Behind That Curtain ** (1929, Warner Baxter, Lois Moran, Gilbert Emery, Claude King, Philip Strange, Boris Karloff) – Classic Movie Review 9069

Director Irving Cummings’s 1929 Behind That Curtain takes its place in movie history as the impossibly creaky but still intriguing first Charlie Chan film in sound. It is based on Earl Derr Biggers’s novel of the same name, so the plot is very satisfactory.

Korean-American actor E L Park, the last man of Asian extraction to play Charlie Chan and who made no other films, unfortunately puts in only a brief appearance at the finale. Charlie Chan’s name is first mentioned after 20 minutes and he only appears in two short scenes after 70 minutes.

Earl Derr Biggers’s murder-mystery story has explorer Colonel John Beetham (Warner Baxter) rescuing his lover Eve Mannering Durand (Lois Moran) from her wicked, abusive husband Eric Durand (Philip Strange), who turns out to be both a philanderer and murderer.

In his first talkie, Boris Karloff has very little to do, either, as Beetham’s devoted Sudanese manservant.

However, Cummings directs the convoluted tale at the briskest possible pace for a movie of its time, preferring speed to clarity, which at least helps to keep you attending. There is just about enough here to interest vintage film fans and mystery thriller buffs.

Also in the cast are Gilbert Emery as Sir Frederick Bruce, Claude King as Sir George Mannering, Jamiel Hasson as as Sahib Hana, Peter Gawthorne as the Scotland Yard inspector, John Rogers, Edgar Norton, Mercedes De Valasco, Frank Finch Smiles, Kathrin Clare Ward and Montague Shaw.

Behind That Curtain is directed by Irving Cummings, runs 91 minutes, is made and released by Fox Film Corporation, is written by Sonya Levien (writer), Clarke Silvernail (writer) and George Middleton (adaptation), based on Earl Derr Biggers’s story, is shot in black and white by Conrad Wells, Dave Ragin (uncredited) and Vincent J Farrar (uncredited), and is produced by William Fox (uncredited), with Set Decoration by William S Darling.

Producer William Fox chose Behind That Curtain to premiere at the grand opening of the palatial Fox Theater at 1350 Market Street in San Francisco on 28 June 1929.

The third of 47 Charlie Chan movies (though the first at Fox studios), Behind That Curtain follows The House Without a Key (1926) and The Chinese Parrot (1927) and is followed by Charlie Chan Carries On (1931).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9069

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