Watching Eran Trece: The Spanish Charlie Chan movie that survived

If you have an hour and a half to kill and love old-school detective stories, this is worth a look. You should watch it if you enjoy that specific 1930s vibe where everyone wears suits to bed and speaks in very dramatic tones. 🕵️‍♂️

Action fans will probably hate it though. It is very talky and mostly takes place in rooms where people just stand around looking suspicious at each other.

The weirdest thing about Eran trece is that it only exists because the English version, Charlie Chan Carries On, is basically gone forever. Studios used to film the same movie twice with different actors for different countries back then.

Manuel Arbó plays the lead detective here. He doesn't look like the typical Chan, but he has this very gentle way of pointing out when someone is lying that I really liked.

There is this one scene early on in a London hotel that feels so cozy. The shadows on the walls are huge and it makes the whole thing feel much spookier than it actually is. 🕯️

The plot is about a bunch of people on a world tour. One guy dies, and then suddenly everyone is a suspect because, well, there are thirteen of them.

I did find myself getting a bit confused with all the names. There are a lot of characters introduced very fast and they all seem to have some secret grudge from ten years ago.

One actor, Raul Roulien, has this energy that feels way more modern than anyone else. He moves around the set while everyone else is kind of stiff like a board.

The movie reminds me a little bit of the atmosphere in The Soul of Broadway, even though that is a much older silent film. It has that same focus on high-society people acting very badly behind closed doors.

There is a moment with a letter that the camera zooms in on for way too long. Like, okay, I get it, the letter is important! We don't need to stare at the paper for thirty seconds. ✉️

Also, the sound quality is a bit hit or miss. Sometimes the music swells so loud you can barely hear the dialogue, which is a bit of a bummer for a mystery where every word matters.

It’s funny how they try to make London look like London while filming in California. You can tell the 'fog' is just a lot of smoke being blown into the frame from off-camera.

I missed the fast-paced editing of stuff like Interference, which handled the transition to sound a bit more smoothly. Eran trece still feels like it’s figuring out how to be a 'talkie'.

The ending is pretty satisfying, even if you guess the killer halfway through like I did. It’s not about the shock; it’s about the process of catching them.

Is it a masterpiece? No, probably not. But it’s a neat little piece of history that survived when the 'main' version didn't.

I’d say grab some tea and give it a chance on a rainy afternoon. It’s got a charm that you just don't find in modern stuff. ☕