Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937) User Reviews

`This cannot happen in Berlin!'

[Jim Tritten · 7/10 · 17 May 2002]

Another well-directed Warner Oland Chan filmmaking full use of stock footage from 1936 Berlin Olympics and the dirigible Hindenburg. Chan is on trail of stolen aircraft autopilot and killers who will make an attempt on his life and again kidnap No. 1 son Lee. Keye Luke is allowed to play his part without disguise and too much oriental racial humor. Good supporting cast and great shots of the game ceremonies and Jesse Owen in the relay race. For those who want to view more of these games, without Chan, see Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker and Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit (1938). Continuity with other films suffers when Layne Tom, Jr. is introduced as #2 son Charlie. We have seen much older sons in his family at the circus and we will later see Victor Sen Yung as #2 son Jimmy and even later as Tommy Chan.

This is a good mystery, but once again it is impossible to share in the clues that only Chan can see and from that catch the thief and murderer. `When all players possess suspicious cards, good idea to have joker up sleeve.' Story line is somewhat believable – enough for a good afternoon's watching. Concluding scenes have oriental detective admit he is willing to risk loss of son and self in order to maintain honor and loyalty to United States. One of the best in the series. Recommended.

Decent entry, but "pulled from circulation shortly after its release"?

[eschetic-1 · 7/10 · 21 March 2008]

Some unnamed source at IMDb alleges that CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS, a film capitalizing on the then recent 1936 Berlin Olympics (taking place in Germany under Chancellor Hitler) and released on May 21, 1937, in the U.S and in the early fall of that year in Europe, was "pulled from circulation shortly after its release because it takes place in Nazi Germany." Could someone please define "shortly after its release"? The film, while sympathetically portraying the civilian police force in Berlin (interestingly played for irony and possibly surprise or subtext by frequent film villain Frederik Vogeding), pointedly incorporated actual newsreel footage of Jessie Owens' Olympic triumph which was so upsetting to the Herr Hitler. The film plot had considerable hurdles to surmount in avoiding the identification of the foreign power trying to steal the "McGuffin" military device. Most U.S. or British films of the period would have been more blatant in assuming the national guilty party, but Germany was still a major market for U.S. motion pictures (even if the Chan character himself must have been an anathema to Nazi Party leadership).

Even with the unsettling Anschlus in Austria and the Munich Crisis over the dismembering of Czechoslovakia; with the invasion of Poland and the formal start of European hostilities in World War II still a little more than a year away (U.S. entry into the conflict more than four years away!), America and much of the rest of the world was doing its best to ignore distressing realities within the Reich. While CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS had to do a fine dance to play to that desire to turn a blind eye, it largely succeeded. It is difficult to believe that 20th Century Fox would withdraw an entry in the wildly popular Chan series in anything which could be realistically considered "soon" (anything less than six months). A specific DATE of the withdrawal would be appreciated.

While the film over all may be one of the lesser Chan efforts, it has moments (the initial set-up in the U.S., the travelogue race to Berlin, the scenes in the Olympic Stadium and the final confrontation with the killers) which are as good as any in the canon. To be dismissed as "pulled from circulation shortly after its release" if it is demonstrably not true would be unfortunate.

"Truth like football, receive many kicks before reaching goal."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 5 March 2005]

"Charlie Chan at the Olympics" opens with the Oriental Detective in his Honolulu office receiving a physical, and with a clean bill of health he's ready to begin another case! Generally, I find the 20th Century Fox Chan films to be remarkably consistent with continuity, however there is a serious lapse introduced early in the proceedings. Layne Tom Jr. portrays #2 Son Charlie Jr. in the film, and appearing to be about twelve years old at most, he is much too young relative to #1 Son Lee (Keye Luke). "Charlie Chan at the Circus" offered a glimpse of the entire Chan clan on a family outing with older siblings, and future Chan films offered Victor Sen Yung as #2 Son Jimmy (also seen as #2 Son Tommy in the later Monogram pictures).

If you're intrigued by this sort of trivia as I am, then you'll also be interested in the appearance of actor Allan Lane in the film, portraying Olympic athlete Richard Masters. Lane went on to achieve notoriety as one of the better "B" Western action heroes, appearing in a number of Red Ryder films as the lead character in the mid 1940's and dozens more as "Rocky" Lane. In the 1960's, his distinctive voice became the sound of "Mr. Ed" the talking horse!

