Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935)

Undescribable Perfection

Better Late Then Never

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Yep, this is the Charlie Chan movie which has a black actor named "Snow shoes." And of course he's scared of just about everything. It's a real shame that a Charlie Chan film, which I've always viewed as a positive ethnic role model from an an era when such things were extremely rare, resorts to this. My other major gripe is that the modern viewer can easily see that the movie was shot on the Fox back lot; it may have worked in 1935 but not now.However I have to say I enjoyed the story of Charlie investigating rifled Egyptian artefacts from an ancient tomb. The suspects are all nicely shady and the first death - that of an Arab worker who looks into the newly opened tomb - is very effective. Pity no one even refers to it during the rest of the movie! It's a nicely macabre touch to have a murder victim mummified. It's also interesting to see Rita Hayworth in an early role. Warner Oland of course is the real star; and Charlie is his usual polite and sharp self.An enjoyable 70-odd minutes; there are better Chan movies out there. I believe next up I'm about to take a trip to Shanghai. Probably another back lot! :)

Of the dozens of Charlie Chan films, this stands as one of the best--even though it sadly co-stars the biggest walking negative stereotype in movie history, Stepin Fetchit. Once again, Fetchit plays a rather sub-human part but at least he's a little less degrading than usual and the rest of the film is exceptional.This film is very much like a combination of a Chan film and a mummy film--and because of the interesting backdrop the film seems far fresher and more interesting than most in the series. Charlie has been sent to an archaeological dig by a French museum. It seems the museum is justifiably angry because items from the tomb belong to them but someone has been selling them to collectors and other museums. Naturally, when Chan arrives people begin to die and it's up to Charlie to get to the bottom of it.Despite not having any of the Chan children (particularly the ever enjoyable Keye Luke as "Lee"), this is a dandy film with some interesting twists and a mystery that is a tad over-complicated but fun to unravel. As far as my feelings about Fetchit, in this film he didn't act that much different than the Birmingham Brown character from the later Chan film, so perhaps I am just being a tad oversensitive. It's just that in so many prior films Fetchit was the living embodiment of all the negative Black stereotypes--so bad that seeing him once again kind of made me cringe.

This has always been one of my favourite Warner Oland Chan's, made even more suitably murky and mysterious by the passage of time and the way it's been handled since it was made.Charlie's in Egypt to track down the person responsible for leaking valuable ancient artifacts into European collections, finding murder as well. With some fantastic atmospheric sets as backdrop and a great cast he and the ever dependable Thomas Beck act as a team to get to the bottom of the mystery and nab the culprit. Every other post has highlighted the main problem with it: Stepin Fetchit. It's a shame they put him in but it's not a problem to me as I don't watch it for him shuffling and mumbling along but for the main story unfolding around the rest of the cast. His major scenes could easily be cut out or altered to save everyone's black and white blushes today - but where would you stop? Airbrush cigarettes, smoke and alcohol, cgi over carbon non-neutral cars or low efficiency lightbulbs, even change Oland to a white Swede and superimpose a black superhero in goodie Beck's place to engage a more proactive and socially inclusive demographic, erase mention of Egypt to try to disguise the colonial connotations etc? And of course if we went that far also add plenty of mindless graphic sex and violence because that's OK in todays crazy world; the Nazis would have simply burned all the prints of this and everything considered similar and revised the history books.With all its faults I'm grateful for what we've got – some of the early Chan's are lost forever – at the very least for an insight into the human mental condition as it existed in Hollywood in 1935 but more for as it exists around the world today. If you really don't like it you could campaign for its destruction, but if you like watching pre WW2 b&w middle brow detective movies containing innumerable dead people like this like me watch it without angst as a good film.

This was one of the best of the early Warner Oland Chan films for me, though I'm partial to it because I love old horror movies and "Charlie Chan in Egypt" felt very much like an old mummy picture. In this one, the great detective travels to the historical pyramids to unravel the mystery behind a missing archaeologist and the treasure he unearthed from an ancient mummy's tomb. Very atmospheric and dark, with many strange events on display to perk up the interest.It must be mentioned that the black "comical" actor Stepin Fetchit appears in this film, and back in the day he used to make a career of undermining black people. It's easy to see why some African American viewers might find his character offensive here. Even if you feel that there's a tendency for some modern-day viewers to over-react to political incorrectness in some films of those old days, it's hard not to take notice here and wince. Stepin plays a muttering servant called "Snowshoes" whose speech is difficult to understand and who is portrayed as utterly lazy, fearful and ignorant. His boss - who's the young hero of the film and whose side we're supposed to be on - constantly berates him and scolds him ("do as you're told!") and physically shoves him around.