The 1936 Olympics in Berlin provide a background for the theft of an aerial guidance system in Charlie Chan At The Olympics. Back in Honolulu the device is stolen from inventors John Eldredge and Jonathan Hale and two people are killed. Clues indicate that the device is on its way to Berlin, not for use by the Nazi government, but to be sold on the Berlin black market. As it turns out number 1 son Lee Chan played by Keye Luke is a member of the US swimming team and is in the relay events. So Warner Oland takes both the China Clipper across country and then the Hindenburg to beat Lee to Berlin. As it turns out such sinister types as C. Henry Gordon and Katharine DeMille are on the boat as well.Oland recovers the device, but then the bad guys kidnap Keye Luke and he has to think as a father as well as a detective to get his son back. During all this time he has the full cooperation of the German police.The German inspector is played by Fredrik Vodaging and while a bit authoritarian you would not believe that this is a totalitarian dictatorship. In fact the politics of Nazi Germany is completely erased from this film. The way Chan and Vodaging work together you would hardly believe that this is a place believing in Aryan supremacy.Newsreel footage of the 1936 Olympics including Jesse Owens broad jump is blended in with the film. But I have to say watching this film now it really threw me for a loop.

The most notable thing in this movie is that all Swastikas (back then a State symbol ) have been digitally hidden in a story set during the Olympics in (then) Nazi Germany (see the air ship Zeppelin and the flag hanging when the athletes' bus arrives, for example). I am not sure whether the camouflage took place decades ago in the original, or was orchestrated by some smart mind later. I am not even sure the movie was actually filmed in Berlin...it might have been stock footage with actual scenes shot in any studio...or did "n.1 son" win a gold medal swimming for the US team?! The fact, however, that most comments wish fictional Charlie Chan had "taken a stand" against the then legitimate German government AND that care has been taken to edit swastikas from a minor movie like this that surely wasn't the AAA+ blockbuster of the year tells a long story about the intellectual level of both censors eager to please the powerful and of gullible peanuts still wanting to board the winner's wagon 70 years after the fact...making it impossible to conceive life in Nazi Germany as every day's and without horror stories and death chimneys going in the background.Besides, it is unlikely a serious matter of spy rings be dealt with by simple police in Nazi Germany.The film provides mild family entertainment in the typical Chan style. The plot offers various contrivances and subplots...which at times get in the way as a distraction. The "n.1 son" bit works out much better than in most Chan movies. Ah, watch out for a ten seconds fight scene near the end: that's how Bruce Lee learnt his moves.The film revolves around a high-tech device being stolen and smuggled abroad, then purloined several times. The final conclusion falls in place to the dismay of the viewer...who would never have guessed things were as Chan swiftly explains. The drawback is that there are less hints (if any ) throughout the movie that lead to the conclusion.In spite of this all, I still find these movies entertaining and relaxing, even if -unlike the 'circus' or 'opera' one- the "olympics" angle had NOTHING to do with the story.

Charlie has his youngest helper ever - or at least in any of the 20 Chan films I've seen - as 12-year-old Charlie Jr. joins Number One Son Lee as they both help dad solve a crime.Lee (Keye Luke) plays a member of the United States Olympic swimming team in this adventure. The repartee between Chan (Warner Oland) and his two sons in here is terrific. Layne Tom Jr. plays Charlie Junior.The Chan movie is more of an adventure than the normal whodunit as Charlie and the cops travel to the Olympics in Munich, Germany in search of a missing radar-plane "black box." Lee is kidnapped at the games and his dad does everything he can to get his kidnapped son back while not jeopardizing the United States in the process. This is one of the better Chan films and will be available on DVD in December, 2006, as part of another Charlie Chan DVD package of four movies.

Charlie discovers the body of a pilot who was missing for days following a test flight using a remote control navigation system, which is missing from the plane. Charlie discovers that the killer, Miller, worked at an airplane factory in Honolulu, but is found murdered in his apartment before he can be questioned. The suspects of being the sinister power behind the theft are headed towards Berlin, not only to watch the Olympics, but to sell the remote control unit. Charlie takes the Hindenburg to Berlin and is joined by son Lee (who is entered in the 100m swimming relay) to track down Yvonne Rowland, who was seen in Miller's apartment, and who has contacted Baron Zaraka, dignitary for a warring nation. Knowing that Chan is on the case, Zaraka has Lee kidnapped and will turn him over to Charlie in exchange for the remote control device. Charlie tries to dupe the spies, even though he knows that his son is at their mercy. Very good Chan film that places the emphasis on foreign intrigue rather than mystery (and is able to succeed). Oland does turn in one of his best performances as the character, due to the character's development from the genial detective to the worried parent. The Olympics angle does give an interesting aspect of the film towards today's audiences giving an idea of the athletes back then (and the subtraction of the Nazi influence over the games). The climax to the mystery (which is suspenseful) and the revelation of the killer's motive seems to suggest that the film was trying to bloat the mystery angle of the film more. Rating, based on B mysteries, 7.