are a couple of lines about Chan's ethnicity that might elicit a groan from modern audiences. For example, when Charlie arrives in the closest town to the Manderleys' castle, someone asks if he is a chop suey salesman. Later, a guest assumes Charlie must be a servant at the house.

The Charlie Chan films aren't for all tastes, but they are among the best of the "B" movies mysteries. The quality gradually declined during Toler's run and the Roland Winters movies are best avoided. Castle in the Desert is an above average Toler outing and chock full of Chan proverbs, with my fave being: "Man without enemies like dog without fleas." Well said, Charlie.

9 comments:

  1. The Chan films are a lot of fun. I really don't have a preference between Toler and Orland as Chan, but I will take your word to avoid the Roland Winters movies. This is one of the Chan movies I still need to see and will seek out.

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  2. Castle in the Desert was, sadly, the last of the Chan features made by 20th Century Fox. The decline in quality of the Monogram features is dispiriting but I give Sidney Toler all kinds of credit for continuing with the character at the age of 70.

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    1. Toler bought the Chan rights after Fox abandoned him.

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    2. A man with a plan. I like that.

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  3. There was a two-year gap between Castle In The Desert and CC In The Secret Service, the first Monogram Chan.

    In between times, Sidney Toler made a few film appearances in Caucasian mode while waiting for the Monogram deal to clear the fence.

    In my younger mind (I first saw these flix as a teenager in Chicago in the '60s), the MonoChans were a part of my ongoing cinema education; the reduction in circumstances between Fox and Monogram sharpened my curiosity about the whys and wherefores (regrettably, no book-length studies came about until years afterwards - but that's another story ...).

    Castle ... may not have had "new stars", but the character actors were present in force: in addition to Henry Daniell, tips of the hat to Douglass Dumbrille, Edmund MacDonald, Steven Geray, Milton Parsons, Lucien Littlefield, George Chandler - and in particular, Ethel Griffies, who got the best line in the movie - which, regrettably, can't be quoted without a SPOILER WARNING ...

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  4. I'm so glad you spotlighted this Chan entry, it's one of my favorites. The mystery aspect isn't as good as some of the older Chan movies but you just can't beat the atmosphere! That mansion in the desert, Ethel Griffies marvelous Madame Saturnia, the scene where Jimmy falls in the dungeon, and of course....Lenita Lane. She's quite wooden in this film but I love her from another favorite mystery - "The Bat" ( 1959 ).

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  5. I'm not a fan of Sidney Toler, but someone has recently given me a set of 5 Charlie Chan DVDs. I've been putting off watching them, but your post has convinced me to give them a try.

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  6. I love most of these Charlie Chan movies. I watched them often as a kid growing up. I still watch them. CASTLE IN THE DESERT is one whose script makes even less sense than most of the others. But I don't watch these films for sense. I'm also a big fan of Henry Daniell. :)

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    1. Henry Daniell was always enjoyable and was a fine Moriarty in THE WOMAN IN GREEN.

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