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The Golden Eye
Monogram Pictures Corporation
Distributed: Monogram Pictures
Corporation, August 29, 1948
Production: Mid- to late April 1948
Copyright: Monogram Pictures Corporation, August
22, 1948; LP1857
Sound: Western Electric Recording
Film: Black and white
Length: 6,224 feet
Running Time:
69 minutes
Production Code Administration Certificate Number: 13185
Source: Based on the character created by Earl
Derr Biggers
Producer: James S. Burkett
Director: William Beaudine
Assistant Director: Wesley Barry
Original Screenplay: W. Scott Darling
Photography: William Sickner
Production Supervisor: Allen K. Wood
Supervising Film Editor: Otho Lovering
Editor: Ace Herman
Musical Director: Edward J. Kay
Art Direction: Dave Milton
Recording: Franklin Hansen
Camera Operator: John Martin (not credited)
Stills:
Al St. Hillaire (not credited)
Set Decorations: Raymond Boltz, Jr. (not credited)
Sound: John Kean (not credited)
Makeup: Webb Overlander (not credited)
Hair Stylist: Lela Chambers (not credited)
Screenplay Supervisor: Jules
Levy (not credited)
Grip: Grant Tucker (not credited)
CAST (as credited):
Roland Winters: Charlie Chan
(also posing as "Chan, dealer in Oriental curios")
Wanda McKay: Evelyn Manning
Mantan Moreland: Birmingham Brown
Victor
Sen Young: Tommy Chan
Bruce Kellogg: Talbot Bartlett
Tim Ryan: Lt. Mike Ruark (also posing as Vincent O'Brien)
Evelyn
Brent: Sister Teresa
Ralph Dunn: [Jim] Driscoll
Lois Austin: Mrs. Margaret Driscoll
Forrest Taylor: Manning
Lee
"Lasses" White: Pete
UNCREDITED CAST (alphabetical):
Edmund Cobb: Miner
Geraldine Cobb: Girl in Riding Clothes
Aileen Babs Cox: Bathing Girl
Lee Tung Foo: Wong Fai
Michael Gaddis: Pursuer
Sam Flint: Dr. Groves
Jack Gargan: Voice from Darkness
Mary Ann Hawkins: Bathing Girl
Richard Loo
Sam McDaniel
John Merton: Miner
Suzanne Ridgway: Dude Ranch Guest
George Spaulding: Dr. Groves
Tom Tyler
Bill Walker: Gang Member
In San Francisco's Chinatown, an Arizona mine owner named Manning visits a curio shop owned
by Wong Fai, seeking help from Charlie Chan because he believes that someone is out to kill him. While in the shop,
Manning is shot at by an unseen assailant. Later, Chan agrees to help Manning.
Accompanied by number two son Tommy
and chauffeur Birmingham Brown, Chan poses as a tourist and checks into the Lazy Y Dude Ranch which is located near to Manning's
"Golden Eye" mine. After his arrival, Chan is met by San Francisco police lieutenant Mike Ruark who is working undercover
for the government. Ruark is there to investigate large amounts of gold ore that are suddenly flooding the market, and
after sharing information, he and Chan realize that the matters that each of them are working on are probably related.
Ruark informs Chan that Manning has been badly injured in a mysterious fall in his mine, he also fills the detective in on
how Manning's mine is suddenly producing so much gold that it is now one of the country's richest.
Posing as a dealer
in oriental curios, Chan goes to the Manning home, where he meets Manning's daughter Evelyn, mine superintendent Driscoll
and his wife, and the local assayer Talbot Bartlett. Chan is also allowed to visit Manning who is unconscious with his
head completely wrapped in bandages.
Returning to the dude ranch, Chan finds assayer Talbot Bartlett, who, years ago,
had played on the same high school baseball team in Honolulu as the detective's number one son. Bartlett tells Chan
that he has been assaying some of the gold coming from the Golden Eye mine. Evelyn Manning, unaware of the mine's recent
tremendous productivity, tells Bartlett that the nursing sister, Sister Teresa, whom Driscoll has hired from the nearby mission,
is strange, and uncommunicative.
