:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Charlie Chan at the Circus (1936 USA): A few years back, Fox Movie
Channel yanked their Charlie Chan films from circulation after a group
of misguided Asian-American activists voiced complaints about the
series' racial stereotyping and casting choices. Now TCM takes up the
mantle and is airing several Chans as part of their Asian Images in
Film series. We can be thankful that these features are now available
again and being shown in their correct context: that of 1930's
Hollywood, where Tinsel Town's product reflected both the nation's
racist cultural zeitgeist and its melting pot mythology. First up is
Charlie Chan at the Circus, one of my favorites in the series, in which
our hero (Warner Oland) receives some free passes to the big top, where
he finds himself embroiled in a three ring mystery involving owner Joe
Kinney (Paul Stanton) and performers Colonel Tim and Lady Tiny (brother
and sister George and Olive Brasno). Critics of the series tend to
overlook the performances of the actors and actresses who portrayed
Charlie's all-American offspring, and Keye Luke is in excellent form
here as number one son Lee, who finds himself falling for contortionist
Su Toy (Shia Jung). It's followed at 6:30 PM by 1938's Charlie Chan in
Honolulu, the first entry featuring Sidney Toler as Chan; at 7:45 PM by
The Scarlet Clue (1945), co-starring the great Mantan Moreland as loyal
sidekick Birmingham Brown; at 9:00 PM by 1937's Thank You Mr. Moto,
featuring Peter Lorre as the titular Japanese detective; at 10:15 PM by
1937's Daughter of Shanghai, a florid melodrama headlined by Anna May
Wong; at 11:30 PM by Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939), a cheaply made
Monogram cash-in featuring Boris Karloff as yet another inscrutable
Asian detective; at 12:45 AM by Phantom of Chinatown (1940), in which
Asian actor Keye Luke portrays Mr. Wong; and at 2:00 AM by The Jade
Mask (1945), in which Toler and Moreland reprise their most famous
roles.
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