The Chinese Ring

Plot synopsis:
Charlie Chan (Roland Winters) is a private investigator living in San Francisco. One day a Chinese princess comes to visit him in his home. She has just arrived from the East by boat. The princess manages to give Chan’s butler Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) an artifact - an ancient heirloom ring - before she is shot an killed by a poisoned arrow through the window. She leaves a note behind, with the name ”Captain K”. Chan calls for the police to investigate this murder. Bill Davidson (Warren Douglas) with the SFPD comes to Chan, but his friend, the reporter Peggy Cartwright (Louise Currie), also arrives uninvited to the scene.
By examining the ring, it turns out the princess’ name was Mei Ling (Barbara Jean Wong). She arrived in San Francisco weeks earlier with two men, Captain Kong (Philip Ahn) and Captain Kelso (Thayer Roberts), to try and acquire fighter planes to fight off an enemy back home. For this purpose she had brought a substantial amount of money, $1,000,000, with her on the journey. A search for the money ensues, but it soon turns out there are more people looking for the lost money. Peggy helps out in the hunt, and she meets the princess’ maid, Lillie Mae (Chabing), and a deaf-mute boy living in the princess apartment. When Chan comes to talk to the maid, he finds her murdered in the apartment, and the deaf-mute boy manages to tell him that a man came to visit the apartment shortly before the maid was found dead.
Chan continues his search for the money, visiting the banker in charge of handling the princess’ assets abroad, Armstrong (Byron Foulger). While they are talking, Kong and Kelso, eager to get their share of the money, break in and kidnap both men and hold them for ransom. They are taken to the Chinese cargo vessel, but Birmingham manages to track them to the ship. Together with Chan’s son Tommy (Victor Sen Yung), they manage to free Chan and Armstrong, and when Bill and Peggy arrive to the ship with the police, Kong and Kelso are captured and arrested. Chan discovers that Armstrong is guilty of the princess’ murder, and of stealing her money. Armstrong also killed the maid to cover his tracks.

Tags: mystery

Review:
Okay entry for Winters in his debut as Chan, following Sidney Toler's death.
Roland Winters is a perfectly good Chan - the role was defined by the time this episode in the series was made, so he basically just had to show up and recite the lines to get the job done.
Although Victor Sen Young shows up as Tommy, he plays a very small part in the film - a good thing in my opinion.
Sargent Bill Davidson and plucky girl reporter Peggy Cartwright play the clichéd role of battling couple with unfortunate results.
Blow darts and air rifles seem to abound in the Charlie Chan series.
In this one, a Chinese princess has come to see Charlie with what appears to be important information.
Birmingham goes to get Charlie and while they are putzing around, the unfortunate lady gets shot with a dart.
As usual, Mantan Moreland and Tommy Chan get in the way for the most part.
Roland Winters has replaced the late Sidney Toler and doesn't seem to have any chemistry with the secondary characters.
I cannot say that "The Chinese Ring" is a bad mystery movie, because it isn't.
Although the story and some of the dialog is literally a remake of an older Monogram "Mr. Wong" film, the producers seem to be trying to put forth a dignified continuation of the established Chan series; I do not believe that this is a "take the money and run" fast-buck ripoff (like say Jaws 4,5, 9 etc).
It is a legit effort and William Beaudine was probably as fine and established a director as Monogram could afford to hire.Roland Winters was a good actor who had a long and distinguished career.
He was the studio's choice to continue the Chan character and probably wasn't the best choice but I guess he is adequate.
Winters seems tentative here but has the thankless task of following up his two beloved and deceased predecessors in the ongoing role of Charlie Chan.
He does become a little more forceful and lively in his subsequent Chan films.Moreland and Sen Yung are capable in support and manage to avoid the outright buffoonery that was required of them in previous Chan outings.
He does a good job and he is another example of the studio's commitment to the Chan project, since they could have used a much cheaper unknown actor if so inclined.This is an OK mystery story (after all, its a tried-and-true story from a good prior film).
Winter's first Chan is okay as Monogram Chan films go..
This was the first Chan film with Roland Winters in the title role.
A mysterious princess arrives at the Chan home, where she is shot.
In this case, most complicated reckoning," states philosophical Charlie, lifting a line from Biggers' Behind That Curtain.This one, Number 42 in the series and the first with Roland Winters in the title role, does not augur well for the remainder of the Monogram efforts in this inept re-make of Mr Wong in Chinatown.
A less inspired actor to play the part of Chan could not possibly be imagined, although I should mention that Winters was to improve considerably in his later Chan characterizations.Scott Darling has done very little to update his Wong script and changing the dwarf to a small boy is just about the last straw.
I love the Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) series with Mantan Moreland.
But was really disappointed to find that this film (1947) was a Charlie Chan version of "Mr Wong Chinatown" (1939)..
