"Charlie Chan At The Olympics" could have been a by-the-numbers, albeit well-produced, entry in the Charlie Chan series, but there is an emotional element that sets it a little apart from the others: Charlie shows genuine concern and anguish when his No. 1 son is kidnapped. Keye Luke is a strong asset to the movie, as are the 1936 Olympics footage and the surprise at the end. My favorite Chan line: "Suspect recent activities of swimming cause water on brain!". **1/2 out of 4.

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.

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.

"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.