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Fox Film Corporation
Distributed: Fox Film Corporation, September 15,
1933
Production: Began mid-July 1933
Copyright: Fox Film Corporation, August 29, 1933; LP4105
Sound
Film:
Black and white
Length: 8 reels, 6,200 feet
Running Time: 70-71 minutes
Production Code Administration Certificate
Number: 1232-R [August 17, 1935]
Source: Based on the novel The House Without a Key
by Earl Derr Biggers (Indianapolis, 1925)
Producer: Sol M. Wurtzel
Director: Hamilton MacFadden
Assistant Director: Percy Ikerd
Screenplay: Lester Cole and Marion Orth
Photography: Ernest Palmer
Camera Operator: Don Anderson (not credited)
Assistant Camera: Stanley Little and Robert Mack (neithet credited)
Settings: Duncan Cramer
Editor: Alex Troffey
Gowns: Royer
Musical Direction: Samuel Kaylin
Sound: George Leverett
Assistant Sound: W. T. Brent (not credited)
Still Photography: Cliff Maupin (not credited)
CAST:
Warner Oland: Charlie Chan
Heather Angel: Carlotta Egan
Roger Imhoff:
The Beachcomber
John Warburton: John Quincy Winterslip
Walter Byron: Harry Jennison
Ivan Simpson: T. M. Brade
Virginia Cherrill: Barbara Winterslip
Francis Ford: Captain Hallett
Robert Warwick: Dan Winterslip
Frank McGlynn:
Amos Winterslip
Clara Blandick: Minerva Winterslip
Claude King: Captain Arthur Temple Cope
William Stack: James
Egan
Gloria Roy: Arlene Compton
Cornelius Keefe: Steve Leatherbee
Frank Tang: Oswald Chan (not credited)
Dorothy Hoo: Number One Chan Daughter (not credited)
Mabel Hoo: Number Two Chan Daughter (not credited)
Frank Dong: Number Two Chan Son (not credited)
Allen Dong: Number Three Chan Son (not credited)
Harry Dong: Number Four Chan Son (not credited)
Frances Chan: Number Three Chan Daughter (not credited)
David Dong: Number Five Chan Son (not credited)
Ellen Lim: Number Four Chan Daughter (not credited)
Brothers Amos and Dan Winterslip discuss Dan's latest amour, a shady lady named Arlene Compton
of whom the moralistic Amos does not approve. Dan, the family ingrate, throws his brother out of his beachside Honolulu house.
His sister Minerva arrives with the news that another family member, cousin John Quincy Winterslip, is being sent to Honolulu
to bring her back to Boston as, in the conservative family's opinion, she is having too much fun. Dan sobers when he sees
a newspaper item about the arrival to the islands of T. M. Brade.
During a stopover in San Francisco, John Quincy's
Uncle Roger takes him to a house, which belongs to John's Uncle Dan, and gives him a strongbox marked "T. M. B." Roger instructs
him to throw it into the Pacific the next day when his boat is out at sea, as per Dan Winterslip's orders. While the pair
is in the house, a mysterious figure jumps from the shadows and tries unsuccessfully to make off with the box.
Aboard
the ship for Honolulu, John Quincy is about to toss the strongbox over the rail, but he is suddenly overcome by an unidentified
person who quickly runs off with the box. On deck, Harry Jennison, Dan Winterslip's lawyer, and Barbara, Dan's Daughter, who
are returning to Honolulu, decide to get married. An excited Barbara sends a radiogram to her father.
Meanwhile, in
Honolulu, Dan goes to see Arlene to ask that she return the emerald brooch that he had given to her as a gift. She lies and
says that the brooch is being repaired at a jeweler's and promises to bring it to him later.
That evening, the captain
of the passenger ship announces that, since the ship has arrived too late to dock, that it must remain at anchor offshore
until the next morning. At Dan's home, Minerva finds a prowler hiding in the shadows. Out of fear, she does not let on to
the fact that she is aware of the intruder's presence, although she notices that the person is wearing a distinctive watch that
glows in the dark. After the prowler has left, Minerva discovers Dan dead in his den.