She gives no name but hands an ornate ring to the butler and says, "Take this to him." While waiting for Chan in his study, she is shot through the window with a poison dart.
Also on the case is perky newspaper reporter Louise Curry, who climbs in Chan's study window looking for clues.
Roland Winters makes his debut as Charlie Chan and he is not bad, though he takes some getting used to.
He moves more quickly than poor Sidney Toler did in his last few pictures; this Chan is more vigorous, less grandfatherly, and ultimately less interesting, too, since unfortunately his stock of wise old sayings in this picture is practically nil.
Sen Yung helps out as number two son Tommy Chan--he's energetic as always but for some reason he is absent (and missed) during a long middle section.
Princess Mei Ling visits Charlie Chan's house with need of the great detective's help.
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.
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.
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.
Mantan Moreland is still in the series as comic relief Birmingham Brown.
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.
During all the time I was watching The Chinese Ring I kept thinking I saw it before and then I learn that this was indeed the plot of an old Mr. Wong film also put out by Monogram.
As the Wong series was before World War II started in Europe only the politics were changed and they got a little vague in this one.Barbara Jean Wong, a Chinese princess who is in America to purchase war airplanes for what I presume is the Kuomintang air force against the Communists is shot and killed by a dart fired from an air rifle almost immediately after entering Charlie Chan's home.
With a murder right in his own home Roland Winters in his first film as Charlie Chan is kind of forced to help the authorities who in this case are represented by homicide detective Warren Douglas.
But one of them is scurvier than the rest that one murders the princes, her maid and a small mute Chinese boy who's only crime was that he was a witness.The story did not translate that good to a post World War II political situation.
Still the players do their best with it and Roland Winters slips nicely into the tradition of Warner Oland and Sidney Toler as our fortune cookie aphorism speaking Charlie Chan..
Winters' debut as Chan is okay, but film is a near line-by-line remake of MR.
Foulger has meaty part as nervous banker, Ahn looks inscrutable, Moreland rolls his eyes, and Louise Currie is gorgeous, but pedestrian direction and cheapo production sink this for all but Chan fans..
Roland Winters steps into the role of Charlie Chan for the last of the great detective's final six outings.
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.
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.
"A murder in the house of Charlie Chan, now I've seen everything.".
"The Chinese Ring" is a passable entry in the Monogram series of Charlie Chan films, notable for Roland Winters' first time portrayal of the Oriental Detective.
In a strange departure from the usual strong continuity between films, Victor Sen Yung is presented as Number #2 Son named Tommy; he was Jimmy in all of his prior Chan films with Sidney Toler.
The intrigue involves the murder of Chinese Princess Mei Ling (Barbara Jean Wong) and her servant; the ring she uses to introduce herself to Charlie Chan is inscribed in Chinese - "Long life and happiness".
The clue leads Chan and Sergeant Bill Davidson (Warren Douglas) of the San Francisco PD in two directions.
This is a reasonably paced entry in the Chan series, particularly for Winters' first turn as the Oriental Detective.
Louise Currie provides great support as reporter Peggy Cartwright, although she's embarrassingly pushed around by romantic interest Sergeant Davidson.
The mystery is a lot easier to follow than prior Chan films, many of which had up to dozen characters to keep track of; here it's all wrapped up pretty neatly by film's end.***Added on 11/12/08 - Monogram Pictures originally made this film in 1939 as "Mr. Wong in Chinatown", with Boris Karloff in the role of the title detective.
So this is the first Charlie Chan movie after Sidney Toler's death (if you've watched all the Charlie Chan films in chronological order, you can REALLY feel the grief the series' fans felt back then when that great actor whom they'd seen in so many wonderful adventures as the Chinese detective had passed away)- but the show must go on; and we mustn't be in ANY way prejudiced against Roland Winters, who took over the role.
He wasn't copying Sidney Toler; he was just the humble, polite, sometimes tough, sometimes humorous Chinese master detective he was supposed to be.Perhaps in order to give a 'new' appearance to the 'old' cast that had worked with Toler for years, Sen Yung, Charlie's former 'number two son' Jimmy, now becomes 'number three son' Tommy, and 'Birmingham' Mantan Moreland is now acting not only as chauffeur, but also as butler.
And the movie begins right in Charlie's own home: a mysterious Chinese lady comes to visit him; she doesn't give any name, she just hands a ring over to Birmingham to give to Charlie.
And when Charlie sees it, he understands immediately from the inscription that the lady must be something like a princess - only, in the meantime, she's shot next door from outside the window by a poisoned dart from a noiseless air rifle; the last thing she manages to do is to write on a piece of paper: 'Captain K'...And very soon we get to know TWO 'Captain Ks': one is Captain Kong, governor of the cargo ship 'Shanghai Maid', which allegedly ships valuable goods to China (but as we find out, they're airplanes intended for princess Mei Ling's brother, a Field Marshall), and the other one's Captain Kelso, manager of the aviation company that builds the planes for Mei Ling.
