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 Lon Chaney cook-waiter … because Chaney can't stoop that low." In 1929, the Fox Film Corporation optioned Charlie Chan properties and produced "Behind That Curtain", starring Korean actor E.L. Park. Again, Chan's role was minimal, with Chan appearing only in the last ten minutes of the film. Not until a white actor was cast in the title role in 1931 did a Chan film meet with success. In "Charlie Chan Carries On" Chan was played by Swedish actor Warner Oland, who had also played Fu Manchu in an earlier film. Oland, who claimed some Mongolian ancestry, played the character as