Warner Oland
Actor · 1879 – 1938 · Nyby, Västerbottens län, Sweden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund, October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American characters: the Honolulu Police detective, Lieutenant Charlie Chan; Dr. Fu Manchu; and Henry Chang in Shanghai Express. His family emigrated to the United States when he was 13. He pursued a film career that would include time on Broadway and dozens of film appearances, including 16 Charlie Chan films. After several years in theater, including appearances on Broadway as Warner Oland, in 1912 he made his silent film debut in Pilgrim's Progress, a film based on the John Bunyan novel. As a result of his training as a Shakespearean actor and his easy adoption of a sinister look, he was much in demand as a villain and in ethnic roles. Over the next 15 years, he appeared in more than 30 films, including a major role in The Jazz Singer (1927), one of the first talkies produced. Oland's normal appearance fit the Hollywood expectation of caricatured Asianness of the time, despite his having no definitively proven Asian cultural background. Oland portrayed a variety of Asian characters in several movies before being offered the leading role in the 1929 film, The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu. It was the first onscreen portrayal of the Fu Manchu character in film. Oland continued to appear onscreen as an Asian, probably more often than any other white actor in the history of cinema. In Old San Francisco, Oland played an Asian unsuccessfully impersonating a white man. Oland was the first actor to play a werewolf in a major Hollywood film, biting the protagonist, played by Henry Hull, in Werewolf of London (1935). Once again, Oland's character was Asian. A box office success, The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu made Oland a star, and during the next two years he portrayed the evil Dr. Fu Manchu in three more films (although the second one was purely a cameo appearance). Firmly locked into such roles, he was cast as Charlie Chan in the international detective mystery film Charlie Chan Carries On (1931) and then in director Josef von Sternberg's 1932 classic film Shanghai Express opposite Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong. The enormous worldwide box office success of his Charlie Chan film led to more, with Oland starring in 16 Chan films in total. The series, Jill Lepore later wrote, "kept Fox afloat" during the 1930s, while earning Oland $40,000 per movie. Oland took his role seriously, studying the Chinese language and calligraphy.
Movies24
Movie6.1DramaMusicA young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.
The Jazz Singer
1927 · 259 votes
Movie7.0DramaRomanceA beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-packed train journey.
Shanghai Express
1932 · 245 votes
Movie6.9DramaWarThe Austrian Secret Service sends its most seductive agent to spy on the Russians.
Dishonored
1931 · 79 votes
Movie6.4DramaRomanceThe wife of a doctor in China falls in love with a diplomat.
The Painted Veil
1934 · 39 votes
Movie6.1HorrorFantasyA strange animal attack turns a botanist into a bloodthirsty monster.
Werewolf of London
1935 · 155 votes
Movie6.3MysteryComedyAlthough Charlie and Lee are in Monaco for an art exhibit, they become caught up in a feud between rival financiers which involves the Chan's in a web of blackmail and murder.
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
1937 · 24 votes
Movie6.6CrimeMysteryCharlie's visit to Paris, ostensibly a vacation, is really a mission to investigate a bond-forgery racket. But his agent, apache dancer Nardi is killed before she can tell him much. The case, complicated by a false murder accusation for banker's daughter Yvette, climaxes with a strange journey through the Paris sewers.
Charlie Chan in Paris
1935 · 22 votes
Movie6.7CrimeMysteryWhen a prominent official is murdered at a banquet honoring Charle Chan, the detective and son Lee team up to expose an opium-smuggling ring.
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
1935 · 29 votes
Movie7.1MysteryComedyWhen a friend of Charlie's is found kicked to death by his own race horse on board a Honolulu-bound liner, the detective discovers foul play and uncovers an international gambling ring.
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
1936 · 23 votes
Movie5.7MysteryDramaAfter the death of a gangster, those familiar with his million dollar stash start mysteriously dying. Police detectives with the help of a clairvoyant try to determine who, living or dead, is responsible.