The police are called, and,
at the police station, Captain Hallett receives the report of the murder. Hallett immediately calls Charlie Chan who is awakened
along with his ample household. Soon, at the crime scene, the doctor reports that Dan was stabbed in the heart and that his
arm was broken. Chan questions Minerva, who relates the only identifying characteristic of the intruder that she could make
out: the glow-in-the-dark wristwatch, mentioning how she noticed that the numeral two was blurred. She also tells Chan that
she remembers a James Egan of the Reef and Palm Hotel calling repeatedly the day before the murder.
The next
morning, at the hotel, Chan and Hewett, who are joined by John Quincy at his own request, are questioning a reticent Egan
who is very insistent on leaving. Chan reminds him that he had had an engagement with Dan that he had cancelled. Egan
admits that the two men had met at around 11:00 in Dan's garden. Egan, who had not spoken to Dan in twenty-three years, refuses
to reveal to Chan the nature of their meeting.
Carlotta, Egan's daughter, walks in on the group, having just arrived
in Honolulu aboard another ship. She is upset because her father was supposed to have met her at the dock, but she is grief-stricken
to find that her father is now a suspect in the murder of Dan Winterslip. Carlotta rebukes John, who has openly stated his
feelings of Egan's apparent implication in his uncle's murder.
With her father in police custody, Carlotta must now
run the hotel. As she watches the desk, Brade, a guest, informs her that he will be away for a few days. Koahla, Dan's houseboy,
enters with a package for Brade, but leaves when he is informed of the latter's absence. Later, noticing Koahla hiding on
the hotel grounds, John attacks him and retreives the package. He is stunned to find that it contains the strongbox that was
stolen from him aboard ship. Soon, a shot is fired at John, narrowly missing him. Chan arrives, and John gives the box to
the detective, who opens it only to find that it is empty.
Later, Amos Winterslip is found dead, and Chan captures
a beachcomber who wears a wristwatch matching that described by Minerva. Shortly thereafter, Chan assembles all of the possible
suspects at Dan's house for a final meeting at which he plans to reveal the identity of the murderer. When Chan asks Brade
about the box, Brade states that Dan Winterslip had stolen jewels from his father thirty-five years earlier when Dan was a
mate on his father's ship, and that he had scrimped and saved for all those years for the chance to reclaim his due. When
the emerald brooch, which was found at the crime scene, is produced, both Arlene and Brade claim it. Brade describes matching
jewelry that went with the brooch, which Chan soon discovers hidden in a secret compartment in the strongbox.
Chan
then produces a check for $5,000 that Dan had made out for Egan. When Egan still refuses to explain his relationship
with Dan, Chan tells Hallett to arrest him. Carlotta cries out at the injustice and admits that she had read her father's
diary, which had told of an incident, thirty-five years earlier, in which Egan, then a young bank teller in Australia, had
changed Dan Winterslip's South American gold into English pounds. Egan, being the only man alive who could identify Dan as
the thief of Brade's gold, had tried to blackmail him. Koahla then admits that, knowing of Dan's fear of Brade, had arranged
for the theft of the strongbox in San Francisco in order to blackmail Dan.
CONCLUSION:
Chan then has his eldest son, Oswald, bring in Berkeley, another passenger on the boat, and claims that he is the
murderer, as water and seaweed which were found at the murder scene prove that someone swam from the ship on the evening in
question. Berkeley suddenly tries to make a run for it, but he is caught by Jennison, who breaks his arm in the same fashion
that the late Dan Winterslip's arm had been fractured. Chan dramatically accuses Jennison of being the real murderer,
stating that Berkeley was bravely playing an assigned role.
Chan also reveals the content of Dan's reply to Barbara and Jennison's radiogram wedding announcement.
