The Charlie Chan Film Encyclopedia by Howard M. Berlin

From the Publisher

The first film featuring Charlie Chan, The House Without a Key, appeared in 1925. Forty-seven films and six Charlies later, the series still delights audiences. Charlie Chan connoisseurs cite a variety of reasons for the honorable detective's longevity and appeal, ranging from his wit and personality to the films' fascinating casts that often included future celebrities.

This encyclopedia contains over 1,900 entries for characters, actors, crew members, plot devices, and facts, as well as film summaries and Charlie's famous aphorisms. Photographs accompany the text and the entries are arranged alphabetically for easy reference and access. Practically anything a fan of these films might want to know is thoroughly analyzed here.

Library Journal

Fictional detective Charlie Chan appeared in more than 40 films, primarily during the 1930s and 1940s. This book provides capsule biographies of the stars and casts of the films, in addition to a detailed filmography and other Chan esoterica (including a section on Chan's proverbs). Berlin, an inventor and author who has written on a variety of subjects, supplies Chan fans with obscure details about the most popular films. He purposely excludes all mention of the Chan films and television series from the 1950s, 1970s, and 1980s. Instead, he concentrates largely upon the Warner Oland and Sidney Toler films because they were the two most popular actors to portray Chan and because they starred in more Chan films than any of the other actors. Massive, fact-filled, and entertaining, this is one of the most important Chan movie reference volumes to date. Not only does it present specific filmographies but it has entries on other actors and lots of trivial information about the movies, which sets it apart from two more general references on Chan: Ken Hanke's Charlie Chan at the Movies: History, Filmography, and Criticism (McFarland, 1989) and Charles P. Mitchell's A Guide to Charlie Chan Films (Greenwood, 1999). An exhaustive index and a useful bibliography round out this impressive book. A worthwhile purchase for most popular film collections.--David M. Lisa, Mercyhurst Coll., Erie, PA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Booknews

A thoroughly detailed reference to information relating to Charlie Chan films in an A-to-Z compendium of over 1,900 entries of facts, characters, actor and crew biographies, filmographies, and plot summaries. Also includes some 270 of Charlie's famous aphorism and 88 move stills, photographs of actors and actresses, and illustrations. The author excludes the later Chan movies and TV series, which he deems inadequate. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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