With Olympics fever currently raging, it seemed like an
appropriate time to re-visit “Charlie Chan at the Olympics” (1937).
Historically, it’s a fascinating document in many ways, much
more so than the “whodunit” aspects of the story.
Let’s quickly get the story out of the way. While undergoing
a test flight in Honolulu,
an experimental remote control airplane is hijacked. Honolulu’s Chief of Detectives Charlie Chan
(Warner Oland) is on a fishing vacation with his young son when they spot the
wreckage of a plane. Calling the authorities, they determine it is the missing
plane and the plane’s new technology, a revolutionary new guidance system, has
been stolen. The pilot’s corpse is found stuffed in the plane’s closet, a
victim of murder.
Charlie and the plane’s inventors are sent to Germany to
trace their main suspect, the plane’s mechanic. By a coincidence, Number One
son Lee Chan (Keye Luke) is on his way to Berlin
across the Atlantic via steamship as a member
of the U.S. Olympics swimming team.
Charlie isn’t concerned his quarry has a jump start on them.
Here we get a fascinating glimpse into 1937 global travel times, as described
by Charlie Chan.
“Race not always won by man who start first. Please – will
leave tomorrow in company with Hopkins and Cartwright on Clipper. Honolulu – 18 hours to
mainland. Then transcontinental plane from San Francisco
– 13 hours across country to New York.
Take Zeppelin Hindenburg from Lakehurst, New Jersey across Atlantic Ocean
to Friedrichschafen – 61 hours.”
Yes, THAT Hindenburg, and “Charlie Chan at the Olympics” was
already dated before it opened. The Hindenburg exploded in Lakehurst, NJ
on May 6, 1937 and “Charlie Chan at the Olympics” was released on May 21,
1937. There is some very interesting
footage of the Hindenburg as it soars above New York City. I wonder how many people went to see “Charlie
Chan at the Olympics” because they heard there was footage of the Hindenburg in
the movie? I’m sure interest in the disaster was still very strong in the weeks
after the explosion.
Who else would have gone to see “Charlie Chan at the
Olympics”? Chan fans, of course, and mystery buffs. And, most likely, Olympics
fans, who got the rare opportunity to see footage of the historic 1936 Olympics
in Berlin.
In those pre-television days, only newsreels shown in
theaters would have had footage of the Olympics. Olympics junkies would have
read all the newspaper coverage of the Olympics, but only those newsreels
offered actual footage.
But by going to see “Charlie Chan at the Olympics”, Olympics
fans could see footage of the arrivals, the opening ceremonies, and Jesse Owens
and team win gold medals in the 4 x 100 meter relay.
I wonder how many Olympics devotees went to see the Charlie
Chan film just to glimpse that precious footage? I would suspect quite a few.
(Leni Riefenstahl’s “Olympia”, her propagandistic look at the Berlin
Olympics, did not come until 1938, but I
don’t know what kind of distribution it got here).
What’s also interesting about the documentary footage is
what it does not show. No swastikas and no Hitler to be seen anywhere, though
it’s hard not to miss the upraised arm salute in the front row as the Olympic
torch is carried into the stadium. (There’s no swastikas to be glimpsed on the
Hindenburg either, though I don’t know if it was airbrushed out or it’s just
not seen from those angles).
Many Hollywood films of the
mid-1930s were neutral about Hitler and the rise of Nazism, and the studios did
not want to risk a German boycott of their product if even one film from their
studio gave offense to the German government. “Charlie Chan at the Olympics” is
no exception. Even a glimpse of a swastika in a Chan film may have been seen by
some as an endorsement, or as an affront by others.
Indeed, the local police inspector, Strasser (Frederick
Vogeding) wears a Kaiser-style hat, as do his men, like something out of an
operetta. No Gestapo-style outfits here,
as 20th Century Fox was doing everything it could not to offend Germany.
At the end of the film, Charlie even makes it a point to thank the Berlin police for their
cooperation.