With the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany as the backdrop, Chan gets involved in a case that begins in Honolulu with the test flight of an airplane outfitted with a newly developed radio control device. With the pilot murdered and the plane hijacked, the hunt is on for the person or foreign agent involved in the theft of the device. A chief suspect is Arthur Hughes (C. Henry Gordon), known to have sold arms to revolutionaries in the world's trouble spots. Another notably apparent suspect is the mysterious woman in the white fox coat, Yvonne Roland, accompanying Richard Masters aboard the steamship Manhattan on the way to Berlin and the Olympics. It's a HUGE coincidence when Miss Roland eavesdrops on a short wave radio conversation between the San Francisco PD and Honolulu regarding suspect Hughes, who missed the boat in New York, but is boarding some time later.

It's no less a coincidence also for #1 Son Lee to bump into "Pop" Charlie aboard the steamship Manhattan, making his way feet first through a porthole no less. Lee is helping out with the case, even as he's about to compete in a hundred meter swim race for the U.S. Olympic team. Of all of Lee's jack of all trades exploits we've seen him involved in, this one is the most unbelievable, especially when he winds up with Olympic Gold at film's end!

When Charlie is invited to attend the Olympics opening ceremonies, it is at the behest of Charles Zaraca, head of a foreign spy ring, with the fashionable Miss Roland in his employ. Having recovered the remote control device earlier, Charlie has set himself up for danger - "Our game is with the Oriental now." Indeed, Lee is kidnapped and held hostage, with Chan's patriotism and allegiance about to be tested.

Ultimately, when the mystery of the stolen remote control device is revealed, it comes as somewhat of a letdown. It turns out that developer Cartright (John Eldredge) stole his own invention as a way to keep future profits all to himself, cutting out his partner Hopkins (Jonathan Hale). All of the international intrigue and mystery provided by the colorful cast of characters turns out to be the usual bucket of red herrings for which the Chan films are noted.

"Charlie Chan at the Olympics" is not as tightly developed as some of Warner Oland's prior Chan films, such as "London", "At the Racetrack", or "At the Opera", nevertheless it still plays entertainingly well. If you're a serious Chan fan, you'll have to overlook some of the inconsistencies and coincidences mentioned earlier though, and concentrate instead on the Olympic backdrop and the relationship between "Pop" and son Lee.

Sports, Spies, and Murder

[Mike-764 · 7/10 · 19 January 2005]

Charlie discovers the body of a pilot who was missing for days following a test flight using a remote control navigation system, which is missing from the plane. Charlie discovers that the killer, Miller, worked at an airplane factory in Honolulu, but is found murdered in his apartment before he can be questioned. The suspects of being the sinister power behind the theft are headed towards Berlin, not only to watch the Olympics, but to sell the remote control unit. Charlie takes the Hindenburg to Berlin and is joined by son Lee (who is entered in the 100m swimming relay) to track down Yvonne Rowland, who was seen in Miller's apartment, and who has contacted Baron Zaraka, dignitary for a warring nation. Knowing that Chan is on the case, Zaraka has Lee kidnapped and will turn him over to Charlie in exchange for the remote control device. Charlie tries to dupe the spies, even though he knows that his son is at their mercy. Very good Chan film that places the emphasis on foreign intrigue rather than mystery (and is able to succeed). Oland does turn in one of his best performances as the character, due to the character's development from the genial detective to the worried parent. The Olympics angle does give an interesting aspect of the film towards today's audiences giving an idea of the athletes back then (and the subtraction of the Nazi influence over the games). The climax to the mystery (which is suspenseful) and the revelation of the killer's motive seems to suggest that the film was trying to bloat the mystery angle of the film more. Rating, based on B mysteries, 7.

Worth watching for reasons not intended when it was made...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 11 March 2023]

... that being that the film is set at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

A plane is doing a test flight with a brand new invention vital to the defense of the United States when the plane disappears. The audience can see inside the cockpit that someone hiding inside the plane overpowers the actual pilot, but the cast is denied this knowledge. Charlie Chan finds the plane with the body of the pilot nearby while on a fishing trip with one of his younger sons. A careful investigation leads suspicions to somebody who is part of the American Olympic team, and thus he has left Hawaii for Berlin. Therefore Chan goes to Berlin himself to continue the investigation. A further complcation is that oldest Chan son Lee is a competitor in the games there.