Pete, an independent miner, who has secretly gained access to the Golden Eye mine
via a tunnel dug from his shack, which is located near the mine, brings a sample of ore for assaying. Bartlett tells
him that it is worthless, and, after Pete admits as to where he obtained it, Chan arranges to meet the miner at his shack
to take him to the hidden tunnel. However, when Chan, Tommy, and Birmingham arrive at the shack, Pete is not there.
As the trio enters the mine, they find Pete's body
CONCLUSION:
Later,
back at the dude ranch, Lt. Ruark tells Chan that Driscoll has a criminal record. Chan also discovers that Manning's
nurse is a fake. Chan later finds that Driscoll has been smuggling gold out of Mexico, where the price of gold is much
less than in the United States, and selling it at a much higher price north of the border. With his scheme at stake,
Driscoll wants Manning and everyone else out of the way so that his illegal operation can continue.
When Chan, Tommy,
and Birmingham return to the mine, Birmingham stumbles upon another body that turns out to be Manning. They all return
to the Manning house where the detective begins to remove the bandages from the patient's head. The patient suddenly
begins to scream, and Sister Teresa rushes in, gun drawn, just as Chan reveals the patient to be Mrs. Driscoll. After
Evelyn struggles with and subdues Teresa, has to break the news to her that her father is dead.
Driscoll then enters
the room and draws his gun, but Tommy outsmarts him from behind, pretending that he has a gun. Tommy then tells his
father that he has received a telephone call from the Mexican police, informing him that they have stopped the next shipment
of gold at the border. Driscoll tries to escape, but he is shot dead by Bartlett, who is captured by Chan and revealed
as the real brains behind the entire gold smuggling operation.
NOTES: The working title of this film was
The Mystery of the Golden Eye. The opening title card reads: Charlie Chan in "The Golden Eye". The Call
Bureau Cast Service lists Herman Cantor and Sam McDaniel in the cast, but they do not appear in the finished film that we
have available today. Copyright records list George L. Spaulding as Dr. Groves, but the role was played by Sam Flint.
Richard Loo, Barbara Jean Wong, and Tom Tyler are also listed in the cast, but they do not appear in the finished film.
Adapted from: AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE CATALOG - Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American
Feature Films, 1911-1960
CHARLIE CHAN'S APHORISMS:
People who listen at keyholes rarely hear good of themselves.
So much for so much.
Small things sometimes tell very large stories.
Too much familiarity breed carelessness.
Desert present
many mysteries.
Small investigation sometimes brings large amount of knowledge.
Little knowledge sometimes
very dangerous thing.
Willingness to speak not necessarily mean willingness to act.
Little knowledge sometimes
very dangerous possession.
Deer should not toy with tiger.
Dead man cannot walk.
OTHER WORTHY STATEMENTS:
At first think Lieutenant Mike are giving Prohibition Party
kick in teeth. (Regarding Lt. Mike Ruark's pretending to be a drunk)
Many
needles in this haystack. (To Tommy regarding the complexity of the case)
Chan
not after Manning, Mr. Manning come after Chan. (To Talbot Bartlett)
Information very high-grade ore. (To Talbot Bartlett regarding
the apparent value of the information he had given to Chan)
(Lt. Ruark: "Two heads
are better than one, you know.") Sometimes debatable point.
You shout loud enough to wake sleeping
dead. (To Birmingham Brown)
THE WIT AND WISDOM OF BIRMINGHAM BROWN:
(dressed in a cowboy outfit and singing
as he packs a suitcase)
"Home, home on the range,
where the deer and the antelope plays;
never is herd and encouraging word,
and the clouds stays cloudy all day."
__________
(to himself)
"A born cowboy, that's me. (pretending to draw a pair of imaginary guns)
Two-gun Birmingham rides again!"
__________
(attempting to close and latch an
over-stuffed suitcase which keeps popping open) "Now, let's
get along. Wait a minute! Thus, this old cowhide thing looks like it got some live
cowhide in it!"
__________
Tommy (enters strutting bowlegged,
dressed like a proper "dude" cowboy) "Hi ya. Birmingham, how do I look?"
