{"id":4188,"date":"2007-09-11T14:39:16","date_gmt":"2007-09-11T21:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4188"},"modified":"2021-02-02T10:26:24","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T17:26:24","slug":"charlie-chan-at-treasure-island-1939","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4188","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Sometimes black magic very close relative to blackmail.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Poster-203x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-68036\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Poster-203x300.png 203w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Poster-695x1024.png 695w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Poster-87x128.png 87w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Poster-183x270.png 183w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Poster.png 759w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nDetective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) and his eager son (Sen Yung) investigate the sudden death of a writer (Louis Jean Heydt) who has received a mysterious telegram from the famed hypnotist &#8220;Dr. Zodiac&#8221;.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Asian-Americans<\/li>\n<li>Detectives and Private Eyes<\/li>\n<li>Magicians<\/li>\n<li>Mind Control and Hypnosis<\/li>\n<li>Murder Mystery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIt&#8217;s impossible to discuss 20th Century Fox&#8217;s popular &#8220;Charlie Chan&#8221; film series (based on the set of novels by Earl Derr Biggers) without noting the sad truth that in early Hollywood, the famed Chinese detective was never played by a Chinese man. Despite his best efforts, it&#8217;s difficult to forget that Sidney Toler (the second non-Asian to play the detective) is simply a white man in pseudo-Asian makeup, speaking in stereotypical pidgin English; this lessens the appeal of the movie enormously. With that said, the story itself is mildly entertaining, with multiple plausible suspects and some enjoyable back-stage glimpses at magic shows; and, since this is widely considered to be the best of the Sidney Toler series, it&#8217;s a good one to check out. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some effectively atmospheric imagery and cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Eyes.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Eyes.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"352\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68039\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Eyes.jpg 352w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Eyes-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Eyes-128x87.jpg 128w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 352px) 100vw, 352px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Effects.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Effects.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"352\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68038\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Effects.jpg 352w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Effects-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Effects-128x87.jpg 128w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 352px) 100vw, 352px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Sen Yung as Chan&#8217;s son &#8212; not a great performance, but it&#8217;s so refreshing to see an Asian (rather than a white) playing an Asian that he emerges as one of the highlights of the film<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Son.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Son.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"352\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-68037\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Son.jpg 352w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Son-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Charlie-Chan-Treasure-Island-Son-128x87.jpg 128w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 352px) 100vw, 352px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, but only as a representative example of the Sidney Toler Charlie Chan series; it&#8217;s likely that another might suffice. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Representative Film<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0031147\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1939\/09\/01\/archives\/the-screen.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rinkworks.com\/movies\/m\/charlie.chan.at.treasure.island.1939.shtml\">At-a-Glance Film Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Sometimes black magic very close relative to blackmail.&#8221; Synopsis: Detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) and his eager son (Sen Yung) investigate the sudden death of a writer (Louis Jean Heydt) who has received a mysterious telegram from the famed hypnotist &#8220;Dr. Zodiac&#8221;. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Asian-Americans Detectives and Private Eyes Magicians Mind Control and Hypnosis Murder Mystery Review: It&#8217;s impossible to discuss 20th Century Fox&#8217;s popular &#8220;Charlie Chan&#8221; film series (based on the set of novels by Earl&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4188\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4188"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68047,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188\/revisions\/68047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}