Set in 1936, there is quite a bit of stock footage of the 1936 Olympic games. There is one shot with the torch bearer running down the stairs with people in the crowd on either side of him clearly performing the Nazi salute. The Berlin police are portrayed as pedantic stumble bums whose hearts are in the right place and who act and dress like the Kaiser is still alive versus the rather lethal group that they had become by 1936 - not a group you'd want to tangle with.

What is really ironic is that Charlie postulates that the radio control device will be sold in Germany to some unnamed group of international terrorists because they feel "safe" in Germany during the games because of the presence of so many people from many nations. It's so interesting to see how the United States and the rest of the world did not take Hitler's Germany seriously until it was almost too late.

Man who stretch neck looking up brake it looking down

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 15 December 2013]

***SPOILERS*** Chinese/American PI Charlie Chan, Walter Oland, and his #1 son Lee, Keye Luke, are off to the 1936 Berlin Olympics for two different missions. Charlie to find a stolen air guidance system device that can control pilot-less air planes, much like the drones of today, in any future combat missions. As for Lee he's a member of the USA Olympic swimming team looking to win a gold medal for the good o'l USA in the 100 meters dash swimming race. Charlie gets help from Berlin police Captain Strasser, Frederick Vogeding, who's not up to par to Charlie's superior investigation tactics. That leads the very impressed Captain Strasser to admit to Charlie that even though he isn't an Aryan or member of the master race he's a far much better crime investigator then he is. Something that can have Captain Strasser thrown behind bars for disloyalty to his country if his superiors in the Nazi Gestapo ever found out about it.

Charlie gets to the bottom to who stole the guidance device back in Honolulu to a foreign agent of an unmanned country as well as international arms dealer named "The Honorable", as Charlie Chan referees to him, Charles Zaraka, Morgan Wallace. It's "The Honorable" Charles Zaraka's goons who end up kidnapping Charlie's son Lee in order to get the device, that Charlie had since lifted from him, back. Charlie putting his life on the line goes into the lion's den, "The Honorable" Charles Zaraka's hideout, with the device to save his son Lee's life. But unknown to "The Honorable" Zaraka Charlie planted a tracking device inside the guidance device to let the Berlin Police know exactly where he is and hunt down and arrest "The Honorable" Charles Zaraka and his gang.

***MAJOR SPOILERS*** The big surprise in all this is who really stole the guidance device and tried to sell it to the highest bidder. It was non other then the person who invented it Mr. Cartwright, John Eldredge, who like the super capitalist swine that he is was more then ready to sell out his country and murder a number of innocent people along the way to make the big buck that he felt the US military wasn't giving him for his gadget. There's also the German airship Hindenberg featured prominent in the movie that Charlie Chan is a passenger on. It caught fire and crashed with all on board on May 6, 1937 outside Lakehurst new Jersey. Just three weeks before the movie "Charlie Chan at the Olympics" was released to the movie going public.

Good To See This Gem Coming Out On DVD

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 29 October 2006]

Charlie has his youngest helper ever - or at least in any of the 20 Chan films I've seen - as 12-year-old Charlie Jr. joins Number One Son Lee as they both help dad solve a crime.

Lee (Keye Luke) plays a member of the United States Olympic swimming team in this adventure. The repartee between Chan (Warner Oland) and his two sons in here is terrific. Layne Tom Jr. plays Charlie Junior.

The Chan movie is more of an adventure than the normal whodunit as Charlie and the cops travel to the Olympics in Munich, Germany in search of a missing radar-plane "black box." Lee is kidnapped at the games and his dad does everything he can to get his kidnapped son back while not jeopardizing the United States in the process.

This is one of the better Chan films and will be available on DVD in December, 2006, as part of another Charlie Chan DVD package of four movies.

Clever magazine title. Director having a little fun?

[susvulo · 7/10 · 26 June 2012]

In the scene on board the Hindenburg involving CC and 2 other men, look closely at the title of the article in the magazine that the seated man is reading. It's "Think fast, Mr. Moto"!!!

