Behind That Curtain
About Behind That Curtain
In London, Eric Durand courts Sir George Mannering's niece Eve and murders the solicitor Mannering hired to investigate him. He marries Eve and takes her to India. She sees that he is a philanderer and a killer and goes off with the explorer Colonel John Beetham. Sir Frederick Bruce of Scotland Yard follows Durand through India and Persia and misses her. She reaches San Francisco, and Durand follows, hunting a letter that ties him to the murder. There Inspector Charlie Chan, played by E. L. Park, comes into the case and closes it.
Cast & crew
More about Behind That Curtain
Irving Cummings directed this all-talking film from Earl Derr Biggers's 1928 novel, the first Charlie Chan picture made at Fox. Warner Baxter plays Beetham, Lois Moran plays Eve, and Gilbert Emery plays Sir Frederick Bruce. Conrad Wells photographed it. William Fox chose it to open the Fox Theatre in San Francisco on 28 June 1929. Park, a Chinese American, was the first actor of that background to play Chan. Chan is named once early on and appears only after about 75 minutes.
Themes
In film history
Fox's first Charlie Chan film, and the first with a Chinese American in the part, though Park is on screen only near the end.
Look
Conrad Wells photographed the all-talking mystery.
Notes
- Boris Karloff plays Beetham's manservant.
- Philip Strange plays Eric Durand and Claude King plays Sir George.
- Chan is not the lead. The Scotland Yard man and Beetham carry the chase.
Scenes
- Durand kills the solicitor and takes Eve to India.
- Chan enters the case only after the chase reaches San Francisco.
Influenced by
- Earl Derr Biggers, Behind That Curtain (1928)
