The Black Camel (1931)

Best movie ever!

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Really good Charlie Chan mystery - this one will not disappoint. I've read this is the earliest surviving Charlie Chan film.This one has plenty of comical moments to keep the viewer laughing and enough mystery to keep you involved in the interesting story.Kashimo, Chan's sidekick, is a blast to watch - very funny together. The two of them really make this film great - stand out. Kashimo is one of my favorite characters in this one.If you are a fan of the other Charlie Chan film or of Warner Oland then you should really get a kick out of this one. Fans of Robert Young, Bela Lugosi and Dwight Fry will enjoy this one as well.8/10

Since "Charlie Chan Carries On" seems to be lost, for us today "The Black Camel" is the beginning of the magnificent, hugely popular and uniquely long-running film series about the gentle, polite, sometimes funny but also VERY clever Chinese detective, played by three different actors at two different studios. The first one, of course, was Warner Oland, who for many fans until today remains THE 'screen' Charlie Chan, utterly faithful to the character created by Earl Derr Biggers in 1923.And "The Black Camel", the first 'surviving' movie of the series, certainly is among the very best. It tells us a very intricate story about the murder of a famous actress, which seems somehow connected to the murder of another Hollywood actor a few years before; there's a mysterious 'fortune teller' in whom the actress used to confide all her secrets, and whom she'd summoned to Hawaii, where the film shooting takes place, especially to ask him whether or not she should marry a rich young playboy she'd fallen in love with; there's her ex-husband, who 'happens' to be in Honolulu as well; there's an impoverished painter who lives nearby and obviously knows too much - and so on...And Charlie Chan handles the case with the utmost delicacy, humble and courteous, and philosophical: 'Death is a black camel that kneels unbidden at every door', he cites one of his many old Asiatic sayings - hence the title... But when it comes to finding out who the murderer is, he becomes tough and unrelenting - seemingly...Charlie Chan is a REALLY special case in the history of crime movies: he was not only one of the few REALLY intelligent and capable cops (who used to be presented as plain flat-heads most of the time), but he was also the first Asian protagonist in Hollywood to be depicted in a VERY positive and sympathetic light (in contrast to the 'yellow danger' represented by 'Dr. Fu Manchu' and others at the time) - and until this day remains to us, no matter what color we are, the most amiable of all classic Hollywood police detectives! But back to "The Black Camel" seen purely as a movie, a murder mystery: the beautiful Hawaiian background is wonderfully photographed, in contrast to the very suspenseful nightly scenes, with menacing shadows masterfully used to send shivers up our spines. The cast is absolutely great - with none less than Bela Lugosi as guest star, playing the mysterious 'Tarneverro', and giving one of his best and most moving performances. In short, it's not just the 'beginning' of a wonderful and unforgettable movie series, but also an absolute masterpiece in itself.

For his second appearance as Charlie Chan, Warner Oland is actually working and solving a case as a member of the Honolulu PD homicide squad and not retained as a private detective. The victim here is Dorothy Revier, movie star.Back on the mainland Revier was involved with an actor who was killed in a still unsolved homicide. And as it usually does in these cases a whole load of people that had previous connections with the late actor just happen to be on the scene.Bela Lugosi is in the film as well as a spiritualist who has somehow insinuated himself with Revier. He's got a score to settle with whomever killed the actor. Lugosi is his usual sinister self.Besides the mainland murder before the action and that of Revier there is a third of an itinerant beachcomber artist played by Murray Kinnell.I will say that Charlie Chan has to solve all three cases and does. But the murders are committed by three different people. And in one case an old murder mystery truism proves valid.The title The Black Camel has nothing really to do with plot itself. It is a piece of an old Chinese proverb that Charlie Chan quotes, but not fortune cookie aphorisms.You'll not figure out the three murders, they won't be people you might originally suspect.

Popular film starlet Shelah Fane(Dorothy Revier)has trouble concentrating on the movie set in Honolulu; she is about to marry a millionaire playboy(William Post Jr.), but she has a dark secret from her past that occupies her mind. She calls upon a mysterious psychic(Bela Lugosi)to guide her decision...of course he is a phony, but has other reasons for being her well used adviser. When the actress is found dead, the ever wise oriental sleuth Charlie Chan is summoned to investigate and he has quite a list of suspects to weed out. Chan does have an over-anxious assistant Kashimo(Otto Yamaoka)that is more or less inept to the case; but provides spurts of comic relief. Why would anyone want the pretty actress killed; and who actually did the dead? Suspects admit to hiding evidence and others wind up dead as the plot thickens. Supporting players include: Sally Ellers, Robert Young, Victor Varconi and Robert Homans.