"Tommy...man, you sharp!
You gone! You mad!"
__________
Tommy (using an exaggerated "cowboy"
accent): "I can't wait till I hit those wide open spaces.
The range, the little doggies. Hit the trail! Hit the leather!"
"Wait a minute, Billy Kid, you
come over here a minute and help me with this leather (indicating his suitcase)."
Tommy: "Havin' trouble? I think you got
too much stuff in it."
"No, just the suitcase is too
little."
__________
(before
he follows Charlie Chan and Tommy down into the Golden Eye mine through a trap door inside the prospector's shack) "This ain't my idea of a evenin' of entertainment."
__________
(inside the Golden Eye mine as Charlie
Chan directs Birmingham and Tommy to search the mine) "Mr. Chan,
if you happen to be a little late gettin' back and don't see me, don't worry, because I'll be way ahead
of you."
Tommy: "C'mon, Birmingham."
"Don't rush me, now!
Don't rush! You always rushin' somebody!"
__________
Tommy (searching inside the Golden Eye mine):
"Spooky, isn't it?"
"Shh! Don't say
that word!"
Tommy: "I mean anything can happen down here."
"Oh-oh! Everything's done
happened!"
Tommy: "What do
you mean?"
(showing
a pair of feet protruding from a pile of rubble) "There's shoes. Where there's shoes,
there's feet. And where there's feet, there's legs. And where there's legs,
there's a body."
__________
Tommy:
"Okay, you stay. I'll go and get Pop."
"Wait a minute, no you won't.
You stay, I stay; I've never been so undecided in all my life."
Tommy: "well,
make up your mind! Do something!"
"Do sump'm? Don't tempt
me, boy, you'd be left here alone..."covered
body with Birmingham): "Gee, I wonder if he's dead?"
"I don't know; don't care.
It'll always remain a mystery to me."
Tommy: "We've gotta find out."
"You don't have to be curious,
do you?"
Tommy: "Okay,
you go and get Pop."
"Oh, yeah, I'll go and get Pop-!
Wait a minute, you better come and go with me."
Tommy: No, I gotta stay and watch him."
"Whatcha gonna watch
him for, he ain't goin' nowhere."
Tommy: "Okay, you stay.
I'll go and get Pop."
"Wait a minute, no you won't.
You stay, I stay; I've never been so undecided in all my life."
Tommy: "Well,
make up your mind! Do something!
"Do sump'm? Don't tempt
me, boy, you'd be left here alone..."
Tommy: "Okay,
we'll go together."
"Oh, we go together-
Wait a minute! Now wait a minute! I'm goin' with you. Wait a minute! (pushing
Tommy ahead of him)
Tommy: "Don't push, Birmingham!"
"Don't push you?
Don't talk to me 'cause sump'm at our feet. (indicating the body)
__________
Tommy (with a
shaky hand holding the flashlight as he and Birmingham walk through the Golden Eye nine): "It sure is dark in here."
"Don't tell me it's dark
and you scared, too! Lookit that light shakin'"
Tommy: "That's
your hand on my arm."
"Oh."
__________
Tommy (looking
for Charlie Chan in the mine, he yells): "Hey, Pop! (which is followed by a series of echoes)
"Mm! Good gracious!
Somebody's in this tunnel! C'mon, let's go this way!"
Tommy: "Hey, wait
a minute, that's just an echo."
"Echo? What has he got to
do with anybody talkin' to him? (yelling) Mr. Chan! (which
is followed by a series of echoes) Oh-oh! That's that Echo again! What is it?
What is he tryin' to do, get me excited or sump'm like that?"
Charlie Chan (entering, to Tommy): "What is it?"
"Go away, Echo! Oh, Mr.
Chan!"
__________
Tommy (to Charlie Chan): "We found something,
Pop; a dead man in the tunnel."
Charlie Chan: "Yes? What, uh, dead man look
like?"
"Dead."
__________
(as Charlie Chan and Tommy leave to
see the corpse found in the mine) "Mr. Chan, you all go on ahead.
I think I'll stay here-mm! What'm I doin' here alone? Wait a minute for me!"