The message, which had never reached Barbara, contained a warning to Jennison that, unless he broke off the engagement, Barbara
would be disinherited and that Jennison's past misdeeds would be exposed despite injury to both Jennison and himself. Tan
lines on Jennison's wrist reveal that he is indeed the owner of the watch that Minerva had seen glowing in the dark on the
night of the murder. Jennison had lost the wristwatch in the surf as he had begun his swim back to the ship after he had murdered
Dan Winterslip. It was on the beach that the beachcomber had found and picked up the watch.
Moments earlier, during
Berlekey's "attempted escape," Chan had laid his gun on a table in the room. Jennison suddenly grabs the gun and tries to
flee while holding everyone at bay with the detective's gun. However, Chan calmly walks toward Jennison who tries to shot
the detective, but the only sound heard is the click of the empty gun, and Chan easily subdues the murderer.
Later,
with the case successfully solved, John and Carlotta embrace contentedly in front of the Reef and Palm Hotel, as Chan
and his whole family drive up in their new Ford touring car, a gift from a very grateful Minerva Winterslip.
NOTES: This is one of the four "lost" Charlie
Chan films. The summary has been made using a script, that can be viewed in its entirety among our collection of
"lost" Charlie Chan film scripts. Other information sources indicate that James and Barbara Egan may have been referred in other versions of this script
as James and Barbara EAGAN. The novel upon which this film was based, The House Without a Key, was published in serial
form in The Saturday Evening Post between January 24 and March 7, 1925. This was the first novel in which the character
Charlie Chan appeared. In 1926, Path produced a serial based on the same novel and titled, The House Without a Key,
which was directed by Spencer Bennett and starring Allene Ray and Walter Miller.
Adapted from: AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE CATALOG - Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American
Feature Films, 1911-1960
CHARLIE CHAN'S APHORISMS:
Even wisest man cannot answer until he knows question.
The smallest jewel is sometimes
brightest.
It is not easy to make fire in cold stove.
Only make haste when catching flea.
What is
to be is to be.
Theories like fingerprints...everybody has them.
Only facts and motives lead to murderer.
Every fence has two sides.
Time only wasted when sprinkling perfume on goat farm.
Hasty accuse, leisurely
repent.
The law is honest man's eyeglass to see better.
Sometimes beneath eyes that weep are teeth that laugh.
Wisdom is strong lever to pry knowledge loose.
A soft word does not scratch the tongue.
Many times
ship of reputation wrecked on rock of crime.
Time covers and discovers everything.
To conceal oneself from
law is like trying to hide in bird cage.
Make haste only when withdrawing hand from mouth of tiger.
Empty as Robin's nest in January.
Cat who tries to catch two mice at one time, goes without supper.
Woman's tongue like
sword that never gets rusty.
Sometimes sad world. Baby cries when born, and often life proves baby right.
Empty
gun can only kill guilty man.
MRS. CHAN'S APHORISM:
Two lovers
in moonlight cast only one shadow.
OTHER WORTHY STATEMENTS:
I
shall come with speed of wind if my dishonorable car permits. (to Captain Hallett)
All chips off ancient
block. (regarding his children)
(Captain Hallett: "Oh, Charlie. What are you doing out here?") Like
when eating orange. Start outside and work to center.
Humbly suggest not to judge wine by barrel it is in. (to
Minerva Winterslip)
To be found listening to what is not meant for your ears is to show that you have something
to conceal. (to Koahla)
(Amos Winterslip: "You cannot live a life of sin, and hope to be rewarded in the
hereafter.") Profound wisdom, but not helpful at present.
What is to be is to be and inscrutable fates very busy arranging
program. (to Minerva Winterslip)
I pay most unwillingly. Anxiously await day when law considers such food
major crime. (to the waiter at The All-American Restaurant)
A most humble chariot but always reliable like
model wife. (to John Quincy - regarding his [Chan's] car)
Always enjoy to talk when words are important.