Before Dawn
1933 · 10 votes
Movie6.4CrimeMysteryWhile visiting the circus with his family, Charlie is recruited by the big top's co-owner to investigate threatening letters that he's received.
Charlie Chan at the Circus
1936 · 29 votes
Movie7.1CrimeMysteryReturning from European exile where she avoided testifying against her criminal associates, a former singer with a tell-all diary is murdered to insure her silence.
Charlie Chan on Broadway
1937 · 24 votes
Movie6.7WesternAdventureDon Cesar De Vega crosses swords with a vicious member of the Queen's Guard, and steals the affection of a young heiress. When the officer frames the young upstart for murder, Don Cesar fakes his own death and retreats to the crumbling ruins of the family castle he plots his vengeance.
Don Q Son of Zorro
1925 · 21 votes
Movie6.8MysteryCrimeGet ready for a Gold Medal murder mystery! This "tense, thrilling mystery" ('California Congress of Parents and Teachers') pits Charlie Chan against international spies who are using the Berlin Olympic games as the perfect cover...for cold-blooded murder!
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
1937 · 26 votes
Movie6.5DramaYoung Asians in San Francisco find their love thwarted by clan warfare.
The Son-Daughter
1932 · 4 votes
Movie7.0DramaAfter five years of marriage, Beth and Peter Marsh's life together is a series of rows and reconciliations. Beth is frivolous and extravagant; Peter is domineering and ambitious and has difficulty paying the bills. Daniel Rankin, who lives in the same apartment building, becomes attracted to Beth and arranges with the Marsh chauffeur to have her car break down, allowing him to offer assistance and gracefully introduce himself; Rankin later invites her to a dance. Resenting Rankin's attentions to his wife, Peter forbids her to go. However, Beth accompanies Rankin to spite her husband, and Rankin proposes that she divorce Peter and become his wife. A lost film.
So This Is Marriage?
1924 · 1 votes
Movie5.3CrimeDramaAt her Chinese father's bidding, a woman goes to murder an enemy and meets a Scotland Yard detective.
Daughter of the Dragon
1931 · 23 votes
Movie7.0CrimeMysteryAllen Colby, heir to a huge fortune, is presumed drowned after an ocean liner sinks off the coast of Honolulu. Mysteriously, Colby reappears at his mansion only to be murdered soon after. When his body is discovered during a seance, everyone in attendance becomes a suspect, and it's up to Chan to find the murderer before he or she strikes again.
Charlie Chan's Secret
1936 · 27 votes
Movie6.9CrimeMysteryCharlie Chan is sought out by Pamela Gray, a desperate young socialite whose brother Paul awaits execution for the murder of a weapons inventor. Pamela is convinced of his innocence.
Charlie Chan in London
1934 · 37 votes
Movie5.7DocumentaryA history of anti-Asian racism and yellowface in Hollywood after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack.
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
2019 · 7 votes
Movie6.8CrimeMysteryA dangerous amnesiac escapes from an asylum, hides in the opera house, and is suspected of getting revenge on those who tried to murder him 13 years ago.
Charlie Chan at the Opera
1936 · 36 votes
Movie6.3HistoryRomanceA nobleman studying for the priesthood abandons his vocation in 18th Century France when he falls in love with a beautiful, but reluctant, courtesan.
When a Man Loves
1927 · 11 votes
Movie6.0CrimeRomanceA Chinese doctor vows revenge against the allied troops who killed his wife and child during the Boxer Rebellion.
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
1929 · 13 votes
Movie7.3DocumentaryStarting with "The Wolf Man" (in 1941), Universal Studios made five movies featuring The Wolf Man, a character portrayed by Lon Chaney, Jr. Monster by Moonlight! explores these movies. Rick Baker explains how the make-up was done on Chaney's character. Screenwriter Curtis Siodmak took very little from earlier werewolf legends, providing his own story for some of the films. This documentary displays clips from several other movies, including "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948) and "House of Dracula" (1945).
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
1999 · 10 votes