 In 1929 , the Fox Film Corporation opted Charlie Chan properties and produced Behind That Curtain , starring Korean actor E.L. Park . Again , Chan 's role was minimal , with Chan appearing only in the last ten minutes of the film . Not until a white actor was cast in the title role in 1931 did a Chan film meet with success . In Charlie Chan Carries On Chan was played by Swedish actor Warner Oland , who had also played Fu Manchu in an earlier film . Oland , who claimed some Mongolian ancestry , played the character as more gentle and self @-@ effacing than he had been in the books , perhaps in " a deliberate attempt by the studio to downplay an uppity attitude in a Chinese detective . " Oland starred in sixteen Chan films for Fox , often with Keye Luke , who played Chan 's " Number One Son " , Lee Chan . Oland 's " warmth and gentle humor " helped make the character and films popular ; the Oland Chan films were among Fox 's most successful . By attracting " major audiences and box @-@ office grosses on a par with A 's " they " kept Fox afloat " during the Great Depression . 