(Cope: "Are you trying to be funny?") Funny as man can be about murder.
Soup is food, not musical instrument.
(to his son)
Luck and help of inscrutable fates extremely necessary.
Regret such alibis have habit
of disappearing like cheese in vicinity of mouse.
Clues explode in embarrassed face, like loaded cigar.
(Mrs.
Chan: "Two lovers in moonlight cast only one shadow.") Yes - one shadow now -- many shadows later.
REVIEW:
Variety, October 10, 1933
Charlie Chan is solving a Honolulu murder this time, one that will provide screen audiences with the desired suspense as well
as more than the average amount of comedy such pictures contain. Extremely popular in some parts of the country, the Chan
stories having gotten pretty wide circulation, every reason to expect this one will keep up the good work.
All
but one sequence, in San Francisco, is laid in Hawaii amidst settings and costuming that is tropical but, in that direction,
not overdone. For murder mysteries it's a pleasant change of locale.
A lengthy and capable cast carries out what
the scenario offers. Oland gives his usual smooth performance as the murder-solving sleuth, this time unraveling the stabbing
of an island bachelor who has made his dough by foul as well as fair means.
In some respects it is merely tried-and-true
deducing but, mingled with comedy, picture stands up nicely. In addition to the laugh content it has more love interest than
the average murder yarn.
Photography impressive and continuity good except at the beginning.
SCRIPT NOTES:
POSSIBLE DATE: Summer 1933
DURATION: (Charlie Chan's involvement in this case) perhaps four
days, from a Monday to Friday
LOCATION (DURING CHARLIE CHAN'S INVOLVEMENT): Honolulu,
Territory of Hawaii
THE ANCESTRAL HOME CITY OF THE WINTERSLIP FAMILY:
Boston, Massachusetts
THE CAUSE OF THE DEATH OF ARLENE COMPTON'S FIRST HUSBAND:
Airplane crash
THE NUMBER OF YEARS THAT DAN AND AMOS WINTERSLIP HAD NOT
SPOKEN TO EACH OTHER: 30
THE TEXT OF THE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE THAT WAS READ BY DAN WINTERSLIP:
"T.M. BRADE DUE
Next week, from India. comes T.M. Brade, retired British Civil Servant. This is his first visit
of the
Islands, and is the gratification of a life-long desire."
THE NAME OF JAMES EGAN'S HOTEL: The Reef
and Palm Hotel
THE CITY WHERE ROGER WINTERSLIP RESIDED:
San Francisco, California
THE NAME OF THE FERRY THAT JOHN QUINCY WINTERSLIP
RODE FROM OAKLAND TO SAN FRANCISCO: Tamalpais
THE NOTATIONS ON JOHN QUINCY'S LUGGAGE:
"J.Q.W." and "Boston"
THE TWO SIGHTS THAT WERE MENTIONED TO JOHN QUINCY
AS HE RODE ABOARD THE 'TAMALPAIS': The Golden Gate and Mount Tamalpais
ACCORDING TO ROGER WINTERSLIP, THE AMOUNT OF TIME
THAT DAN WINTERSLIP SPENT IN SAN FRANCISCO: "He comes over here perhaps for two months a year..."
THE TEXT OF DAN WINTERSLIP'S CABLEGRAM TO ROGER
WINTERSLIP:
"ROGER WINTERSLIP
1438 MONROE ST.,
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.
WHEN NEPHEW ARRIVES TAKE
HIM TO MY HOUSE. IN OLD
TRUNK IN ATTIC WILL BE FOUND
SMALL STRONG BOX MARKED
T.M.B. HAVE HIM THROW IT
OVERBOARD INTO PACIFIC ON
WAY TO HAWAII.
DAN"
THE LENGTH OF DAN WINTERSLIP'S STAY IN SAN FRANCISCO:
Two days
THE STEAMSHIP LINE THAT CAPTAIN COPE TELEPHONED:
Anchor Steamship Company
THE SHIP THAT CAPTAIN COPE WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED
TO SAIL ABOARD TO HONOLULU: The President Tyler
THE SHIPS AS REQUESTED BY CAPTAIN COPE:
"The Matsonia or the Australian boat..."
