The Chinese Ring (1947)

Roland Winters makes an unenthusiastic debut as the inscrutable Chinese detective in this acceptable but uninspired Charlie Chan outing. It begins fairly well, with the murder happening almost immediately and inside Chan's apartment no less, and has a good if typically out-of-the-blue twist at the end, but the rest is business as usual. Number Two Son's role is significantly reduced in this, in favor of a Torchy Blane-like female reporter and her detective boyfriend (who, in true 1947 fashion, even cuffs her to a chair at one point to keep her out of his way). ** out of 4.

The original Fox Charlie Chan movies with Warner Oland were the best but the Sidney Toler Fox movies were pretty good, too. When the series (and Toler) moved to Monogram in 1944, it resulted in a sharp drop in quality. There were still a few watchable movies left but nothing to brag about. As it went on, Toler's performance got worse along with the general quality of the movies themselves. It got to the point where all he did was show up, half-remember the poorly-written lines of dialogue, and occasionally throw in one of the irritating feces-eating grins of his that were so commonplace in the Monogram films. After Toler died, Roland Winters took over for the remainder of the series. This is the first of the Roland Winters Chans and, yes, it is terrible. All of the Winters films are garbage and the worst of the entire Charlie Chan series from Fox to Monogram. It's truly sad that several early Warner Oland Chan films have been lost to time but these have survived.The plot here is a remake of Mr. Wong in Chinatown with few changes. Roland Winters is a dull, lifeless Charlie Chan. He seems to be trying to emulate Oland more than Toler. He fails more than any person has ever failed at anything ever. Mantan Moreland is still in the series as comic relief Birmingham Brown. As there are no "spooks" for him to be afraid of in this one, he serves no purpose. He appears to have lost some weight and looks older since his last appearance. Victor Sen Yung returns but, for some bizarre reason, he's now Tommy Chan instead of Jimmy! Tommy, for those who know the series, was the terribly dull son played by Benson Fong in most of the Toler Monogram films.The writing had been crap for the entirety of the Monogram years but here it's at an all-time low. So don't expect any witty Chan aphorisms from Winters. Here we have this gem: "Strange events permit themselves the luxury of occurring in strange places." Just stupid. There's nothing about this I can or would recommend. Avoid at all costs.

Roland Winters steps into the role of Charlie Chan for the last of the great detective's final six outings. First we see the now familiar Chan home in San Francisco (has he separated from his wife? Where are all those little kids we used to see?) then the familiar Birmingham Brown who then goes to the new Charlie and tells him he has a mysterious visitor. Soon after they are joined by Victor Sen Young, still playing number two son but now called Tommy (the name of Benson Fong's number three son) instead of Jimmy. This film is a lot more atmospheric than Toler's last outing in "The Trap" and the script makes a bit more sense but there's a sense that the party is over and they're just playing out the string here. Roland Winters doesn't contribute much as Chan and fails to make any impression other than that of a road show Charlie Chan. This film is more interesting as a curiosity than as a film. It is only interesting if you're watching to see what the new Chan is like. The answer: not too good. And the next five were pretty much downhill from here.

Princess Mei Ling visits Charlie Chan's house with need of the great detective's help. Before she can meet with him she is killed by an air gun, but is able to scrawl "Capt K" on a sheet of paper in hoping to give Chan a clue to her killer. Chan, teaming up with police sergeant, Bill Davidson, finds the apartment where the princess is residing and finds that her trip to America was to purchase a fleet of airplanes to aid in China's defense from invaders. Captain Kong, who was captain of the ship that the princess traveled on, and Captain Kelso, who was the supplier of the planes for the princess, are both determined to see that Chan and Davidson make no further progress on the murder case, which has also added the princess' maid and a mute Chinese boy who may have seen the killer. Obviously by the time the Monogram Chan films were at this stage they were pretty routine and boring and this film is no exception, despite being Roland Winters debut as Chan. The film really lacks a mystery aura as seen in any other Chan film with a storyline that does little in the way of entertain. Victor Sen-Yung last the least to do of any son in any Chan film and Moreland lacks much of the humor he usually does, but does seem more involved with solving the case. Rating, 3.