Behind That Curtain (1929)

Director:

Irving Cummings

Writers:

Earl Derr Biggers (novel)
Sonya Levien (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

30 June 1929 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot:

Eve Mannering realizes too late that her abusive husband is a philanderer and murderer and seeks protection with her true love, explorer John Beetham.

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | Scotland Yard Inspector | Murder Witness | India | Infidelity

Cast

Warner Baxter	...	Col. John Beetham
Lois Moran	...	Eve Mannering Durand
Gilbert Emery	...	Sir Frederick Bruce (as Gilbert Emory)
Claude King	...	Sir George Mannering
Philip Strange	...	Eric Durand
Boris Karloff	...	Beetham's Manservant
Jamiel Hasson	...	Sahib Hana
Peter Gawthorne	...	British Police Inspector
John Rogers	...	Alf Pornick
Edgar Norton	...	Hilary Galt
Frank Finch Smiles	...	Galt's Clerk
Mercedes De Valasco	...	Nuna
E.L. Park	...	Police Insp. Charlie Chan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kathrin Clare Ward	...	Eve's Landlady (uncredited)

Directed by
Irving Cummings

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Earl Derr Biggers		novel
Sonya Levien		writer
George Middleton		adaptation
Wilbur Morse Jr.		titles (uncredited)
Clarke Silvernail		writer

Produced by
William Fox	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Conrad Wells
Vincent J. Farrar		(uncredited)
Dave Ragin		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Alfred DeGaetano

Set Decoration by
William S. Darling

Costume Design by
Sophie Wachner

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles Woolstenhulme	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
George P. Costello	....	sound recordist (as George Costello)

Other crew
William Fox	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Fox Film Corporation (1929) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Teakwood Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Chinatown, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The first Charlie Chan film at Fox studios.

Quotes:

Col. John Beetham: I have no heart for this lecture tonight. The desert is too full of memories.
Beetham's Manservant: The desert gives, and the desert takes away.

Movie Connections:

Followed by The Golden Eye (1948)

Stiff, but still interesting

Behind That Curtain is based on the third Charlie Chan novel written by Earl Derr Biggers. The book was fun pulp with Charlie outsmarting three rival detectives in solving the murder of a Scotland Yard detective and in turn solving two 15 year old mysteries.

The film, however, is interested in the two 15 year old mysteries and re-works the plot, so the film ends up being about Biggers' back story rather than the Chan story. Fox must not have been confident in the Chan character, perhaps because this was the first real year of sound film or they felt the audience would be more interested in the lovers and not a Chinese detective. Indeed, there is little romance in the book and the film takes liberties in changing 3 non-romantic characters in the book into a love triangle in the film.

It is rather sloppily done and the film really would be of no interest at all today, if it did not have small appearances by Boris Karloff and the Charlie Chan character. It is unfortunately a typical early sound effort and is cinematically uninteresting. Therefore the plot, which is not a mystery as the killer is revealed in the beginning, is all about the overdrawn lovers. It was probably even boring in 1929, but it qualifies as a curio today and should be viewed as such. It is interesting to see E.L. Park play Chan, albeit for five minutes and Karloff looks as menacing as ever. What cruel irony though, that no one can find "The Chinese Parrot", by the brilliant Paul Leni, nor the 4 missing Warner Oland Chans, and this is the one missing Chan that was found!!! Fate works in strange ways.