THE DEPARTURE TIME FOR THE "AUSTRALIAN BOAT" AS STATED BY CAPTAIN COPE:
"Tomorrow at noon."
THE NAME OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE PRESIDENT TYLER: Captain Shane
THE INCENTIVE OFFERED BY MR. HIGGINS TO CAPTAIN SHANE IF THE PRESIDENT TYLER
COULD BEAT THE MATSONIA TO HONOLULU: "...I'd give a thousand dollars to the Seamen's Fund if you could make
it."
THE NATIONALITY OF THE SHIP THAT, ACCORDING TO HARRY JENNISON, HELD THE RECORD
FOR THE FASTEST PASSAGE BETWEEN SAN FRANCISCO AND HONOLULU: Japanese
THE TIME, AS STATED BY CAPTAIN SHANE, THAT THE PRESIDENT TYLER MUST
REACH HONOLULU HARBOR IN ORDER TO DOCK THAT SAME DAY: "...five o'clock in the evening, (or) we'll have to lie outside
the harbor overnight."
ACCORDING TO REVEREND UPTON, THE TIME THAT HE KNEW DAN WINTERSLIP: "...forty
years ago."
ACCORDING TO REVEREND UPTON, DAN WINTERSLIP'S OCCUPATION WHEN HE KNEW HIM FORTY
YEARS AGO: "He was a blackbirder (in the South Seas)."
INFORMATION, ACCORDING TO REVEREND UPTON REGARDING HIS MEETING DAN WINTERSLIP
FORTY YEARS PREVIOUS: "I met him when he was first mate on the Maid of Shiloh."
THE OWNER OF THE MAID OF SHILOH, ACCORDING TO REVEREND UPTON:
"...Thomas Michael Brade"
REVEREND UPTON'S STATEMENT REGARDING BRADE'S DEATH: "Brade died when they
were in port, at the Apiang Islands. Dan brought him ashore and buried him."
THE TYPE OF CAMERA USED BY REVEREND UPTON: Graflex
THE TEXT OF THE WIRELESS MESSAGE SENT BY BARBARA WINTERSLIP TO HER FATHER, DAN WINTERSLIP:
"DAN WINTERSLIP
HONOLULU
AM ENGAGED TO HARRY JENNISON
DELERIOUSLY HAPPY HOW ABOUT
BIG PARTY TO WELCOME US AND
GIVE PATERNAL BLESSING LOVE
BARBARA"
ACCORDING TO JAMES EGAN, WHERE HE HAD MET DAN WINTERSLIP: "Twenty
years ago I was a bank teller in Sydney, Australia. We met there."
ARLENE COMPTON'S SUGGESTION TO DAN WINTERSLIP FOR A REPLACEMENT FOR THE BROOCH
THAT HE WANTED BACK FROM HER: "...that darling emerald necklace we saw in the arcade of the Royal Hawaiian."
THE CITY WHERE STEVE LEATHERBEE WORKED FOR THE MOB: New York
ACCORDING TO THE QUARTERMASTER, THE DISTANCE OF THE ANCHORED 'PRESIDENT TYLER'
FROM THE SHORE: "It's a good two miles."
THE TIME AS MINERVA WINTERSLIP TELEPHONED THE ROYAL HAWAIIAN HOTEL
TO REACH CAPTAIN COPE JUST AFTER HER BROTHER, DAN, IS FOUND MURDERED: 1:20 a.m.
AMOS WINTERSLIP'S TELEPHONE NUMBER: 387
ACCORDING TO THE DOCTOR, THE FACTS OF DAN WINTERSLIP'S
DEATH: "Stabbed through the heart. Not been dead an hour. Arm broken..."