I enjoyed this CC movie for its locations. Opening in Hawaii w/#2 son. On board the ship with #1 son. CC flying in the Hindenburg. And finally the Olympic Stadium. Jonathan Hale, as usual, is just suspicious enough to be a legitimate villain/red herring...(???) The arms dealer, foreign diplomat and the lady w/the white fox fur all add intrigue and deception to the plot.

We also get to check out Warner Oland's physical condition as he jogs with his shirt off for his physical at the movie's beginning.

Sports, spies, and kidnapping

[binapiraeus · 8/10 · 7 March 2014]

While Charlie's multi-talented son Lee is traveling by ship to Europe as a member of the US Olympics team, his father searches at home for a newly invented remote control device for planes which is probably on its way to be sold to some obscure foreign power (the political tensions all over the world are already perceptible three years before the beginning of WW II, but the movie doesn't show any affiliation or enmity yet) - and happens to be on the same ship with Lee and his friends, guarded by a 'femme fatale' (Cecil B. DeMille's adoptive daughter Katherine in her probably best role) who arouses the dislike of the young athletes only because she keeps flirting with one of them although he's got a steady girlfriend...

Charlie, in the meantime, has found out the 'traveling route' of the device, and 'overtakes' it, first by plane and then aboard the famous zeppelin 'Hindenburg' (which would crash only a year later). But from the moment on that the athletes (one of whom 'smuggled' it into the country without even knowing it), the spies and the police mingle, there is constant confusion, until Charlie seems to have it safely in the hands of the German police authorities - BUT the spies have got Lee...

From this moment, we really FEEL the agony of Charlie as a father, and his dilemma of handing the important invention over to the spies or risking his son's life - certainly a very earnest and dramatic entry in the 'Charlie Chan' movies, but not without its lighter moments; and besides that, we get a glimpse of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin - a real time document.

interesting seen today

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 8 May 2013]

"Charlie Chan at the Olympics" starring Warner Oland was made in 1937, with a backdrop of the 1937 Olympics which were held in Berlin, Germany.

Charlie is going to see Lee Chan compete in swimming when a device for airplanes, that allow them to work without a pilot, is stolen during a test run and the pilot is killed. Obviously someone was hiding on the plane and stole the device. Charlie sets out to help recover the device for the U.S. Lee meanwhile is on a ship with other Olympic hopefuls and a couple of suspects in the robbery.

Once in Germany, Charlie works with the Berlin police to help track down the thieves.

Never in your life have you seen more helpful Nazis. There is not one mention of the German political climate - and the footage of the Hindenburg had every single swastika airbrushed out. What is also interesting is the footage of the Olympics, including some of Jesse Owens.

I found this film somewhat distracting - a bunch of suspects, a bit confusing as to plot, probably because I was too busy looking at Olympic footage. However, I enjoyed it particularly because of Warner Oland and Charlie Jr., played by Layne Tom, Jr., who is delightful. Tom is still alive as of this writing, 85 years old, and became a prominent architect. This is one of his favorite films. I love Keye Luke but Lee here is a bit annoying as he kept misquoting his father and adding, "or something like that." Of course that was the script, but it was too much.

America was really trying to stay out of any potential conflict in Europe, as you will be able to tell from this film.

One of the best

[dhkessel · 8/10 · 5 August 2006]

One of the best of the 1930s Chan films. It is remarkable how all reference to the Nazis was expunged from the scenes of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The Police are represented as Kaiser-style people rather than members of the Gestapo. I was more familiar with Sidney Toler, but I can see that Oland was a superior actor and much of the slapstick of the later Chans was omitted in the earlier versions. All in all, a well-done effort. The plot really doesn't concern the Olympics aside from being used as a backdrop for the action, but this isn't a problem. There is the usual complement of Chan aphorisms. The early Chan films are also interesting commentaries on the state of technology in the 1930s. Getting across the US by plane is said to take 13 hours, as Charlie races a boat from Honolulu to Germany.

Of Historical Note.

