Charlie Chan is a polarizing force in today's PC charged world. Often portrayed by white actors in "yellow face" in Hollywood the character is often pointed at as an example of overt racism from a period where Asians were known as Chinamen or Orientals.
I don't see it that way. As a fan of both the original novels by Earl Derr Biggers and the films of Warner Oland and Sidney Toler I always saw Chan as the smartest guy in the room. While I certainly would have preferred he be played by an Asian actor at the time, the way sons 1 and 2 where done, one can't argue the quality and dedication to the role that Oland and Toler brought.
Besides my friends, if a Samuel L. Jackson can play Nick Fury then I think we can allow some liberties from a bygone day.
The Charlie Chan strips are faithful in many ways to the books and the image of Charlie as done by Alfred Androla is clearly the Warner Oland Chan, at least in these early adventures. The strips are word heavy and we'll see how they do here on UCF where we are replacing an action packed strip like THE PHANTOM with this one.
If Charlie's numbers stay strong we'll run him through the Fall, if not, expect to see a return to a more action oriented character.
--AF
No comments:
Post a Comment