ACCORDING TO MINERVA WINTERSLIP, THE TIME OF HER BROTHER DAN'S DEATH:
"It happened within two minutes of fifteen past one."
A DISTINGUISHING FEATURE REGARDING THE ILLUMINATED WRISTWATCH OF
THE KILLER, AS NOTED BY MINERVA WINTERSLIP: "...the numeral indicating the hour two, was slightly obscured."
WHERE MINERVA WINTERSLIP THREATENED TO SEND FOR ASISTANCE IN ORDER
TO SOLVE THE MURDER OF DAN WINTERSLIP: Washington, D.C.
THE TIME, AS NOTED BY CHARLIE CHAN, AS HE SUGGESTS THAT EVERYONE
GET SOME SLEEP: "Time rapidly flying to three o'clock (a.m.)."
THE NAME OF THE LITTLE DOG THAT MINERVA WINTERSLIP HAD LOST IN BOSTON,
USING THE POLICE OF THAT CITY TO HELP FIND: Abigail
THE TYPE OF CAR DRIVEN BY HARRY JENNISON: A roadster
THE NAME OF THE RESTAURANT WHERE CHARLIE CHAN HAD A PIECE OF PIE:
The All-American Restaurant
CHARLIE CHAN'S CAR: An "antiquated Ford" (1919 Model T touring
car)
A 1919 Model T Ford touring car, the
type driven by Charlie Chan.
THE TIME BY WHICH, ACCORDING TO
JAMES EGAN, HE HAD TO BE AT THE DOCK TO MEET HIS DAUGHTER: "...within five minutes..."
ACCORDING TO CHARLIE CHAN, THE
TIME AS JAMES EGAN HAD MET WITH DAN WINTERSLIP AT THE LATTER'S HOUSE: "...sometime after eleven (p.m.)..."
AS STATED BY JAMES EGAN, THE LENGTH
OF TIME THAT HE AND DAN WINTERSLIP HAD MET: "We talked a half an hour..."
ACCORDING TO JAMES EGAN, THE LENGTH
OF TIME THAT HE HAD LIVED IN HONOLULU: "...twenty-three years..."
BRAND NAME NOTED ON THE "CIGARETTE
STUBS" FOUND BY CHARLIE CHAN: Corsican
CHARLIE CHAN'S COMMENT REGARDING
"CORSICAN" CIGARETTES: "They are not for sale here on this island."
THE SHIP ABOARD WHICH CARLOTTA
EGAN ARRIVED: The Matsonia
THE LENGTH OF TIME THAT THE MATSONIA
HAD BEEN DOCKED, ACCORDING TO JAMES EGAN: "...fifteen minutes..."
WHEN HARRY JENNISON MUST
LEAVE FOR CHINA, ACCORDING TO MINERVA WINTERSLIP: "...next week..."
THE LENGTH OF TIME THAT HARRY
JENNISON MUST REMAIN IN CHINA, AS STATED BY MINERVA WINTERSLIP: "...(he) will be gone a year."
AS CLAIMED BY ARLENE COMPTON,
THE LAST TIME THAT SHE HAD SEEN DAN WINTERSLIP: "...last Friday."
HAWAIIAN ISLAND FOR WHICH T.M.
BRADE WAS LEAVING "FOR A FEW DAYS": Maui
THE AMOUNT OF THE CHECK WRITTEN
OUT TO JAMES EGAN BY DAN WINTERSLIP: $5,000
T.M. BRADE'S ROOM NUMBER AT THE
BEACH AND PALM HOTEL: 14
THE BRAND OF CIGARETTE FOUND BY
CHARLIE CHAN IN T.M. BRADE'S ROOM: Corsican
THE BRAND OF THE "CIGARETTE STUB"
LEFT BEHIND BY CAPTAIN COPE: Corsican
THE NAME OF THE SHIP THAT, ACCORDING
TO CAPTAIN HALLETT, "SAILS THIS MORNING": The President Tyler
THE TIME SET BY CHARLIE CHAN TO
HAVE ALL SUSPECTS GATHER AT THE WINTERSLIP HOME: 8:30 p.m.
