History Film / CharlieChan

* CatchPhrase: Warner Oland's Chan often said, "Thank you so much." Sidney Toler favored, "Excuse, please," and "Contradiction, please."

Charlie's legacy is complicated. [[FairForItsDay Intended as an]] ''[[FairForItsDay anti-]]''[[FairForItsDay racist character, he is often denounced as a stereotypical mockery]]. [[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/09/chan-the-man English professor Yunte Huang]] hopes to [[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129424778 contextualize and celebrate Charlie's legacy in his new book]] about Charlie and Chang Apana. The real Chang was an active, athletic type who solved more illegal gambling and drug smuggling cases than murders[[note]]and ''without a gun!'' All he ever carried was a [[WhipItGood bullwhip]].[[/note]], but did have an even-paced, methodical investigative style and was amused by his cohorts nicknaming him Charlie Chan. He liked the films, too.[[note]]Invited to watch the rehearsals and filming for ''The Black Camel'', Apana laughed his head off, especially when Chan is told "You should have a lie detector," and replies "Lie detector? Ah, I see, you mean wife. I have one."[[/note]]

Interestingly, internationally the Chan franchise received such warm and widespread welcome even amongst mainlander and other Asian-based Chinese of the era, so much so that the first portrayal of Charlie Chan by an actually-Chinese actor was pulled off not in the West, but unsurprisingly enough, in China itself: Shanghai and Hong Kong studios quickly came up with their own Chan movies, with actor Xu Xinyuan playing him in at least five films from as early as 1937 until at least 1948. Tragically the films appear to be lost, but surviving posters and plot summaries indicate that they reimagined Charlie Chan as a PrivateDetective running his own agency instead of as a police detective, and instead of the No. 1 or No. 2 Sons in the American Chan franchise, his primary assistant here (closer in fact to partner) was a daughter, Man-na (played by Gu Meijun in the Shanghai films, and Bai Yan in the Hong Kong ones); she was apparently a noted MasterOfDisguise in their line of work.

It took the West over a quarter-century later to catch up in casting an actor actually of Chinese descent themselves, and initially as a voice talent at that: in Creator/HannaBarbera's 1972 AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan'', Mr. Chan was portrayed by Keye Luke, who had played Number One Son Lee Chan in the Oland series of films, and who was later well known as "Blind Master Po" from the popular ''Series/KungFu1972'' series of the 1970s and as Gizmo's original owner in ''Film/{{Gremlins}}''.

Interestingly, internationally the Chan franchise received such warm and widespread welcome even amongst mainlander and other Asian-based Chinese of the era, so much so that the first portrayal of Charlie Chan by an actually-Chinese actor was pulled off not in the West, but unsurprisingly enough, in China itself: Shanghai and Hong Kong studios quickly came up with their own Chan movies, with actor Xu Xinyuan playing him in at least five films from as early as 1937 until at least 1948. Tragically the films appear to be lost, but surviving posters and plot summaries indicate that they reimagined Charlie Chan as a PrivateDetective running his own agency instead of as a police detective, and instead of the No. 1 Son in the American Chan franchise, his primary assistant (closer in fact to detective partner) was a daughter, Man-na (played by Gu Meijun in the Shanghai films, and Bai Yan in the Hong Kong ones); she was apparently a noted MasterOfDisguise in their line of work.

In the 1990s, a number of Charlie Chan films were produced in Hong Kong by Chinese production companies. An Italian Chan appeared in 1983. There was talk in the 2000s about a screen adaptation starring Creator/LucyLiu as the granddaughter of the famous detective, but it never came to pass.

Bostonian Roland Winters (born Winternitz) took up the part in 1947's ''The Chinese Ring''. By now it was apparent that Monogram was determined to [[CashCowFranchise milk the franchise]] [[FranchiseZombie for all it was worth]], with little regard to quality. An attempt to transfer the character to television in the person of J. Carroll Naish was made in ''The New Adventures of Charlie Chan'' (1958) with moderate success.

