Charlie Chan at the Race Track
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
H. Bruce Humberstone
Warner Oland
Keye Luke
Helen Wood
Thomas Beck
Alan Dinehart
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After jockey "Tip" Collins, riding Avalanche, the horse in the lead in the Melbourne Sweepstakes, fouls another rider, Avalanche is disqualified. Major Gordon Kent, who gave Avalanche as a wedding present to the internationally known American sportsman George Chester when Chester married his daughter Catherine, believes that a big gambling ring is behind the foul. The major has a wire sent to his old friend, the renowned detective Charlie Chan, instructing him to meet their boat in Honolulu on their way to compete in America. However, on the voyage, the major dies seemingly from being kicked by Avalanche in his stall. Chan determines from the position and the shape of the bloodstains that the horse could not have kicked the major. After Chan reveals to his chief and the ship's captain a piece of the ship's winch, the twin of which is missing, which could make a shape identical to that of a horseshoe, the chief suggests that Chan travel with the boat to investigate what they now suspect is a murder. When Chester receives a typed note warning him not to enter Avalanche in the Santa Juanita Handicap, Chan's son Lee, who, against his father's wishes, got on the boat as a cabin boy, determines that the note came from the typewriter of the major's competitor, Warren Fenton. A number of other passengers next receive notes: Fenton, who offered Chester $20,000 for the horse; Bruce Rogers, the major's assistant, who is in love with Fenton's daughter Alice; Denny Barton, who also loves Alice, but whom she has rebuked; and Chester again. After a fire breaks out in the forward hold where Avalanche is kept, Chan is hit in the leg by a bullet fired accidentally by Chester. In Los Angeles harbor, Chan notices that a monkey, who earlier caused Avalanche to bolt, now causes Fenton's horse Gladstone to go wild, while Avalanche does not mind the monkey. Chan suspects that the fire was used as a cover so that the horses could be switched and Fenton's horse could then win the upcoming race with good odds. The switch, involving the application of black dye to Gladstone, was engineered by Avalanche's trainer Bagley working with a gang of gamblers. On the day of the race, Lee creates a diversion so that Chan can enter the stables and switch the horses. Bagley, after noticing the switch, is arrested as he calls a gambler. As the race begins, Al Meers, a track employee in league with the gamblers, switches a device at the three-quarter pole, which is used to time the race, with one fitted with a dart. As Avalanche, in the lead, passes the pole, the dart hits the horse. Avalanche wins anyway, but then falls. As a crowd surrounds Avalanche, someone removes the dart. Chan then gathers Denny, Bagley, Meers, Chester and Fenton in the racing association office. When the dart is found in Fenton's pocket, Fenton accuses Denny of putting it there, but Chester accuses Fenton of wanting to buy Avalanche all along and of murdering Major Kent with the winch shoe because the major would have noticed that the horses had been switched. Chan then points out that no one other than himself, his chief, the captain of the ship and the murderer knew about the winch shoe. He says that he suspected Chester all along because Chester, who admits that he suffered gambling losses, did not use his glasses to read the first threatening note he received, which Chester himself sent to throw off suspicion, but that he did use his glasses to read the second note, which Chan, with Lee's help, sent. Chan then reveals blood stains from the dart in the lining of Chester's pocket. Fenton confesses that he knew of the plot to switch horses and tells the commissioner that he will remove his horses from the track. Bruce wins enough money from the race to furnish a flat for himself and Alice. When the ever-enthusiastic Lee pops in with what he thinks is a hot clue, Chan requests that he save it for their next case.
Director
H. Bruce Humberstone
Cast
Warner Oland
Keye Luke
Helen Wood
Thomas Beck
Alan Dinehart
Gavin Muir
Gloria Roy
Jonathan Hale
G. P. Huntley Jr.
George Irving
Frank Coghlan Jr.
Frankie Darro
John Rogers
John H. Allen
Harry Jans
Robert Warwick
Sam Flint
Selmer Jackson
Ivan "dusty" Miller
Ed Hart
George Magrill
James Flavin
Al Kikume
Boothe Howard
Sidney Bracy
Jack Mulhall
William Wayne
Les Sketchley
Billie Oakley
Eddie Fetherston
Charles Williams
Max Wagner
Harlan Tucker
Sammy Finn
Wilbur Mack
Paul Fix
Norman Willis
Jerry Jerome
Holmes Herbert
Colin Kenny
Robert E. Homans
Lew Hicks
Bob Ellsworth
Lucille Miller
James Eagles
Bobby Tanzel
Bruce Mitchell
Clyde Mcatee
Jack Green
Pat O'malley
David Thursby
Ray Hanson
Sam Hayes
Crew
Lou Breslow
Alfred Bruzlin
Duncan Cramer
Nick De Maggio
Saul Elkins
Robert Ellis
Herschel
Joseph Hoffman
Harry Jackson
Samuel Kaylin
Harry M. Leonard
Monroe Liebgold
Helen Logan
Edward T. Lowe
Aaron Rosenberg
John Stone
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Record indicate most murder result from violence, and murder without bloodstain like Amos without Andy - most unusual.- Charlie Chan
Trivia
The director has a small uncredited role as the gambler who causes the Chans to be kidnapped.
Notes
The Roxy Theatre in New York billed this film as At the Race Track with Charlie Chan. Variety reviewed the film as Chan at Race Track. According to Motion Picture Herald and Liberty, some scenes in the film were shot at the Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, CA, and the film contained footage of "some of the most spectacular events of the recent racing season." Motion Picture Herald also notes that the film "has a semi-topical significance in as much as a great Antipodean horse, Pharlap, brought to this country a few years ago [from Australia], died under circumstances that have never been fully explained." Liberty notes that technical director Monroe Liebgold had been a jockey for the well-known horse breeder H. P. Whitney. Hollywood Reporter production charts lists Neil Fitzgerald and John Mooney as additional actors; their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. For additional information on the series, please consult the Series Index and see the entry below for Charlie Chan Carries On.
