Charlie Chan with dynamite sometime fly with angels." He argues, however, that these "colorful aphorisms" display "amazing linguistic acrobatic skills." Like the African American "signifying monkey," Huang continues, Chan "imparts as much insult as wisdom." Unless otherwise noted, information is taken from Charles P. Mitchell's "A Guide to Charlie Chan Films" (1999). DVD releases have mostly been in box set format. The American Western Charlie Chinese Charlie Chan Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional character created by Earl Derr Biggers. Biggers loosely based Chan on Honolulu, Hawaii, detective Chang Apana, and conceived of the benevolent and heroic Chan as an alternative
Charlie Chan actors, and the films met with little success. In 1931, the Fox Film Corporation cast Swedish actor Warner Oland as Chan in "Charlie Chan Carries On"; the film became popular, and Fox went on to produce fifteen more Chan films with Oland in the title role. After Oland's death, American actor Sidney Toler was cast as Chan; Toler made twenty-two Chan films, first for Fox and then for Monogram Studios. After Toler's death, six films were made, starring Roland Winters. Readers and movie-goers of white America greeted Chan warmly, seeing him as an attractive character who is portrayed as intelligent,