Hitchcoc The first Charlie Chan movie that still exists is this offering. The title is based on a saying about a black camel kneeling at a doorstep as a sign of death. No camels in the movie which takes place in Honolulu. An actress has been murdered. She has been weighing the possibility of marrying a man and has been dissuaded by a mystic, played by the great Bela Lugosi. This film is filled with wonderful character actors. One of them, Dwight Frye, played Renfield, the madman, who is Dracula's henchman in the most famous of the films. Chan faces racism and avoidance. He must suffer respect from the rich populace. He is a master of precision, despite having an idiot partner who just gets in the way. One great line I loved has to do with his son, who is failing at school. When asked why he is last in his class, he replies that all the other positions were already taken. This is an entertaining, multi-layered whodunnit. There are some rather suspect events. For example a man is shot and lies dying in his bed. The law goes to extract information from him, but no-one makes the slightest effort to get a doctor. Off to a good start.

lugonian THE BLACK CAMEL (Fox Studios, 1931), directed by Hamilton MacFadden, is not one set in the Sahara desert about a sheik riding bumpily on a camel's hump, but a murder mystery set in Honolulu, Hawaii. Taken from an original story by mystery writer, Earl Derr Biggers, best known for his creation of the Charlie Chan character, THE BLACK CAMEL, offers Warner Oland a second opportunity to carry on in the role of the famed Oriental sleuth following his character introduction from CHARLIE CHAN CARRIES ON (Fox, 1931), which would lead to future "Chan" cinema mysteries to follow.Following an opening passage of men surfing on the waves to the underscoring of "On the Beaches of Waikiki," and front page spreads filling the screen of Honolulu welcoming Hollywood motion picture company, and of its leading lady, Shelah Fane (Dorothy Revier) set to marry Alan Jaynes (William Post Jr.), a wealthy globe trotter she met on the boat and known for only a week. Unable to concentrate on her scenes for the upcoming motion picture, Shelah sends for Tarneverro the Great (Bela Lugosi), for advise about her future. Upon their meeting, the psychic reveals a dark secret about her past that occurred three years ago. Later at a gathering at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Shelah is found dead. Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) of the Honolulu police, passing himself as a Chinese merchant, investigates. Among the suspects are Julie O'Neill (Sally O'Neil), Shelah's friend; Jimmy Bradshaw (Robert Young), a slogan man and Julie's romantic interest; Robert Fyfe (Victor Varconi), actor and Shelah's ex-husband; Archie Smith (Murray Kinnell), an artist who holds a portrait painting of Shelah' Anna (Violet Dunn), Shelah's maid; and her husband, Jessop (the uncredited Dwight Frye), the butler. Others in the cast consist of Marjorie White (Rita Ballou); Richard Tucker (Wilkie Ballou); and its director, Hamilton MacFadden, playing a movie director.What does this have to do with the black camel? Nothing really except from a proverb recited from Charlie Chan himself, "Death is a black camel that kneels unbidden at every gate." Those familiar with the latter Chan mysteries starring either Warner Oland or his successor, Sidney Toler, would find THE BLACK CAMEL quite formula Chan material, even during its early stages. In a scene set during the midway point, there's the presentation of Charlie and his Chan clan seated at the breakfast table, consisting of his wife, and numerous off-springs, with one of them speaking in current day slang. Interestingly, Chan's bumbling assistant is a bespectacled Japanese named Kashimo (Otto Yamaoka) rather than the familiar Keye Luke as Lee, Chan's Number One Son,introduced into the series in "Charlie Chan in Paris" (Fox, 1935). Kashimo, like Lee Chan, is played for laughs, and gets them as well. Bela Lugosi, following his legendary success of "Dracula" (Universal, 1931), almost outshines Oland with his very strong presence as the fortune teller with a mysterious past. His crystal ball gazing with interesting camera angles is certainly one of the highlights with fine dark background photography in the "film noir" tradition.While no prints survive for Oland's Chan debut of CHARLIE CHAN CARRIES ON, THE BLACK CAMEL, remade as CHARLIE CHAN IN RIO (20th-Fox, 1941) starring Sidney Toler, is available for viewing on DVD (with 20th Century-Fox logo). Though rarely or hardly televised as part of the "Charlie Chan Festival" on the afternoon or late show broadcasts of decades ago, it's something to consider being the earliest known Oland/Chan mystery to exist and some actual location filming in Hawaii to hold enough interest during its fun-filled 71 minutes. Next installment: CHARLIE CHAN'S CHANCE (Fox, 1932). In conclusion to Chan's frequent close of sentence, "Thank you, so much." (***)

unbrokenmetal Well, it's a situation that couldn't by more classic: a murder takes place on an island, the inspector rounds up everyone who was around, and one of of them must be the murderer. But who? This was the first of the 1930s Charlie Chan movies I've ever seen, and it made an excellent introduction to the series (which is said to have weaker entries later on) for me. The atmosphere, filming on location at Hawaii, is captured very well, Chan delivers his one-liners with delight, Lugosi creates a perfect 'usual suspect' and the movie is fun from the beginning to the end. Not all characters can be provided with enough background story, though, which is owed to the running time below 70 minutes. I had the pleasure to watch a fully restored DVD in great quality for the age of the source material and definitely can recommend this picture to all who like old-fashioned b/w whodunits.

bkoganbing For his second appearance as Charlie Chan, Warner Oland is actually working and solving a case as a member of the Honolulu PD homicide squad and not retained as a private detective. The victim here is Dorothy Revier, movie star.Back on the mainland Revier was involved with an actor who was killed in a still unsolved homicide. And as it usually does in these cases a whole load of people that had previous connections with the late actor just happen to be on the scene.Bela Lugosi is in the film as well as a spiritualist who has somehow insinuated himself with Revier. He's got a score to settle with whomever killed the actor. Lugosi is his usual sinister self.Besides the mainland murder before the action and that of Revier there is a third of an itinerant beachcomber artist played by Murray Kinnell.I will say that Charlie Chan has to solve all three cases and does. But the murders are committed by three different people. And in one case an old murder mystery truism proves valid.The title The Black Camel has nothing really to do with plot itself. It is a piece of an old Chinese proverb that Charlie Chan quotes, but not fortune cookie aphorisms.You'll not figure out the three murders, they won't be people you might originally suspect.