THE POLICE OFFICERS CALLED BY
CAPTAIN HALLET FOLLOWING THE POISON DART ATTACK ON CHARLIE CHAN: Flannigan and Hong Foo
THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT PROMISED
BY CHARLIE CHAN TO ONE OF HIS SONS: A saxophone
ACCORDING TO T.M. BRADE, THE CONTENTS
OF THE "FORTUNE" THAT DAN WINTERSLIP HAD KEPT AFTER THE DEATH OF THE FORMER'S FATHER: "...South American gold and jewels."
T.M. BRADE'S STATED PROFESSION
UNTIL HE RETIRED: "...a (British) Civil Service worker in India..."
AS NOTED BY CHARLIE CHAN, THE
TWO DISTINCT TYPES OF TOBACCO USED IN "CORSICAN" CIGARETTES: "One extract of Virginian, other of Turkish influence."
THE TYPE OF TOBACCO PREFERRED
BY CAPTAIN COPE: Virginian
THE TYPE OF TOBACCO PREFERRED
BY T.M. BRADE: Turkish
MR. BERKELEY'S PROFESSION:
Federal Agent
THE TEXT OF THE WIRELESS MESSAGE THAT DAN WINTERSLIP
HAD SENT TO HARRY JENNISON:
"HARRY JENNISON
ABOARD S.S. PRESIDENT TYLER
MANAGE TO BREAK YOUR ENGAGEMENT
WITH BARBARA OR WILL COMPLETELY
DISINHERIT HER. IF NOT WILL EXPOSE
YOU, REGARDLESS OF DAMAGE TO ME.
DAN"
CHARLIE CHAN'S NEW CAR, A GIFT
FROM MINERVA WINTERSLIP: A new (1933) Ford touring car
A 1933 Ford touring car.
GLOSSARY:
Apiang Island
- Called Abiang today, Apiang is one of the islands of Kiribati, which was once known as the Gilbert Islands, a group of islands in
the central Pacific Ocean. Inhabited by a mixture of Polynesian and Melanesian peoples, the islands were first visited
by the British in 1765, made a protectorate in 1892, and later became part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (1915-1976).
Full independence as the principal islands of Kiribati was achieved in 1979.
Reverend Upton: "Brade died when they were in port, at the
Apiang Islands."
blackbirder
- A slave ship; a slaver. As used: a slave trader.
Reverend Upton: "He was a blackbirder."
Cockney - (1) A native of the East End of London.
(2) The dialect or accent of the natives of the East End of London.
Script direction notes: Brade, a Cockney provincial...
fag - (slang)
A cigarette.
T.M. Brade: "'E said 'ow 'e was famished for a 'omey
fag."
Fouche
- (Joseph Fouche, 1763-1820) A former schoolteacher who became Napoleon Bonaparte's head of internal security. In 1799,
Fouche became Minister of Police and used his increasingly powerful agent network to support the coup of Brumaire. Despite
his assistance, Bonaparte was nervous of Fouche's power and he was removed from office for two years, before being re-employed
as security chief.
Carlotta Egan: "I would have conquered the world, and
Wellington, too, if it hadn't been for Fouche."
Golden Gate
- The straight located at the opening of San Francisco Bay. At the time of "Charlie Chan's Greatest Case," 1933, the
Golden Gate Bridge, which today spans this straight, had not yet been built.
Second Man: "Most of the time you can see the Golden
Gate and Mount Tamalpais."
graflex - A popular brand of camera through the
first half of the twentieth century, a Graflex was stolen from the Rev. Upton, with circumstantial blame falling on John Quincy
Winterslip.
Script direction notes: John looks at the box and discovers that it is a graflex
camera.
high hat
- A man's hat having a narrow brim and a tall cylindrical crown, usually made of silk. Also called a top hat.
