Product Details

• Actors: Warner Oland, Keye Luke
• Directors: H. Bruce Humberstone
• Format: NTSC, Black & White, Closed-captioned
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Run Time: 70 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000M6F674
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,190 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Special Features Include Number One Son: The Life of Keye Luke Featurette

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exciting Entry, February 28, 2010

By 

Bobby Underwood "starlighthotel" (Manly NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charlie Chan At The Race Track (DVD)

Charlie Chan at the Racetrack is one of the most exciting in this great series based on Earl Derr Biggers' Honolulu based sleuth. Warner Oland seemed to enjoy the lightning pace set by director H. Bruce Humberstone in this entry, as he and Keye Luke are obviously having a good time. Charlie actually slugs a guy in this one, vowing to apologise after same awakes from sleep! And Lee sets off a truck filled with fireworks while Charlie rectifies a wrong.

Charlie is revealing how to read blood spatter to other members of law enforcement when son Lee (Keye Luke) bursts in with a hot tip regarding a horse running in The Melbourne Cup in Australia. Even Charlie places a bet because he knows the owner. A jockey paid to throw the race lightens Lee's pockets, however, and soon leads to murder. Charlie hops onboard a Matson oceanliner and heads for the next race with a ship full of suspects and Lee, who has finagled a job onboard. Moving at a nice clip, a lot happens on the way to Santa Juanita, and even more once they arrive.

Charlie takes one in the leg onboard, and has Lee thrown in the brig to protect his foolish son! Keye Luke has a lot to do in this one, however, and the screenplay by Robert Ellis, Helen Logan, and Edward T. Lowe keeps us guessing till the end. Switched horses, a monkey, and a stylish 1930's look fashion this entry into a real winner. A nice little romance between Alice (Helen Wood) and Bruce (Thomas Beck) augment a tight and fast moving Charlie Chan fun for classic movie fans. Also available as part of a boxed set, Chan fans will be delighted watching this one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good mystery with humor if you can bear the stereotypes, November 14, 2011

By 

Israel Drazin (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charlie Chan At The Race Track (DVD)

This 1936 black and white film stars Warner Oland, a non-Oriental, as Charlie Chan. A friend of Chan asks him to investigate a gambling ring that is fixing races by using quite a few devious means. The friend is then murdered. Chan decides to take the case and discover the gambling ring and the murderer. Chan discovers what the gamblers do to win. At one point he is kidnapped. Humor is added to the film by the stereotype antics of a black man who is unable to speak correctly and who is afraid of everything, a small monkey, and Chan's number one son who fumbles frequently as he tries to help his "pop." He also disguises himself as a stereotype Chinese man who speaks poor English.

The film includes quite a few Can-ian witty epigrams, such as: Train of thought so broken, need wrecking crew to fix. Suspicion is often father of truth. Easy to criticize, more difficult to be correct. All forgotten like last year's bird nest. Hasty conclusion like toy balloon, easy to blow up and easy to pop. Man who plays with dynamite sometime fly with angels. Man with gun like lightning, never strike twice in same place. Baseless talk like boat without oar, gets no place. Good wife best household furniture.

4.0 out of 5 stars Number One Son Shines, February 3, 2009

By 

Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charlie Chan At The Race Track (DVD)

I always enjoy the byplay between Charlie Chan and his kids. Warner Oland was more loving to them in the early Chans while Sidney Toler was more insulting (but not in a mean-spirited way.)

In this episode, Oland lets Keye Luke get very involved in the case and Luke provides a number of laughs along the way.

This was an interesting script and had a decent number of action scenes along with it during the 70 minutes. There are some inventive twists to the story, regarding the crooks, too.

This is another Charlie Chan winner, and I am pleased to see is finally out on DVD. It's part of the Charlie Chan Collection Volume 2 set.