Collection: Charlie Chan Sherlock Holmes Collection
Welcome to our Classic Detective Collection
Featuring Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes and Dick Tracy
Before Sherlock Holmes, Before Dick Tracy, Before there was James Bond there was Charlie Chan.
Charlie Chan films were stepping stones toward defining one of the worlds most popular fictional detectives on screen. Some might even say Charlie Chan was the first Superhero!
The first film featuring Charlie Chan, as a supporting character, was The House Without a Key (1926).
Charlie Chan appeared in six novels by Earl Derr Biggers published from 1925 to 1932. The first three novels were each adapted to film during the 1920s by different studios with George Kuwa, Sojin, and E.L. Park playing Charlie Chan. The best-known Charlie Chan movies are those of the long-running series that began in 1931 with Charlie Chan Carries On, starring Warner Oland for Fox Film Corp. Oland starred in a further fifteen Chan movies, up to the time of his death, after which the mantle passed to Sidney Toler. By this time, Fox had merged and been succeeded by 20th Century Fox, which produced eleven more Charlie Chan films through 1942. Toler then bought the screen rights himself, and arranged a new series for Monogram Pictures in 1944. Monogram made another eleven Chan films starring Toler and then six starring Roland Winters after Toler's death. Today Original artifacts from the Chan series, in particular, Original Vintage Movie Posters and Lobby Cards are highly sought after by collectors of the Golden Age
Readers and moviegoers of America greeted Chan warmly. Chan was seen as an attractive character, portrayed as intelligent, heroic, benevolent, and honorable; this contrasted with the common depiction of Asians as evil or conniving which dominated Hollywood and national media in the early 20th century. I wonder in today’s “Cancel Culture” could a Charlie Chan return to the big screen?
We recently acquired an incredible Charlie Chan Collection of Original Vintage Movie Posters, Lobby Cards, Heralds including from the Rare Oland Warner Chan era.