Main Cast: Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, Keye Luke, Charlotte Henry, Thomas Beck
Release Year: 1936
Country: US
Run Time: 66 minutes
Plot
"Warner Oland vs. Boris Karloff" read the billing on the opening credits of Charlie Chan at the Opera. Karloff plays a once-famous opera star who has long been confined to an insane asylum. He escapes, ostensibly to seek revenge on the diva wife (Nedda Harrigan) who'd betrayed him years earlier. Karloff shows up during the performance of a new opera, and within minutes the murders start. Detective William Demarest figures the case is open and shut, but oriental sleuth Charlie Chan (Oland) is not thoroughly convinced of Karloff's guilt--nor is he certain that Boris is genuinely insane. To give away the ending would be churlish, but we can note that Charlotte Henry plays Karloff's daughter, who has been raised to believe that her father was dead. Considered by some Charlie Chan fans to be the best of the Warner Oland efforts, Charlie Chan at the Opera is distinguished by excellent production values, and by an original opera composed by Oscar Levant--who allegedly agreed to this assignment provided he could include the word "Silencio!" in his lyrics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Oscar Levant - Consultant/advisor, Herschel McCoy - Costume Designer, H. Bruce Humberstone - Director, Alex Troffey - Editor, Samuel Kaylin - Composer (Music Score), Samuel Kaylin - Musical Direction/Supervision, Duncan Cramer - Production Designer, Lewis H. Creber - Production Designer, Lucien Andriot - Cinematographer, John Stone - Producer, Harry M. Leonard - Sound/Sound Designer, George Leverett - Sound/Sound Designer, Bess Meredyth - Screen Story, Charles S. Belden - Screenwriter, William Kernell - Screenwriter, W. Scott Darling - Screenwriter
Charlie Chan at the Opera is considered by most to be the best Warner Oland Charlie Chan film, probably due to the co-acting of Boris Karloff. This is the 13th film starring Oland as Chan and produced by Fox.
Charlie (Oland) gets to watch a performance that's to die for. For seven years, opera star Gravelle (Karloff) has been locked in an insane asylum, his identity a mystery-even to himself. But when his memory unexpectedly returns, he begins to recall that his wife and her lover tried to murder him- and now he's determined to make them face the music.
