Product Details

• Actors: Peter Ustinov, Lee Grant, Angie Dickinson, Richard Hatch, Brian Keith
• Directors: Clive Donner
• Writers: Jerry Sherlock, David Axlerod, Earl Derr Biggers, Stan Burns
• Producers: Alan Belkin, Jerry Sherlock, Michael Leone
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000F2S2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #315,437 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Character Actors Redeem Otherwise Uninspired Parody, October 27, 2006

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Charlie Chan and The Curse of the Dragon Queen (DVD)

During the 1930s Charlie Chan films were extremely popular with Asian American audiences; by the 1980s a later generation derrided them for their use of caucasian actors Warner Oland and Sidney Tolar in the title role. CHARLIE CHAN AND THE CURSE OF THE DRAGON QUEEN attempts to play to both sides of the coin, acting as both homage and parody of the original films. Not surprisingly, when released in 1981 it pleased neither.

Set in San Francisco, DRAGON QUEEN finds Chan called out of retirement in Hawaii to uncover a serial killer whose trademark is "bizarre deaths;" he is assisted by his grandson, a bumbling Lee Chan Jr. who proves as much hinderance as help. Like most films that do not fulfill their promise, the problem begins with the script: it never really references the Chan films in any significant way, nor does it ever develop the fangs required of an effective parody. Nor are the two leads well suited to their roles: both Peter Ustinov and Angie Dickinson are wildly out of place as Chan and the Dragon Queen, utterly unfunny in every imaginable way.

The saving grace of the film is in the supporting players. Perhaps the single most successful performer is Lee Grant in the role of Jimmy Jr.'s maternal and very Jewish grandmother. Grant aside, the always memorable Roddy McDowell and the brilliant Rachel Roberts jolt their every scene to life; Brian Keith plays against type as a hysterical and wildly profane police officer; and Richard Hatch is surprisingly good as Chan's bumbling grandson. Michelle Pfeiffer, in one of her earliest roles, is thrown in for good measure--and while the script gives her little to do beyond look pretty and giggle she does both extremely well.

Even so, this is not enough to save the film, which slowly but surely dissolves into a morass of very obvious slapstick humor; when all is said and done, the end result is rather like THE GOOD EARTH MEETS THE PINK PANTHER. It has moments, but it is more awkward than amusing. The DVD includes two bonus shorts, a "Making Of" documentary on the film and a "History Of" American Studios. Both are mildly interesting, but I wouldn't go out of my way. Three stars for the efforts of Lee Grant, Roddy McDowell, Rachel Roberts and company, but--and in the words of the original screen Chan--most viewers should say "Thank you so much!" and pass along another way.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars How can this movie possibly be so bad?, August 11, 2005

By 

Caren Vermont "renaissance woman" (Hudson Valley, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Charlie Chan and The Curse of the Dragon Queen (DVD)

I couldn't understand how I'd never seen it before. I love Charlie Chan films, I love Peter Ustinov. I love silly all-star casts (Death on the Nile is one of my favorites.). How could I fail to love this film? Well, it was just awful. Ustinov is okay, though the voice he chooses for Chan is actually kind of annoying. The real problem isn't anybody's performance, it's the script. Chan's son is a bumbling idiot far surpassing any of the clownishness of the older films. He's also half Jewish and played by Richard Hatch who, diplomatically, is neither Asian nor Jewish. Let's not get into the white Ustinov playing Chan. It just shows how much had not changed in the years since the originals. It isn't funny, it isn't warm--as many of the older films were--it isn't clever. It is overplayed, but not camp. It is slapstick, but not surprising. It just fails miserably. Then, to add insult to injury, in one of the special features, Richard Hatch, whose career has really soared since then, let me tell you, drones on and on about how athletic he is and how he did most of his own stunts and how he impressed the casting people. I have a bone to pick with many special features added on to movies that don't even deserve release on DVD, much less eulogies presenting them as if they actually were good or significant films. This disc is the epitome of that kind of overblown nonsense. The short about American Cinema is okay, if you really believe that a studio that produced Chuck Norris movies is worth eulogizing, as well. This DVD does nothing but glorify junk.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comedy at its best with then unknown stars, August 21, 2004

By 

J. C. Williams (Pasadena, Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A truly funny comedy with many then Unknown stars and many already big stars Peter Ustinov included. The bits are origional and constantly rolling, Michelle Pfiefer and Richard Hatch are perfectly mated as the bumbling soon to be wed pair. I loved this one!