Carlotta Egan: "What's in here...a high hat?"
Honolulu
- The capital and largest city of Hawaii, on the southeast coast of Oahu. Honolulu's harbor was first entered by Europeans
in 1794. Settlement of the area began in 1816, and the city soon gained prominence as a whaling and sandalwood port. Honolulu
has been a major tourist center since the early twentieth century. Population - 1930: 202,807; 1940: 257,696.
Honolulu was the home of Charlie Chan
and his multitudinous family who lived on the slope of Punchbowl Hill. This city is at least the starting point for
a number of adventures, and, in two films, including Charlie Chan's Greatest Case and The Black Camel
(filmed on location), serves as the backdrop for the entire film. Other titles where at least some of the plot, if only
implied, takes place in Honolulu include Charlie Chan Carries On, Charlie Chan's Secret, Charlie
Chan at the Race Track, Charlie Chan in Honolulu, Charlie Chan in Reno, and Charlie Chan's
Murder Cruise.
Jake -
(slang) Suitable or satisfactory; fine.
Oswald Chan: "Everything's Jake."
jiu jitsu
(or jiujitsu) - A Japanese method of self-defense without weapons in which holds and blows are supplemented
by clever use of the attacker's own weight and strength.
Doctor: "This job was done by either a very powerful
man or someone well versed in the Japanese art of Jiu Jitsu."
lorgnette
- A pair of eyeglasses or opera glasses with a short handle.
Barbara Winterslip: "Aunt Minerva once said something
like that, but she traded her lorgnette for a ukelele [sic]."
Matsonia
- Flagship steamer of the famous Matson Line. For decades, the Matson Line carried passengers to and from Honolulu,
Hawaii as well as other locations across the Pacific.
Captain Arthur Temple Cope: "The Matsonia
or the Australian boat..."
Mount Tamalpais
- A picturesque mountain on the opposite side of the bay from the city of San Francisco.
Second Man: "Ever see Mount Tamalpais?"
poppycock
- Senseless talk: nonsense.
Minerva Winterslip: "This is all poppycock."
President
Tyler - A ship based on the ships named after Amrican presidents of the Dollar Steamship Line
(later, the American Presidents Line) that carried passengers to and from Honolulu, throughout the Pacific, and around-the-world
during much of the twentieth century.
Captain Arthur Temple Cope: "I've changed
my mind about the President Tyler."
Royal Hawaiian - The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which opened on February 1, 1927, was built by the Matson Navigation Company at
a cost of $4 million. Constructed on 15 acres of beautiful Waikiki beach frontage, the luxurious pink Moorish-style
hotel, was promoted world-wide as a premier visitor destination. The romance that had made Waikiki so attractive in the past
contributed to insure that the "Pink Palace" was a favorite of both visitors and local residents, which it has remained
for decades.
Arlene Compton: "...that darling emerald necklace
we saw in the arcade of the Royal Hawaiian."
Skippy - A popular cartoon character
created by Percy Crosby in 1923.
Script direction notes: He looks like a Chinese Skippy.
ukulele ('ukulele) - (Hawaiian) A musical
Hawaiian string instrument. Literally: "leaping flea," probably from the Hawaiian nickname of Edward Purvis, who was
small and quick and who popularized the instrument brought to Hawaii by the Portuguese in 1879.
Barbara Winterslip: "Aunt Minerva once said something like that, but she traded
her lorgnette for a ukelele [sic]."
Wellington (Duke of Wellington) -
British general and politician (1769-1852). Commander of British troops during the peninsular War (1808-1814) he defeated
Napoleon at Waterloo (1815), thus ending the Napoleonic Wars.
Carlotta Egan: "I would have conquered the world, and Wellington,
too, if it hadn't been for Fouche."
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The Lincoln Theatre, Tacoma, Washington
Hawaii Theatre, Honolulu, Hawaii
From: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, February 16, 1935
Courtesy of Steven Fredrick Collection
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