Interestingly, internationally the Chan franchise received such warm and widespread welcome even amongst mainlander and other Asian-based Chinese of the era, so much so that the first portrayal of Charlie Chan by an actually-Chinese actor was pulled off not in the West, but unsurprisingly enough, in China itself: Shanghai and Hong Kong studios quickly came up with their own Chan movies, with actor Xu Xinyuan playing him in at least five films from as early as 1937. Tragically the films appear to be lost, but surviving posters and plot summaries indicate that they reimagined Charlie Chan as a PrivateDetective running his own agency instead of as a police detective, and instead of the No. 1 Son in the American Chan franchise, his primary assistant (closer in fact to detective partner) was a daughter, Man-na (played by Gu Meijun in the Shanghai films, and Bai Yan in the Hong Kong ones); she was apparently a noted MasterOfDisguise in their line of work.

Interestingly, the Chan franchise received such warm and widespread welcome even amongst mainlander and other Asian-based Chinese of the era, so much so that the first portrayal of Charlie Chan by an actually-Chinese actor was pulled off not in the West, but unsurprisingly enough, in China itself: Shanghai and Hong Kong studios quickly came up with their own Chan movies, with actor Xu Xinyuan playing him in at least five films from as early as 1937. Tragically the films appear to be lost, but surviving posters and plot summaries indicate that they reimagined Charlie Chan as a PrivateDetective running his own agency instead of as a police detective, and instead of the No. 1 Son in the American Chan franchise, his primary assistant (closer in fact to detective partner) was a daughter, Man-na (played by Gu Meijun in the Shanghai films, and Bai Yan in the Hong Kong ones); she was apparently a noted MasterOfDisguise in their line of work.

Interestingly, the Chan franchise received such warm and widespread welcome even amongst mainlander and other Asian-based Chinese of the era, so much so that the first actual portrayal of Charlie Chan by an actually-Chinese actor was pulled off not in the West, but unsurprisingly enough, in China itself: Shanghai and Hong Kong studios quickly came up with their own Chan movies, with actor Xu Xinyuan playing him in at least five films from as early as 1937. Tragically the films appear to be lost, but surviving posters and plot summaries indicate that they reimagined Charlie Chan as a PrivateDetective running his own agency instead of as a police detective, and instead of the No. 1 Son in the American Chan franchise, his primary assistant (closer in fact to detective partner) was a daughter, Man-na (played by Gu Meijun in the Shanghai films, and Bai Yan in the Hong Kong ones); she was apparently a noted MasterOfDisguise in their line of work.

It took the West over a quarter-century later to catch up in casting an actor actually of Chinese descent, and initially as a voice talent at that: in Creator/HannaBarbera's 1972 AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan'', Mr. Chan was portrayed by Keye Luke, who had played Number One Son Lee Chan in the Oland series of films, and who was later well known as "Blind Master Po" from the popular ''Series/KungFu1972'' series of the 1970s and as Gizmo's original owner in ''Film/{{Gremlins}}''.

Meanwhile, the first actual portrayal of Charlie Chan by an actually-Chinese actor was pulled off not in the West, but in China itself: the franchise proved so popular ''even there'' that Shanghai and Hong Kong studios quickly came up with their own Chan movies, with actor Xu Xinyuan playing him in at least five films from as early as 1937. Tragically the films appear to be lost, but surviving posters and plot summaries indicate that they reimagined Charlie Chan as a PrivateDetective running his own agency instead of as a police detective, and instead of the No. 1 Son in the American Chan franchise, his primary assistant (closer in fact to detective partner) was a daughter, Man-na (played by Gu Meijun in the Shanghai films, and Bai Yan in the Hong Kong ones); she was apparently a noted MasterOfDisguise in their line of work.

Meanwhile, the first actual portrayal of Charlie Chan by an actually-Chinese actor was pulled off not in the West, but in China itself: Shanghai and Hong Kong studios quickly came up with their own Chan movies, with actor Xu Xinyuan playing him in at least five films from as early as 1937. Tragically the films appear to be lost, but surviving posters and plot summaries indicate that their Chan was reimagined as a PrivateDetective running his own agency instead of as a police detective, and instead of the No. 1 Son in the American Chan franchise, his primary assistant (closer in fact to detective partner) was a daughter, Man-na (played by Gu Meijun in the Shanghai films, and Bai Yan in the Hong Kong ones); she was apparently a noted MasterOfDisguise in their line of work.

