Featurette that is on the Charlie Chan in Paris DVD. It basically covers the creation of Charlie Chan. It begins with a biography of Chan creator Earl Derr Biggers. Then it goes on to discuss the growth of Chan in films, from a rocky start in the silent era to the successful Warner Oland series. It was interesting to discover Earl Derr Biggers loved Warner Oland as Chan but hated the aphorisms we all love and associate with the detective. They go over most of the Oland films. They talk about Keye Luke's Number One Son and what he brought to the series. In discussing Charlie Chan in Egypt, they bring up Stepin Fetchit and talk about his very dated and offensive role. Knowing nothing much about the history behind Charlie Chan, I found a lot of this interesting stuff. It's a nice featurette that I'm sure fans of Charlie Chan will enjoy.
2 Reviews
In Search of Charlie Chan
Michael_Elliott11 April 2015
In Search of Charlie Chan (2006)
*** (out of 4)
Twenty-six minute featurette from Fox that can be found on their CHARLIE CHAN IN Paris release. Chan experts discuss the history of the five people who really made this character so memorable. We start off hearing about author Earl Derr Biggers and how he was at a crossroads in his life when he decided to switch to novels. We then learn about what led to the Chan character. We also learn about the important member at Fox who go the series running and then there's Warner Oland. We hear about Oland's career as Chan and how much respect he had for the character and the role. Another important figure was Keye Luke as #1 Son, a character that most people loved and a character that really changed the film series. This is certainly a very well thought out documentary that manages to gather some fascinating interviews and there's no question that by the time it's done you're going to know a lot more about the character. We get clips from the various early films from Fox and there's also talk about some of the lost movies and a lost serial.
*** (out of 4)
Twenty-six minute featurette from Fox that can be found on their CHARLIE CHAN IN Paris release. Chan experts discuss the history of the five people who really made this character so memorable. We start off hearing about author Earl Derr Biggers and how he was at a crossroads in his life when he decided to switch to novels. We then learn about what led to the Chan character. We also learn about the important member at Fox who go the series running and then there's Warner Oland. We hear about Oland's career as Chan and how much respect he had for the character and the role. Another important figure was Keye Luke as #1 Son, a character that most people loved and a character that really changed the film series. This is certainly a very well thought out documentary that manages to gather some fascinating interviews and there's no question that by the time it's done you're going to know a lot more about the character. We get clips from the various early films from Fox and there's also talk about some of the lost movies and a lost serial.
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