The Black Camel (1931)
The Black Camel (1931) is the oldest surviving Charlie Chan film (affiliate link) starring Warner Oland. It was the second film in the series for Fox Films. The first, third, fourth and fifth films are lost although a Spanish language version of Charlie Chan Carries On (Eran Trece, 1931) does exist. The Black Camel was released on June 21, 1931. Besides Warner Oland, the film also starred Bela Lugosi, C. Hunter Gordon and a very young Robert Young.
Bela Lugosi is excellent as the mysterious Tarneverro, a Hollywood psychic, who may or may not be what he appears. This film was released after Lugosi made his epic film debut in Dracula (1931). It is difficult to make your debut in the best film that you will ever appear in. However, Lugosi still does an admirable, if less spectacular job, in The Black Camel.
Warner Oland as Charlie Chan – Courtesy of the Creative Commons
Warner Oland makes his second appearance as Charlie Chan. Inspector Chan is lively in this film as he searches for the murderer. Inspector Chan is helped in his investigation by Kashimo, played by Otto Yamaoka. I find this aspect of the film distasteful and highly insulting in it’s characterization of Kashimo. Unfortunately, this type of “humor” is all too common in 1930s and 1940s Hollywood films.
Bela Lugosi was born Be’la Ferenc Dezso Blasko on October 20, 1882 in what is now Lugoj, Romania. Lugosi served in World War I. Lugosi then emigrated to the United States in 1920 at the age of 38. Lugosi was originally a stage actor and played Dracula on Broadway. Tod Browning convinced Lugosi to play the role of Dracula in the 1931 movie, which led to Lugosi’s stardom.
Bela Lugosi at 18 from the Public Domain
According to IMDB, Lugosi became a citizen in 1931. The highlight of his film career was his first film Dracula (1931). He never reached this height again although he did have a number of good performances. He also played in lots of “B” films, which did not help his career.
Lugosi struggled with personal demons. He was addicted to drugs. Lugosi also married five times and divorced four times. He died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956. His widow buried him in his Dracula cape.
The Black Camel runs about 71 minutes and is based on the Earl Derr Biggers’ book of the same name.
This story is also repeated in Charlie Chan in Rio (1941), which starred Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan.
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