[admjtk1701 · 7/10 · 19 April 2000]

This Chan film is of interest for its historical setting--the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games and the air ship Hindenburg. I find this to be below Warner Oland's usual standard. Not that he doesn't do his normal great job. For me, the setting just isn't mysterious enough. And, while it is fun to see Chan fly on the ill-fated dirigible, it is interesting to note that the film sidesteps the Nazi situation. Pauline Moore appears in this one. She later has a better role in "Charlie Chan in Treasure Island."

Charlie Chan at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but little sign of any swastikas

[vampire_hounddog · 5/10 · 19 September 2020]

During the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) and his son (Keye Luke) find themselves caught up in an international plot that involves the kidnapping of Charlie's son, who also happens to be a swimmer with the US swimming team.

The 1936 Berlin Olympics makes an interesting backdrop to this Charlie Chan vehicle with all traces of the Nazis swastika subsequently erased from all prints. Otherwise decent if standard Charlie Chan mystery.

One of the best Charlie Chan films

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 29 December 2008]

If you view the Chan films in order there is actually a weird around the world trip that happens. Its almost as if Chan is moving from place to place in one trip. Its clear from the internal details that time has passed between adventures, but at the same time its as if Chan is taking the long way home to Hawaii. This stop is in Germany where Chan is visiting his son who is on the US Olympic team during the infamous Berlin Games. Chan is sucked into the mystery as a favor to one police organization or another, since at this point in the series he was still a detective with the Honolulu police force. Amazingly watching the film one loses ones self in the mystery (which has to do with the theft of a military guidance system) and completely forgets the darkness that would devour the world. Here the Nazi's are the good guys, almost comedicly so. One of the better Chan films is most certainly worth a bag of popcorn and a glass of soda.

"Mr. Chan, I apologize! It's impossible. Things like this cannot happen in Berlin!"

[bensonmum2 · 7/10 · 15 July 2015]

An experimental, top secret plane is hijacked and the pilot murdered. When the plane is found, someone has stolen the new remote control device the plane was carrying. Foreign powers would pay a fortune for such a device. Charlie Chan is on the case and tracks the crooks from Honolulu to a ship carrying Olympic athletes to the games in Berlin.

Maybe not the absolute best, but Charlie Chan at the Olympics is a fun addition to the series. I'll keep this to a couple of things that stand out to me. First, the movie looks like a million bucks. The Fox B unit made some fine looking films. Cinematography, lighting, sets, and set design are all quite good. And here, they combined newsreel footage from the Berlin Olympics with scenes they shot in as seamless a way I've seen in a movie from the 30s. It's very well done. Next, The acting in Charlie Chan at the Olympics is fantastic. I really enjoy the all too brief scenes Warner Oland and Keye Luke have together in this movie. Just a pleasure to watch. And I get a kick out of the scenes with Johnathan Hale and John Eldridge. Surely, no on actually talks like that. They sound like they're in a race to see who can spit out lines the fastest. I love it.

If I have one negative to say about Charlie Chan at the Olympics it's that the movie is more spy/adventure than murder/mystery. Whether it's Chan, Sherlock Holmes, or Hercules Poirot, I prefer the plots that revolve around a murder more than those that get all tied up in a wartime distractions. I love those scenes where the great detective gathers all the suspects together before making the final reveal. I know this is a matter of personal opinion and taste, but I do rate this movie lower because, for me, the entertainment value isn't as great.

A winner

[Spondonman · 7/10 · 6 April 2008]

Every four years comes the Olympic Games which is when the leading capitalist corporate brands and countries strive for world supremacy, and the hyped-up media urges the public to admire athletic junkies beating the clean and honest. I wonder if the trillions of dollars spent on it could be better used to try to feed the hungry and cure the diseased? Give me a three-legged race at a junior school any day!

Charlie has no such hang-ups about going to Nazi Germany. He wants to go on fish-hunt but ends up on man-hunt instead as secret government McGuffin that enables war planes fly by remote control is stolen. The trail and chase to recover it leads from Honolulu to San Francisco to New York and Berlin – with swift global communications it was such a small world after all! At first he's helped by little Cheeky Chan, but when he gets to Berlin no.2 son Lee takes over who is participating at the Games as a swimmer. The likely suspect is the dame in the white fox fur but it turns out more complicated involving gangs of spies and a maze of sinister characters, and all in Berlin too. It's intrigue at warp speed, hardly a second is wasted. Favourite bits: the footage of the Hindenburg (and its unperturbed passengers) beating the ocean liner's passengers to Germany; Charlie's touching faltering concern for the kidnapped Lee; the denouement; Lee continually trying to spout killer aphorisms like his Pop - or something like that!