__________
Charlie Chan (to Tommy upon seeing the rubble-covered
body in the mine): Remove dirt from face."
Tommy: "Huh?"
"You heard what your father said."
__________
(after the rubble-covered corpse is
identified as the prospector) "Oh, Mr. Chan, you want us to move the corp-mm!
Why do I say the foolish things?"
__________
(answering the telephone in Charlie
Chan's bungalow at the Lazy Y Ranch) "Hello, Mr. Charlie Chan's bungalow.
Mr. Charlie Chan the great Chinese de- (catching himself before he gives away Chan's true identity)
de...uh, dealers in curio, jade, ivory, and whatchacallem...mats."
__________
(before descending again through the
trap door into the Golden Eye mine in the prospector's shack)
"The last couple of days, I've been under the ground
more than a groundhog."
__________
Charlie Chan (inside the Golden
Eye mine with Tommy and Birmingham): "Now, this are where we separate."
"Uh, Mr. Chan, did I hear you say separate?"
Charlie Chan: "Yes. Tommy, you take tunnel
to right."
Tommy: "Okay, Pop."
Charlie Chan: "I go straight ahead. Birmingham,
you take tunnel to left."
"Uh, Mr. Chan, can we have time to out and alter that
point?"
__________
Charlie Chan: "If you see something, call out."
"Call out? Well, whatever happened
to yellin' and screamin'?"
Charlie Chan: "Please commence."
"Yes sir, I'll do it, but my heart ain't in it."
__________
(seeing a mine car track running down
the length of the mine tunnel) "Oh, boy, a railroad track. Hope it ain't no train commin'
'cause if it do, it's gonna be a tight squeeze."
__________
(after forcing himself to verify that
he had indeed found a body lying in a mine car) "Oh-oh! I done found another one! (then yelling out) Mr. Chan! (and then hearing a resulting string of
echoes) Mm! This place is crowded! Lemme outta here! Good gracious me...!"
__________
Charlie Chan (referring to the body that is now
missing from the mine car): You sure you saw it?"
"Mr. Chan, when it comes to a corpse I do not make
a mistake."
Charlie Chan: Very strange,
dead man cannot walk."
"Well, we can run. C'mon, let's go."
__________
Charlie Chan: "Case rapidly approaching climax,
will attempt life on Charlie Chan."
"And associates."
__________
(to the audience) "Ain't
that sump'm. Ain't that sump'm. Good gracious oh me. That's Mr. Chan all over.
When you think it is, it ain't. And when you think it ain't, that's just what it
is." (giggles repeatedly to the fade and the end)
__________
REVIEW:
Variety, September 22, 1948
"The Golden Eye," another Charlie Chan meller, is hardly up to the standard of the series.
Roland Winters is not particularly exciting or realistic as the new Charlie Chan. But the plot and direction also
to be at fault. Film is of quickie calibre, strictly for padding out the dualers.
Chan's operations this time
take him to a dude ranch and a gold mine in Arizona. Plot is of a supposedly mined-out shaft that suddenly becomes active.
The secret ultimately is revealed of how the ore was actually smuggled from Mexico, then sold in the U.S. at an exorbitant
price.
Winters is too listless as Chan although he's not helped much by the yarn. Victor Sen Young is acceptable
as the detective's ambitious son. Mantan Moreland, as the chauffeur, provides a few humorous moments, but milks each
situation too long. Tim Ryan does well as a police lieutenant.
William Beaudine's direction is passable.
FILM NOTES:
DATES: Thursday, February 12 (Chinese New Year) -
Sunday, February 15, 1948 (NOTE: Chinese New Year was actually on February 10 in the year 1948)
DURATION: Four days
LOCATIONS: Chinatown, San Francisco, California and
near El Dorado, Arizona (located very near to the Mexican border, possibly south of Tucson)
THE NAME OF THE CHINATOWN CAFE PASSED BY MR. MANNING ON HIS
WAY TO THE CURIO SHOP: Mandarin Cafe
THE FOOD ADVERTISED OUTIDE OF THE MANDARIN CAFE:
Chow mein and chop suey
THE NAME OF THE SHOP VISITED BY MR. MANNING: Wong
Fai Curios
THE NAME OF THE ARIZONA GOLD MINE OWNED BY MR. MANNING:
The Golden Eye
ACCORDING TO WONG FAI, CHARLIE CHAN'S PRESENT LOCATION:
"Chan, at present time, at Chan family on Washington Street, where he bring New Year's greeting to honorable cousin."
