Charlie Chan at the Circus (1936)

This month on TCM the spotlight is Race & Hollywood: Asian Images in Film. The movies showcased will include those with negative racial stereotypes or have Caucasians portraying Asian characters. As part of this I was able to watch Charlie Chan at the Circus.

This was the eleventh film that Fox produced starring Warner Oland as the detective Charlie Chan. He would end up making a total of sixteen Charlie Chan films before Sidney Toler took over the role. This movie starts off with Charlie Chan and his twelve children enjoying a day at the circus. Of course someone gets murdered and Charlie gets involved in the investigation with the help of this Number One Son (played by Keye Luke).

I am surprised how much I enjoyed this film. The circus setting was great since it allowed an interesting array of characters to be involved: sideshow midgets, trapeze artists, a snake-charmer and an escaped gorilla. Keye Luke was excellent as the comic relief especially when he dressed as woman pushing a baby carriage with a midget disguised as a baby. However as silly as this all sounds, it was never presented as goofy or stupid just as a lightening of the mood as they tried to track down the killer.