Overall imho a good entry in the series with a slightly different format to those preceding, and I'd rather watch this than the real Olympics - no contest.

"Good hunter never warn tiger of trap."

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 28 February 2014]

An experimental plane's guidance system is stolen and Charlie Chan's on the case. He follows the clues to Berlin, where the 1936 Olympic Games are being held. Amusingly, "Number One Son" Lee Chan is a member of the U.S. Olympic Swim Team. He even wins! As usual, Warner Oland is a perfect Charlie Chan. In addition to Keye Luke's Lee, this time we get Charlie Chan, Jr. He's played by Layne Tom, Jr. and is all kinds of adorable. I wonder why he wasn't made a permanent part of the series because he's a lot of fun. Also includes one of the loveliest actresses to appear in the entire Chan series, Katherine DeMille. Hubba-hubba! She was the adopted daughter of Cecil B. DeMille and future wife of Anthony Quinn. There's also some nice support from reliable character actors C. Henry Gordon, John Eldredge, and Jonathan Hale. Good cast in this one.

This entry in the series is most notable for it taking place during the 1936 Olympics, with footage from the games including Jesse Owens. Plus Charlie travels to Berlin on the Hindenburg. It also features pre-WWII German police portrayed in a much more sympathetic light than they would be just a few years later. Although, it should be noted Inspector Strasser (Frederik Vogeding) of the German police is kind of a boob ("Things like this cannot happen in Berlin!"). An excellent entry in the Charlie Chan series with high entertainment value and some added historical curiosity. Fans should love it.

International intrigue. Charlie Chan attends Olympics.

[michaelRokeefe · 7/10 · 16 September 2010]

Not that much of a mystery. And very little time spent at the Olympics. Renown detective Charlie Chan(Warner Oland)has a fishing trip with young Charlie Jr.(Layne Tom Jr.)interrupted when a U.S. secret weapon that enables aircraft to be flown by remote control is stolen. A band of international spies transport the device to Germany. With vacation on hold Chan boards the dirigible Hindenburg to Berlin's 1936 Olympics; there Charlie is joined on the case by Number One Son Lee(Keye Luke),who happens to be competing in a swimming event at the games. Villains seem to be everywhere; but as usual no problem for Chan to handle theft and espionage. Charlie Jr. is a welcomed delight. A strong supporting cast includes: C. Henry Gordon, Pauline Moore, John Eldredge, Katherine DeMile and Allan Lane.

Charlie wins a Gold

[pbalos · 9/10 · 11 August 2000]

excellent in all respects.Probably one of the finest in the entire series. The setting is unique and it's a well done mystery. Documentary footage of the '36 Olympics and the Hindenberg are well situated in this drama. The political atmosphere of Germany during the mid-late 30's is, however, overlooked. Warner Oland again is at his best.This is a must see for Chan fans

Fox Produced Interesting Chan

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 12 April 2019]

Warner Oland was always the best Chan aand Fox studios production makes this one an above average effort. Keye Luke is along as number 1 son, and the plot moves along quickly. The travel is interesting too. Chan goes over his travel plan from Hawaii to Berlin quite throoughly. Chan even rides on the Hidenburg blimp, this film before the blimp went up in flames.

There is another number 2 son who is quite forgettable. It appears Fox uses some olympic footage of Jesse Owens, but to avoid getting Nazi symbols on screen uses another olympics footage too.

The mystery is quite complex, but Chan is up to the challenge. Number 1 son Luke wins a gold medal in the 100 swimming. He also gets kidnapped by the bad guys trying to steal a vital automated pilot after he wins the medal. Chan has to do some pretty good manuevers with the German police to catch them.

Even though this is 2 years before World War 2 would actually start, there are signs here about the propoganda to come.