We also learn from Armstrong, the director of the bank through which Mei Ling had made her transactions, that on her arrival, she'd put a million dollars on her account, and the money had slowly been withdrawn by Kelso...Then Mei Ling's maid is killed, too, in the same way as her mistress, and a little Chinese boy whom the princess had befriended disappears - and all the time, Charlie is being assisted not only by Sgt. Davidson, but also by cheeky reporter Peggy Cartwright (Louise Curry), Davidson's girlfriend (during the few moments they're not quarreling...) - a fabulous specimen of that so popular character of the nosy, snippy 40s girl reporter!
But then, the two 'Captain Ks' force their way into Armstrong's house, presenting him with the fact that the princess' signature on the checks was forged, and asking them what became of the money; and they drag Armstrong and Charlie on board the 'Shanghai Maid' - but both Davidson and Peggy and Birmingham and Tommy are on their trail, and so we can prepare for a big clash as the final highlight!
As we said before, Roland Winters REALLY does his best to do justice to the heavy burden of his first portrayal of Charlie Chan; and the movie itself is in NO way of a lesser quality than the previous ones - in fact, in style it moves away somewhat from the hilarious comedy and returns to the 'Noir' style of the first Monogram Charlie Chans: hard-boiled characters, bleak, dark settings, and a PRETTY tough, not to say at some points cruel plot.
But there's always room for some comedy, at which the first and best is this time the reporter girl - but also Roland Winters, the new Charlie Chan, displays some wise humor with a mild smile; so he DOES find a place in the fans' hearts right from the beginning....
Not bad considering it's Roland Winters.....
To most fans, Warner Oland is THE Charlie Chan.
However, when he died, the series picked up pretty well with Sidney Toler.
Roland Winters, to put it bluntly, just wasn't very good as Chan.
His characterization wasn't as good as either of his predecessors and the films were getting a bit tired.
Fortunately, while this film IS one of these lesser ones, it is the best of the three I've so far seen--and may see, as I don't think any more are available at this time on DVD, video or on television.The film begins with Birmingham (Mantan Moreland) working at the Chan residence.
When Chan sees the ring, he's able to read its Chinese writing and sees the woman is a princess.
But, when Birmingham and Chan return to the room to see the princess, she is dead--killed by some sort of poison dart!
Leave it to a Charlie Chan movie to come up with completely atypical ways of killing people!
Just once, I want someone to be shot--something that actually doesn't happen all that often in one of these films.The rest of the film involves Chan and a really, really, really stupid local detective trying to solve the murders.
However, in spite of these less than stellar characters, the film had a reasonably involved plot and the end kept you guessing.
This remake is very good, much better than the 1st movie; it has Winters, Moreland, Louise Currie, Ahn, W.
It also has the good look of many others made in the 2nd half of the '40s.Louise Currie and W.
Douglas are better than their precursors in these roles, but by the late '40s the roughness of her treating by the disrespectful sergeant had already become indigestible; she punches him, yet it doesn't become her, as the coarseness doesn't become the mild sergeant.Ahn and Roberts are the two Ks.Barbara Jean Wong has a bit part as the princess.The dumb dwarf from the 1st movie is replaced by a dumb boy, which enhances the drama.Winters is great in the scene of the denouement.
This was his 1st time as Chan, he doesn't overplay his part, and has a dependable idea of the character, the player isn't as much cautious, as assured and confident.This whodunit is one of the director's best..
A Princess dies in Charlie Chan's den..
Princess Mei Ling(Jean Wong)goes to the San Francisco apartment of Charlie Chan(Roland Winters).
After she is led to the den by manservant Birmingham(Mantan Moreland), she is murdered via poison dart gun.
She manages to leave a written clue on a note pad that leads to Captain Kong(Philip Ahn), whom she has made a million American dollar deal to ship airplanes to Chinese freedom fighters.
Chan is aided by police Sergeant Davidson(Warren Douglas)in spite of the pest of a newspaper reporter Peggy Carpenter(Louise Currie), who wants the exclusive story of the murder of the princess.
Not real fond of Winters playing the lead role.
He is the palest Chinese/Hawaiian detective Chan ever.
And not understandable to Chan fans is that Victor Sen Young in this flick has changed his name from Jimmy to Tommy(who used to be #3 Son played by Benson Fong).
But a Charlie Chan mystery seems always to be worthwhile..
THE CHINESE RING is another acceptable Charlie Chan outing from Monogram.
It's a cheap and cheerful kind of misadventure, getting off to an arresting opening when a Chinese heiress arrives at Chan's place, looking for help but dead before it arrives.
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).