We can laugh now, but it was a real dilemma for the studios
at the time. In his book Charlie Chan at
the Movies (McFarland & Company, 1989), Ken Hanke writes about how the
German government threatened a wholesale boycott of Universal Studios movies if
changes weren’t made to James Whale’s World War I film “The Road Back” (1937).
The resultant changes shred Whale’s vision into an almost unrecognizable state.
Back to the movie. Not only is there the murder of the pilot
in Honolulu to
be solved, but the return of the guidance system, which is being peddled to an
unnamed foreign power. Again, no mention of Germany at all.
There are quite a few familiar faces on hand here, including
some who had made, or will make, appearances in other Charlie Chan films.
There’s Mr. Dithers, I mean Jonathan Hale, who was also a suspect in “Charlie
Chan at the Race Track” (1936). A particular favorite of mine, C. Henry Gordon,
whose final film would be “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum” (1940), is here in
all his beady-eyed glory.
Cecil B. DeMille’s adopted daughter Katherine is one of
those dastardly foreign agents. Representing All-American wholesomeness on the
U.S. Olympics team is Allan Lane,
future B cowboy star and later the voice of Mr. Ed.
Very easy on the eyes is cute-as-a-button Pauline Moore,
shown modeling what the best-dressed American athletes wore at the 1936 Olympics.
Pauline Moore also appeared in my personal favorite Chan film, “Charlie Chan at
Treasure Island” (1939). See, the miracle
movie year of 1939 also produced a great Chan title.
While I enjoy “Charlie Chan at the Olympics” for the reasons
cited above, I’ve always found it ludicrous that Lee Chan is made part of the
U.S. Olympics swim team, and winning the Gold Medal!. Surely there could have
been other ways to include him in the story? It always seemed very clumsy to
me.
To the best of my recollection, Lee he is never shown
training in any of the previous Chan films, and in later entries, he is never
referred to as a Gold Medal winner.
Only for this movie is his incredible swimming prowess
revealed.
Still, “Charlie Chan at the Olympics” is most enjoyable,
even though it would have been nice to spend more time at the Olympics. While
the mystery is negligible, as a historic document, it continues to hold
interest. And even an average Charlie Chan film makes for a satisfying
evening’s entertainment.
10 comments:
The social/political aspects of the film are indeed very interesting and make this a fun movie to revisit.
I had "Charlie Chan at the Olympics" on the other night and made the hubby take a peek. As he can now recognize Irving Bacon on sight I've starting working on George Chandler. He didn't care two bits about the ship's radio operator Chandler, but thought that gal in the white fox fur was plenty cute!
C.W., I know who both those actors are. I wish identifying Golden Age character actors was part of the job interview process. I would have a new job by now.
Kevin, we have all this knowledge and it doesn't even come up as a "Jeopardy" category! Life is so unfair.
Kevin, what a perfect review for this week! I always enjoy the settings of the Chan films and this one is no exception. Your background info is fascinating, as always, especially the part of about the Hindenberg (I just watched the so-so Robert Wise movie). You know, I guess anyone can win a gold medal in swimming...maybe there's hope for me in Rio.
Rick: Continuing the theme of this week's blog, I will blog on "Charlie Chan in Rio" (1941) in 2016. Nothing like planning ahead.
Perfect timing for this post! You should save Charlie Chan in Rio for the 2016 Olympics :)
A very timely review, and some fascinating information. I'm not a huge fans of Charlie Chan movies, but you've convinced me that this is one worth watching.
Silverscreenings, the mystery here isn't much, but the movie itself is most interesting from a historic perspective.
Brian, I'm already lining up my summer 2016 blog write-ups. "Charlie Chan in Rio", "That Night in Rio", "Flying Down to Rio", "Blame it on Rio","Black Orpheus", etc.
This movie fascinated me as a lad, when it was shown occasionally on TV. Mainly for the Hindenburg, of course. I'll have to see it again sometime. I didn't know that the movie was released just after the disaster -- one of those coincidences that was good box office, probably.
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