A Medal Winner

[bigverybadtom · 9/10 · 20 February 2017]

Chan's Number One son is a participant in the American swimming team during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Meanwhile, Chan is in Hawaii with a toddler son, also interested in being a detective, though they are on a fishing trip. But they soon get mixed up when a remote-controlled (full-sized) airplane crashes, its pilot murdered, and its top secret control circuit stolen from it. It winds up being taken to Europe and Chan and company follow it. Members of the Olympics also get involved.

There are several subplots involving intrigues among the Olympic team, which involve Number One son and muddy the chase of the stolen robot-who is involved, and who can possibly be guilty. The very efficient German police are involved, but obviously foreign spies are after the device-who to trust?

Historical note: In 1937, there was still uncertainty as to who Hitler was and what he intended, not everyone seeing him then as evil-he was even named Time magazine's Man Of The Year shortly before. Also, Chan did ride the Hindenburg zeppelin, and you see a brief shot of it, swastika included, and Jesse Owens and his Olympic victory did get shown in the movie. Even Charles Lindbergh went to Germany to admire how Hitler brought it back to life. It would not be until the 1938 Kristallnacht that the world would unmistakably discover the true nature of Hitler's regime.

the swastika is missing

[r-c-s · 7/10 · 2 January 2009]

The most notable thing in this movie is that all Swastikas (back then a State symbol ) have been digitally hidden in a story set during the Olympics in (then) Nazi Germany (see the air ship Zeppelin and the flag hanging when the athletes' bus arrives, for example). I am not sure whether the camouflage took place decades ago in the original, or was orchestrated by some smart mind later. I am not even sure the movie was actually filmed in Berlin...it might have been stock footage with actual scenes shot in any studio...or did "n.1 son" win a gold medal swimming for the US team?! The fact, however, that most comments wish fictional Charlie Chan had "taken a stand" against the then legitimate German government AND that care has been taken to edit swastikas from a minor movie like this that surely wasn't the AAA+ blockbuster of the year tells a long story about the intellectual level of both censors eager to please the powerful and of gullible peanuts still wanting to board the winner's wagon 70 years after the fact...making it impossible to conceive life in Nazi Germany as every day's and without horror stories and death chimneys going in the background.

Besides, it is unlikely a serious matter of spy rings be dealt with by simple police in Nazi Germany.

The film provides mild family entertainment in the typical Chan style. The plot offers various contrivances and subplots...which at times get in the way as a distraction. The "n.1 son" bit works out much better than in most Chan movies. Ah, watch out for a ten seconds fight scene near the end: that's how Bruce Lee learnt his moves.

The film revolves around a high-tech device being stolen and smuggled abroad, then purloined several times. The final conclusion falls in place to the dismay of the viewer...who would never have guessed things were as Chan swiftly explains. The drawback is that there are less hints (if any ) throughout the movie that lead to the conclusion.

In spite of this all, I still find these movies entertaining and relaxing, even if -unlike the 'circus' or 'opera' one- the "olympics" angle had NOTHING to do with the story.

Charlie Chan at the olympics

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 30 December 2021]

Things like these cannot happen in Berlin,' says a very Germanic and extremely uninformed policeman during Charlie Chan 's latest caper, a chase after spies who have stolen a remote-control aircraft-guiding device. It begins in Honolulu and ends at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin where number one son is, inscrutably, a member of the US swimming team ...

Lesser entry featuring the philosophical detective and his number one son that is more spy than mystery, though there are elements of mystery. There's murder and the usual sinister set of characters driving this passable film.

One of the best of the series!

[Pat-54 · 6/10 · 22 April 1999]

Not politically correct by today's standards, but Charlie Chan is probably the most entertaining of all the sleuths. This film is one of the best of the series, proving that Warner Oland was the only actor who played Charlie Chan with great humor and dignity.

Enjoyable, politically-incorrect fun

[Rosabel · 31 October 1999]

The Olympics of the title are the 1936 Berlin Olympics, in case you don't know. This is a fine mystery, one of the best of the Charlie Chan series, but the viewer must be prepared for some embarrassing moments. These mostly center around the able assistance provided to Charlie Chan by the Berlin police in helping to track down the culprit. It was not particularly controversial at the time, but one world war later it is a little uncomfortable to listen to the great detective praising the efficiency of the German polizei, and hear the head of that organization declaring of some mishap, "Ziss cannot happen in BERLIN!" Apart from that, it is an enjoyable film.