The Golden Eye

Charlie Chan's old friend from Arizona thinks that someone is trying to kill him. Chan travels to the friend's dude ranch and digs into the mystery, which he quickly discovers is tied up with a nearby gold mine.

Roland Winters is solid if unexciting as the famous detective in this passable series entry. Victor Sen Young and Mantan Moreland are featured in sizable roles this time around; as number two son Tommy and chauffeur Birmingham Brown, they liven up their portions of an otherwise rather bland production.

Tim Ryan attempts to add color as a tipsy ranch guest whom Chan quickly recognizes as his friend Lieutenant Mike from San Francisco. Lieutenant Mike, it turns out, is undercover at the ranch and investigating the same funny business at the mine.

Other story elements include a smuggling ring, a suspicious mine shaft accident, a miner's shack with a trap door in the floor leading to a secret tunnel.... It really doesn't make much sense but it's mildly entertaining.

This is one of the last of the Monogram series of Charlie Chan films. By 1948, the series had been around for many years--since the late 1920s. Through the decades, Warner Oland and Sidney Toler had made a ton of these fun murder mysteries. By the death Toler in 1946, it was obvious that the series had been gasping for life for several years. However, instead of calling a halt to the films, Monogram plodded along with several more Chan films that starred Roland Winters. Now Winters wasn't too bad--after all, with makeup he was able to look like Chan and his delivery was rather Chan-like (though a bit rapid). However, the wit of the Sidney Toler version was noticeably absent. Another problem is that by 1948, the movies just weren't as interesting and were usually written in such a hasty manner that plot holes abounded--and this one looked rather Swiss cheesy at that! I know this to be so because I have seen all of the Fox Charlie Chan films that are in existence and almost all the Monogram ones--the slide is obvious.

Charlie is out west to investigate how a supposedly played out gold mine is suddenly brimming with gold. During the investigation, the man who hired Chan is supposedly hurt and his entire face is wrapped in gauze and doctors won't let anyone in to see him. It's so completely obvious to anyone with half a brain that either this isn't the man or he's being drugged. Oddly, Chan allows this ruse to continue for some time--even though someone's life might be at risk. Even when the nurse/nun who is caring for him reveals she's an idiot and practically knows nothing about medicine, Chan does nothing.

In addition to lots of inaction, the film is brimming with dull and awkward performances. About the only one who comes off reasonably well is Tommy Chan--who oddly was re-named Tommy even though he'd been Jimmy in the earlier films and was still played by the same actor (Victor Sen Yung). Even the usual comic relief from Mantan Moreland seems very subdued in this film. There simply is no energy or life to this film and a few really broad performances sink the film further.

The bottom line is that there isn't much of a mystery and Chan could easily get to the bottom of it. Instead, the amazingly subdued Chan sits back and lets the film go on for some time until the conclusion. Dull and uninspired.

This episode in the Chan series features skimpy sets - not rare in the later Chans - and a weak role for the usually entertaining Mantan Moreland, but some Chan is better than none. Roland Winters does a perfectly serviceable job as Charlie - lacking the warmth of Warner Oland, but also lacking the harshness of Sidney Toler in his father/son interactions. The plot is pedestrian, but the series is about Charlie and assistants, not the stories, so a less than perfect plot is OK. This movie lacks the beautiful women in gowns we often get in Chans, and not much of a love affair, so some of the classic Chan features are missing. By this late time, they were spending very little money on the series, and milking it for the value of the franchise. One can imagine that it was a perfectly good way to spend an hour on a Saturday in post-war America.

I noticed that after crediting Roland Winters and one woman actress, Mantan Moreland and Victor Sen Young came next. In spite of the fact that a white man was playing Chan, clearly a black man and a Chinese man came next in popularity with audiences. For some reason, this fact is never credited. The theme of racist America is just to popular to be spoiled by such facts.

Charlie Chan (Roland Winters) agrees to investigate the strange happenings at an Arizona (or is it New Mexico - I really can't be bothered to check) goldmine. Along for the ride are son Tommy (Victor Sen Yung) and chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland).

I have seen all of the Sidney Toler and Warner Oland Chan films - most multiple times. But oddly enough, this is my first experience with Roland Winters. I'm not impressed. Maybe it's my personal bias, but he seems all wrong for the role. Instead of the measured, deliberate Chan played by both Toler and Oland, Winters is too quick in both speech and action. And, if it weren't for the yellow-face, I'd swear Winters was trying to pull off some kind of European, maybe Italian, accent. It was all so distracting.

As for the film itself, you know you're in trouble when the credits begin with the words Monogram Pictures and end with the name William Beaudine. That pretty much says all you need to know. Honestly, it's just a bad movie and not really worth dwelling on.

On a positive note, The Golden Eye doesn't feature an overdose of Tommy and Birmingham. Their comedy bits are limited. And thank goodness because as much as I like Moreland, his Birmingham Brown schtick gets old pretty quick.

Finally, there were two things that bothered me while watching The Golden Eye and both are related to Victor Sen Yung. First, why is he named Tommy in this movie? If you've seen any of his previous Chan films, you know he's Jimmy. Second, in 1948, he was 33 years old - way too old to be playing the bumbling son. In fact, he's way too old to be playing Winters' son. Winters would have been 44 when this movie was made - a difference of only 11 years.

3/10.

Like several other reviewers, this is my first Charlie Chan film with Roland Winters cast as the detective. I have to be honest; I've always enjoyed Roland Winters in every role I've seen him in, so I'm a bit biased in his favor. IMHO, he brings a certain gravitas to the role that had been missing since Warner Oland's untimely passing. In his defense, Sidney Toler deserves much credit for purchasing the rights to the character, so that the film series could continue, but his health problems and age contributed to the energy draining from his later performances. I also liked that Mr. Winters' Chan appreciated the support of his son Tommy, finely portrayed by Victor Sen Young. It was a refreshing change from the condescension and sarcasm of the Sidney Toler portrayal toward any of his male offspring. Mantan Moreland, who I always enjoyed as Birmingham Brown, was also more subdued in this film. Now, to what dawned on me toward the end of the film... What I realized was that this could very well have been a Hopalong Cassidy movie, replacing Charlie Chan with Hoppy, and Tommy and Birmingham with Lucky and California. That's not necessarily a bad thing; plots, stories and scripts have been recycled for decades. The trouble here was that I realized it as I was watching the film. There was nothing about the plot that was noteworthy. Other drawbacks to this film are that the supporting cast was adequate, but that's about all that can be said. The budget was minimal. As other reviewers have indicated, the series was running out of steam. I sincerely believe that had Roland Winters assumed the role of Charlie Chan a few years earlier, the quality of the series would have improved, and more money would have been invested into the film series. All in all, not a terrible film, but it is noticeable where improvement could have been made. 6/10.