THE NUMBER OF THE SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL ROOM SHARED BY MR.
MANNING AND HIS DAUGHTER EVELYN: 604
ACCORDING TO CHARLIE CHAN, THE TYPE OF GUN THAT WAS USED
IN THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF MR. MANNING: "German Mannlicher..."
THE NAME OF THE ARIZONA DUDE RANCH WHERE CHARLIE CHAN, SON
TOMMY (JIMMY), AND BIRMINGHAM BROWN STAYED: Lazy Y Dude Ranch
ACCORDING TO MR. MANNING, THE LOCATION OF THE LAZY Y DUDE
RANCH: "...only a half mile from my property."
THE NAME OF THE SONG PARTIALLY SUNG BY BIRMINGHAM BROWN AS
HE PACKED HIS SUITCASE: "Home on the Range"
ACCORDING TO CHARLIE CHAN, HIS QUARTERS AT THE LAZY
Y DUDE RANCH: "...bungalow number 9..."
THE NAME OF THE SONG PARTIALLY SUNG BY LT. RUARK WHILE FEINING
DRUNKENESS ON HIS WAY TO CHARLIE CHAN'S BUNGALOW: "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie"
ACCORDING TO CHARLIE CHAN, THE LENGTH OF TIME SINCE THE ATTEMPTED
MURDER OF MR. MANNING IN CHINATOWN: "...two days ago..."
ACCORDING TO LT. RUARK, THE CAUSE AND EXTENT OF THE INJURIES
SUFFERED BY MR. MANNING IN HIS SUSPICIOUS ACCIDENT IN THE GOLDEN EYE MINE: "Fell down one of the shafts in the mine.
Badly bruised head and shoulders and a possible skull fracture."
THE NAME OF THE TOWN FROM WHICH MR. MANNING'S DOCTOR HAD
DRIVEN TO CHECK ON HIM: El Dorado
CHARLIE CHAN'S UNDERCOVER IDENTITY ACCORDING TO HIMSELF:
"...Chan, dealer in Oriental curios."
CHARLIE CHAN'S "DELIVERY" FOR MR. MANNING: "...some
objects of jade..."
DOCTOR GROVE'S DESCRIPTION TO CHARLIE CHAN REGARDING MR.
MANNING'S INJURIES: "Multiple contusions about the head and shoulders. It's impossible to tell just how bad without
x-rays."
ACCORDING TO DR. GROVE, THE HEIGHT FROM WHICH MR. MANNING
FELL INSIDE THE GOLDEN EYE MINE: "...about forty feet."
ACCORDING TO JIM DRISCOLL, THE ARRANGEMENTS MADE FOR THE CARE OF THE INJURED MR. MANNING: "...I've arranged for a nursing sister from the mission school."
DR. GROVE'S PAIN PRESCRIPTION FOR MR. MANNING: "Mr.
Manning will need to have opiates for several days as soon as he recovers consciousness."
ACCORDING TO TALBOT BARTLETT, HIS FORMER PROFESSION IN HONOLULU:
"...collector of customs..."
ACCORDING TO CHARLIE CHAN, TALBOT BARTLETT'S SPORTS ACTIVITY
IN HONOLULU: "...excellent first baseman who play with number one son on high school baseball team."
THE TYPE OF BUSINESS LOCATED NEXT TO TALBOT BARTLETT'S
ASSAYING OFFICE: General store
THE SIGN PAINTED ON TALBOT BARTLETT'S OFFICE WINDOW:
"TALBOT
BARTLETT
ASSAYER
TESTING ENTERPRISES"
THE RESTAURANT "SUGGESTED" BY EVELYN MANNING TO
TALBOT BARLETT FOR LUNCH: Canton Cafe
TALBOT BARLET'S "NAME" FOR THAT RESTAURANT:
"Ptomaine Louie"
TALBOT BARTLETT'S ASSAY ASSESSMENT ON THE
ORE THAT PETE HAD BROUGHT IN: "Won't bring in more than six dollars a ton."
