After a couple of silent screen films, Charlie Chan was introduced to the talking picture with Behind That Curtain. Someone at Fox films had some faith in the character because after this film, it was that faith that created a series.To put it bluntly this was a stodgy overacted mess by a lot of the players who were just getting used to sound film. Except for Warner Baxter who would win the second Best Actor Oscar for In Old Arizona, the rest chewed the scenery, possibly to breathe some life into this story.Lois Moran has been swept off her feet by the dashing Philip Strange who is a real swine of a human being, a fact her father Claude King recognizes. He much prefers explorer Warner Baxter as a suitable husband for his daughter, but she's made her mind up and Baxter steps aside jolly good sport that he is.Afterward it's discovered that Strange has murdered a detective who King had hired to get dirt on him. And it's certainly alluded that there was dirt to get. Moran runs off to the Persian desert on Baxter's expedition, but Strange won't let her go.The end is in San Francisco where their top homicide cop Charlie Chan helps set the trap to nab Strange. E.L. Park plays Charlie who only has one real scene of consequence. Behind That Curtain is melodramatic, overacted, and dull. Good thing that Fox Studios kept the franchise for Warner Oland. This really doesn't deserve to be included in Charlie Chan films, but I suppose it has to be.

When Fox decided to make "Behind That Curtain," the studio picked as leads Warner Baxter, Lois Moran and Gilbert Emery. Of the three, Emery's role was the most important, since his actions kept the story moving to its eventual outcome in San Francisco. Although the scriptwriters gave Gilbert Emery terrible lines for his part as an upper class Englishman, Emery can take all the credit for his strange pseudo-British accent as he slowly enunciates every word of dialogue, pausing at every chance to lend gravity to the moronic dialogue. At about the 80 minute mark, Emery's character discusses a plan with Charlie Chan of the SFPD. In one exchange, both actors talked in exactly the same way, as if they memorized their dialogue phonetically. Unlike E.L. Park, the actor who played Chan, for Emery English was not a second language, but it sure sounded that way. At 90 minutes, this movie is about 30 minutes too long. Had the producer just cut out Emery's part entirely, this movie would have been much better. The story would still have been a mess, with the characters played by Warner Baxter and Lois Moran traveling in the desert with camels, for no reason I can see, except to save money on sets. Lois Moran has the best scene in the picture, as she runs through San Francisco while passersby look at her. This apparent cinema verite look at 1929 San Francisco is interesting, but not long enough. Maybe if there were more running scenes with Lois Moran, they could have renamed the picture "Run, Lois, Run." It is beyond me how Gilbert Emery could continue to have a career in Hollywood, while John Gilbert was almost laughed off the screen for having a voice with the wrong pitch for the roles John Gilbert first played in talkies.

Other than being based on a story by Earl Derr Biggers, this film offers little in the way of mainstream Charlie Chan familiarity, even down to the portrayal of the Oriental Detective by Asian actor E.L. Park in the closing minutes of the film. By then, the mystery behind the murder of Hilary Galt is no mystery at all, as one's early suspicion of Eric Durand (Philip Strange) behind the deed is confirmed a number of times as the movie proceeds.More so, the film involves a love triangle between Durand, his wife Eve Mannering (Lois Moran), and jilted lover Colonel John Beetham (Warner Baxter). Presumably, Galt had information for Eve's uncle Sir George Mannering (Claude King) that would threaten the marriage, so Durand enters Galt's study, murders him, and places a pair of slippers on Galt that were once connected to Beetham. However Durand was observed leaving Galt's study by night watchman Alfred Pornick (John Rogers), who attempts to blackmail Durand with the information. Eve learns of her husband's involvement in the murder, and runs to Beetham for comfort and support, not to mention his help in running away from Eric.As an early talkie film, the movie suffers from it's actors trying to find their place in a new medium. The players seem to over enunciate and over emphasize their dialog, almost to the point of extreme tedium. From today's vantage point it would seem like they were purposely going for "over the top" in their performances. It's especially apparent as the movie progresses; for example in the Persian Desert scene when Eve finally gives in to her feelings for Beetham, she drags on with a simple sentence - "Whatever....happens....John,....remember,....I....love...you".If you need a reason to watch the film, consider the appearance of a young Boris Karloff in a pre-Frankenstein role as Beetham's Indian servant. He's not given much to do, but his stamp on the film is undeniable, particularly in a scene when ordered by Beetham to protect his lady's secrecy. Karloff plays dumb in two different languages by saying nothing.Ultimately, the film stands as a curiosity piece for Charlie Chan fans, and for that reason should be viewed at least once. However one should not expect the usual signature items of a Chan film, such as the Chinese proverbs, the help of numbered sons, or the exposition of the crime solution by Charlie in the finale. In fact, the off screen Chan is virtually derided by Scotland Yard detective Sir Frederick Bruce who handled the case, stating that a tighter surveillance at the Cosmopolitan Club may have captured Eric Durand alive. At the same time though, his satisfaction in closing the case seems to be the over riding sentiment.

Author Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933) was among America's most popular writers of the 1910s and 1920s and many of his works, such as 'Seven Keys to Baldpate', were translated to stage and screen with great success. About 1919 Biggers encountered stories about Hawaii's celebrated Chang Apana (1887-1933), a police officer of Chinese heritage who was noted for his fearlessness in dealing with criminals engaged in the opium trade. Apana, who carried a whip as his weapon of choice, was more noted for courage than detective skills--but he proved the inspiration for Charlie Chan.Between 1925 and 1932 Biggers wrote six Chan novels. HOUSE WITHOUT A KEY and THE Chinese PARROT were filmed as silents in 1926; the first sound film to feature Chan was BEHIND THAT CURTAIN. But although it is generally based on the Biggers novel, the film takes a very strange direction: instead of presenting the mystery novel that Biggers wrote, it dispenses with mystery and presents the story of a runaway wife as a melodrama pure and simple, and Chan (played here by E.L. Park) is only a cameo role tacked on at the film's finish.The cast sports several notable actors of the era, most particularly Warner Baxter, who had a distinguished career, and it offers an early and very brief role to Boris Karloff in his pre-FRANKENSTEIN era. But the cast struggles a great deal with the new technology of sound and they read as stiff and mannered. The direction and cinematography are only serviceable, and even for an early sound film BEHIND THAT CURTAIN feels extremely slow and heavy-handed.BEHIND THAT CURTAIN is not presently available to the home market in the form of a studio release, nor is it likely to be so at any time in the near future. Although it is generally credited as "The First Sound-Era Charlie Chan Film," it is not really a part of the series that would become so popular between 1931 and 1942. Hardcore Chan fans will want to see the film at least once, but once will be more than enough.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer