THE CHINESE RING (1947) - Roland Winters as CHARLIE CHAN | Monogram Era Begins | Full MYSTERY Movie

Fans of The Saint and The Falcon cannot miss this entertaining chapter in the long-running Charlie Chan mystery movies series. Charlie Chan is played this time by Roland Winters.

In San Francisco, famed Chinese-Hawaiian detective Charlie Chan receives a mysterious, late-night visit from a Chinese princess, Mei Ling. Before Chan can speak to her, she is murdered by a poisoned dart shot through the window, but not before she slips an ancient heirloom ring to Chan's butler, Birmingham Brown, and manages to scrawl the name "Captain K".

The investigation reveals that Princess Mei Ling was in the United States to secretly purchase a million dollars' worth of fighter planes for her brother's army in China, and that her money is now missing. As Chan, assisted by his Number Two Son, Tommy, and the comedic presence of Birmingham Brown, follows a trail of murder and deceit involving two suspicious captains, a determined lady reporter, and a seemingly respectable banker, he must unravel a complex plot of theft, betrayal, and international intrigue to find the missing fortune and unmask the killer.

The Chinese Ring is highly significant as it marks the beginning of the Monogram Pictures era for the Charlie Chan franchise, and, crucially, introduces the last of the major actors to play the detective: Roland Winters. Winters took over the role after the death of the previous Chan, Sidney Toler.

The story is an uncredited and slightly altered remake of the 1939's Monogram film Mr. Wong in Chinatown, which starred Boris Karloff as a different Asian detective. This practice of recycling scripts was common in the low-budget world of B-pictures. It also continues the tradition of featuring Chan's Number Two Son (here Tommy, played by Victor Sen Yung) and, notably, the African-American actor Mantan Moreland as the comic relief butler, Birmingham Brown, whose presence often overshadows the main plot.

The Chinese Ring (1947)
Genre: Mystery, Crime, Detective
© 2025 Legend Films. Published under license.

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