The Black Camel (1931)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It's a great shame that several of the early Chans featuring Warner Oland are lost. The Black Camel is the only film that survives until 1934's Charlie Chan in London. Maybe somewhere a private collector has copies of these movies. One can only hope that they will someday surface.The Black Camel is graced by the presence of Bela Lugosi AND Dwight Frye! Anyone who thinks Lugosi is a ham actor should watch his calm and relaxed performance here. Oland is an immediately likable presence as Charlie Chan; it's unfortunate that his side kick Kashimo has dated for modern audiences. Continually interrupting scenes by running in and shouting "CLUE!" grows pretty wearisome, and one pines for the presence of Keye Luke, who's comedy schtick has worn much better. No such luck.THe mystery concerns the unsolved murder of an actor three years ago, and when film actress Julie O'Neil (Sally Eilers), confesses to her psychic adviser Tannavero (Lugosi) that she was present in his home when he was killed and knows the identity of his murderer she's soon bumped off with a knife to the heart and Chan, who is already investigating the earlier murder, has to clear things up.This is an agreeable mystery with some pleasant Hawiian local colour, although I wish a little more had been made of this. A good start for the surviving Charlie Chans. If only we had the lost ones...

SYNOPSIS: A film star is murdered whilst making a movie on location in Honolulu. (Of course, there is no black camel anywhere in the plot, but you can't have everything).COMMENT: This, the 5th movie in the Charlie Chan series is one of the best. To begin with, it boasts a great cast. True, Bela Lugosi is often photographed from somewhat unflattering angles, but this, if anything, makes his characterization more interesting. Another point in the movie's favor, of course, is Warner Oland, here giving a more rounded interpretation before Chan became stereotyped. Otto Yamoaka tends to overdo the comedy relief, but his scenes are brief and even, at times, mildly amusing. As the female lead, Sally Eilers is cast in the shadow of Dorothy Revier, who, although she has a much smaller role, is the girl you remember. And although not always photographed to his advantage, Robert Young, also makes a lasting impression despite the fact that the sub-plot in which he is cast is ho-hum conventional. Another character everyone always remembers from this entry is the beach bum so convincingly yet charismatically played by Murray Kinnell. And of course a final point which stays in everyone's memory is the appearance (in both senses of the word) of Hamilton MacFadden as the film-within-the-film's director and Daniel B. Clark as the location cameraman.

Well, it's a situation that couldn't by more classic: a murder takes place on an island, the inspector rounds up everyone who was around, and one of of them must be the murderer. But who? This was the first of the 1930s Charlie Chan movies I've ever seen, and it made an excellent introduction to the series (which is said to have weaker entries later on) for me. The atmosphere, filming on location at Hawaii, is captured very well, Chan delivers his one-liners with delight, Lugosi creates a perfect 'usual suspect' and the movie is fun from the beginning to the end. Not all characters can be provided with enough background story, though, which is owed to the running time below 70 minutes. I had the pleasure to watch a fully restored DVD in great quality for the age of the source material and definitely can recommend this picture to all who like old-fashioned b/w whodunits.

It's rare that films from the early 1930's show us actual location films shot in Hawaii, and this fascinating early Chan mystery is loaded with glimpses of the local beaches as well as the lobby and veranda of the Royal Hawaiian hotel--in addition to a print that leaps off the screen in dynamic black and white seldom seen in such clarity.Technique and location aside, this is also a baffling mystery--sometimes slow-paced, to be sure, in comparison with the later "cheapie Chans," but jammed with appearances by some memorable character actors--Bela Lugosi in a turban, for instance, a year after he made Dracula his signature role, or an impossibly juvenile Robert Young in his first film appearance--dig that striped bathing costume! In so many ways, this is one of the very best Chan films, a treat for both fans of early talkie cinema, and certainly for followers of the intrepid Chinese detective as his character was beginning to jell.