It took the West over a quarter-century later to catch up in casting an actor actually of Chinese descent: in Creator/HannaBarbera's 1972 AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan'', Mr. Chan was portrayed by Keye Luke, who had played Number One Son Lee Chan in the Oland series of films, and who was later well known as "Blind Master Po" from the popular ''Series/KungFu1972'' series of the 1970s and as Gizmo's original owner in ''Film/{{Gremlins}}''.

Bostonian Roland Winters (born Winternitz) took up the part in 1947's ''The Chinese Ring''. By now it was apparent that Monogram was determined to [[CashCowFranchise milk the franchise]] [[FranchiseZombie for all it was worth]], with little regard to quality.

An attempt to transfer the character to television in the person of J. Carroll Naish was made in ''The New Adventures of Charlie Chan'' (1958) with moderate success.

In Creator/HannaBarbera's 1972 AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan'', Mr. Chan was portrayed for the first time by an actor actually of Chinese descent: Keye Luke, who had played Number One Son Lee Chan in the Oland series of films, and who was later well known as "Blind Master Po" from the popular ''Series/KungFu1972'' series of the 1970s and as Gizmo's original owner in ''Film/{{Gremlins}}''.

* PublicDomain: All six books, the comics, the radio plays and most of the movies; check Wiki/TheOtherWiki for more details.

* NiceHat: Chan invariably wears a Panama hat with a broad brim and rounded crown.

In Creator/HannaBarbera's 1972 AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan'', Mr. Chan was portrayed for the first time by an actor actually of Chinese descent: Keye Luke, who had played Number One Son Lee Chan in the Oland series of films, and who was later well known as "Blind Master Po" from the popular ''Series/KungFu'' series of the 1970s and as Gizmo's original owner in ''Film/{{Gremlins}}''.

* TheTeetotaler: Charlie Chan is a teetotaler, but in a bit of double irony he is no fan of a SpotOfTea; he prefers sarsaparilla (a nonalcoholic root beer-like drink). In the books, Charlie does like tea with meals.

* {{Yellowface}}: Almost all the adaptions of the books to film, TV, ''etc''. However, the actors playing his family such as Number One Son are usually actually Asian themselves.

* TheWatson: Several of these have popped up; his sons took up the role in {{The Movie}}s, and there was one in almost all of the books.

* HaveAGayOldTime: In ''Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum,'' the villain says this in reference to a plastic surgeon who secretly restructures mobsters faces to let them hide form the cops:

A pair of [[AffectionateParody Affectionate Parodies]] appeared as ''The Return of Charlie Chan'' (aka ''Happiness Is a Warm Clue'') (1973) and ''Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen'' (1981), in which Chan was played by Ross Martin and Peter Ustinov, respectively. (A [[CaptainErsatz Chan-based character]] was also played by Creator/PeterSellers in the 1979 omnibus mystery spoof, ''Film/MurderByDeath''.)

* RealityHasNoSubtitles: Averted in ''Charlie Chan in Rio'' where Jimmy asks his dad a couple of questions in Cantonese, so Anglo listeners won't catch on. Charlie responds likewise and it's all subtitled in a "Chinese"-looking font. In the Oland films, Charlie and Lee speak unsubtitled Cantonese in various situations, often when Lee is startled awake. In ''Charlie Chan in Shanghai'' several children also have unsubtitled Cantonese lines.

Charlie's legacy is complicated. [[FairForItsDay Intended as an]] ''[[FairForItsDay anti-]]''[[FairForItsDay racist character, he is often denounced as a stereotypical mockery]]. [[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/09/chan-the-man English professor Yunte Huang]] hopes to [[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129424778 contextualize and celebrate Charlie's legacy in his new book]] about Charlie and Chang Apana. The real Chang was an active, athletic type who solved more illegal gambling and drug smuggling cases than murders[[note]]and ''without a gun!'' All he ever carried was a [[WhipItGood bullwhip]].[[/note]], but did have an even-paced, methodical investigative style and was amused by his cohorts nicknaming him Charlie Chan. He liked the films, too.[[note]]Invited to watch the rehearsals and filming for ''The Black Camel'', Apana laughed his head off, especially when Chan is told "You should have a lie detector," and replies "Lie detector? Ah, I see, you mean wife. I got one."[[/note]]

* HaveAGayOldTime: In ''Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum,'' the villain says this in reference to a plastic surgeon who secretly restructures mobsters faces to let them hide form the cops.