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.

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.

tavm This is the first in a series of Charlie Chan films I'll be reviewing in the next several days. It's also the earliest surviving one of the official series entries, not to mention the only one that's actually based on one of creator Earl Derr Biggers' novels that's still in existence (unless the other four are eventually found, that is). In this one, a movie starlet gets it after her past gains on her. As one expects, Chan rounds up the suspects and ...oh, just watch. Anyway, among the supporting cast are Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye, both of whom would become familiar to audiences for their work on Dracula the same year. Also on hand is Robert Young-years before "Father Knows Best" and "Marcus Welby, M.D."-as part of a young loving couple. Incidentally, his character's name-before playing Jim Anderson on FKB-is Jimmy. Also, I have to mention he's another show biz veteran native to my birthtown of Chicago, Ill. In contrast to his young adult sons in subsequent films, here Chan has to tolerate a goofy Japanese-American assistant named Kashimo (Otto Yamaoka) who, while extremely annoying, does inspire some funny wisecracks from Chan. The actor playing Charlie, Warner Oland, does quite well with his part even this early in the series. A mix of beautiful Hawaiian backgrounds and atmospheric shadows at night provide just the right balance of entertainment especially when a bunch of children sing a native song that I automatically recognized from an instrumental that played during a honeymoon scene in my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life. And how amusing was it seeing Charlie sitting with his offspring at the dinner table where his children's slang of the time confuses the hell out of him? So on that note, I highly recommend The Black Camel.

JoeKarlosi This is the earliest surviving Charlie Chan film to star Warner Oland as the detective (not counting 1929's BEHIND THAT CURTAIN, which only briefly featured Chan), an entertaining mystery nicely directed with stylish shooting and locations for such an early talkie. Chan is in Honolulu investigating the murder of a young movie actress and tries to untangle the relation between her death and a prior killing of another actor she used to know. Bela Lugosi, fresh after "Dracula" and riding its successes for a brief time in his career, is very good as a mystic involved in the mystery. A real treat of the picture comes whenever watching Lugosi and Oland interacting together. Dwight Frye, Bela's sidekick "Renfield" from "Dracula", also has a part as a butler. A very young Robert Young (of FATHER KNOWS BEST fame) is also on hand albeit in a rather insignificant part. This was the only time Chan was assisted by his bumbling sidekick Kashimo, and it's for the best, as this character is extremely irritating. *** out of ****