Charlie Chan at the Circus (NR) ** 1/2 Starring Warner Oland, Keye Luke Directed by Harry Lachman A Review by Frankie Paiva
Two or three times a year, all of the good people at AMC decide to dig through the film's of the 1930s and have a Charlie Chan film festival. On my first viewing of a Chan film (I believe that there are 38 total) I instantly fell in love with the interesting characters, fun plotlines, and mysterious mysteries. For all readers who don't know, Charlie Chan was a Chinese detective who starred in several extremely popular films from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s. The actor who played him (there were two of them Warner Oland from Sweden and Sidney Toler from Missouri) was never Chinese. Charlie Chan would always be involved with, investigate, and solve a murder in just over an hour. These are exciting films and I hope you enjoy my review of this one.
Charlie Chan (Oland) the famous Chinese detective is at the circus with his large (16 children to be exact) family. Before the show, they meet the amazing Tiny (Olive Brasno) and Tim (George Brasno) they are both the littlest people on earth. During the show, one of the two men they run it is killed in the wagon that holds most of the production's money. Charlie doesn't want to investigate at first, but are convinced that they need their help after Tiny and Tim beg for it. Their first assumption is that they believe it is an escaped ape, who someone let out of it's cage, but as the pieces come together, Charlie begins to think that something else actually happened to the man.
The film is classic Chan, it follows all of the main plot points of all the rest of the Charlie Chan movies. Charlie does however come up with more interesting similees (Mind like parachute - only function when open) than usual. I really like Keye Luke as the number one son. Even if he is annoying, you can't help but liking him as he goes along trying to be just like his famous father. But this movie doesn't have the same level of charm as some of the other pictures. I also don't think that the circus was a good place to have it be set, as nothing really seems to happen that is that much circus related. It's not as exciting as some of the others films and this film is also very talky. But no one can refuse a 70 minute movie like this, it's fun and entertaining, and it gets ** 1/2 stars.
The Young-Uns: Besides the fact that someone is murdered and that there is a scary gorilla, there is nothing that would frighten young children in the film. Good Age 6 & Up
A Review by Frankie Paiva The 12 Year-Old Movie Reviewer E-Mail me at SwpStke@aol.com Visit my website here
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