ACCORDING TO PETE, THE LOCATION OF HIS SHACK: "...at the bottom of Hay Canyon."
THE NAME MENTIONED OF ONE OF THE SMUGGLING GANG MEMBERS WHO HELPED UNLOAD THE TRUCK CARRYING ORE
FROM MEXICO: Pedro
ACCORDING TO CHARLIE CHAN, THE DIFFERENCE IN GOLD PRICES BETWEEN MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES:
"Gold worth seven dollars ounce in Mexico worth thirty-five dollars ounce in United States."
THE NAME OF LT. RUARK'S FRIEND IN THE MEXICAN BORDER PATROL: Captain Gonzalez
GLOSSARY:
assayer - One who examines
metallic ores or compounds, for the purpose of determining the amount of any particular metal in the same, especially of gold
or silver.
Jim Driscoll: "Mr. Bartlett,
the local assayer."
bonanza
- (1) A rich mine, vein, or pocket of ore. (2)
A source of great wealth or prosperity.
Lt. Mike Ruark: "...the way the gold was flowing into San Francisco, it's a bonanza."
German Mannlicher - The Mannlicher M1895 rifle was originally adopted and employed by the Austro-Hungarian
Army throughout World War I. A number of these rifles also saw use in World War
II, particularly by second line, reservist, and partisan units in Romania, Yugoslavia, Italy, and to lesser degree, Germany.
Following
the war, many were sold as cheap surplus, with many being exported to the United States as sporting and collectible firearms.
Charlie Chan: German
Mannlicher bullet. Many of these guns now available in country since recent unpleasantness with Mr. Hitler."
gone - (Slang) To
be so far advanced as to be "gone."
Birmingham Brown: "You gone;
you mad!"
Hitler
- (Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945) Austrian-born founder
of the German Nazi Party and chancellor of the Third Reich (1933-1945). His fascist philosophy attracted widespread support,
and after 1934 he ruled as an absolute dictator. Hitler's pursuit of aggressive nationalist policies resulted in the invasion
of Poland (1939) and the subsequent outbreak of World War II. His regime was infamous for the extermination of millions of
people, especially European Jews. He committed suicide when the collapse of the Third Reich was imminent.
Charlie Chan:
"Many of these guns now available in country since recent unpleasantness with Mr. Hitler."
mad - (Slang) Extreme.
Birmingham Brown: "You gone; you mad!"
opiates - (1)
Any of various sedative narcotics containing opium or one or more of its natural or synthetic derivatives. (2) Drugs, hormones, or other chemical substances having sedative or narcotic effects similar to
those containing opium or its derivatives: a natural brain opiate. (3) Things
that dull the senses and induce relaxation or torpor.
Dr. Grove: "Mr. Manning will need to have opiates for
several days as soon as he recovers consciousness."
pin -
(Slang) To attribute a crime to someone.
Jim Driscoll: "You're not going to pin
all this on me, Chan!"
Prohibition Party - A minor U.S. political
party organized in 1869 that advocated prohibition.
Charlie Chan: "At first, think Lieutenant Mike are giving Prohibition Party
kick in teeth."
ptomaine - A term for food poisoning
that is no longer in scientific use; food poisoning was once thought to be caused by ingesting ptomaines.
Talbot Bartlett: "Yeah, 'Ptomaine Louie's.'"
tetanus - An acute, often fatal disease
characterized by spasmodic contraction of voluntary muscles, especially those of the neck and jaw, and caused by the toxin
of the bacillus Clostridium tetani, which typically infects the body through a deep wound. Also called lockjaw.
Charlie Chan: "Possibly you were anticipating tetanus?"
whatchacallem (whatchamacallit) - (Idiom) A person or thing the name of which or of whom cannot
be recalled.
Birmingham Brown: "...dealers in curio, jade, ivory, and whatchacallem...mats."
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