Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen by Michael Avallone

 

(pb; 1981: movie tie-in)

From the back cover

“They call her the Dragon Queen, a woman of impenetrable mystery and unknown powers. . . Then someone makes the fatal mistake of putting her in jail for murder.

“Years later, San Francisco is paralyzed by a wave of the most bizarre killings ever documented, each more unspeakable than the last, each devoid of clues─at least to Western eyes.

“There is one man alone who stands a chance of outsmarting the elusive killer─Charlie Chan, detective supreme, Oriental genius. On him rests the fate of a city steadily being wiped out by the curse of the dragon queen.”

 

Review

This cartoonish, slapstick-silly movie tie-in murder mystery is a mostly fun and frenetic read, sometimes satiric, sometimes bizarre (beyond its cinematic-splashy murderer)─e.g., the recurring brick through Lee Jr.’s office window gag which continues long after it wears out its welcome.

Those who lack a sense of humor regarding changing social norms and era-related context, or are intensely racially political, may want to skip this one, beyond the questionable nature of its yellow-face casting. Chan, who speaks like a fortune cookie (the book explicitly says so) is not made fun of─though he makes fun of himself─and other Asian characters speak like normal American characters. Charlie is not high art, nor does it pretend to be; Avallone deftly moves through the story with masterful pacing, while maintaining sufficient character development and skewering-racial-stereotypes lightness.

Film buffs might enjoy the action-climactic tip of the hat to actor Warner Oland’s many Chan films, as well as those looking for a silly, if somewhat outdated, hourlong read that eschews racial politics for an innocent silliness, and a good reveal of a could’ve-been-almost-anyone killer.

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Its source/counterpart film was released stateside in February 1981. Clive Donner directed it, from a screenplay by Jerry Sherlock, Stan Burns, and David Axlerod.

Peter Ustinov played Charlie Chan. Lee Grant played Mrs. Lupowitz. Angie Dickinson played Dragon Queen. Richard Hatch played Lee Chan Jr. Brian Keith played “Police Chief.”

Roddy McDowall played Gillespie. Rachel Roberts played Mrs. Danger. Michelle Pfeiffer played Cordelia. Paul Ryan played Masten. Johnny Sekka played Stefan.

Damien—Omen II by Joseph Howard

 

(pb; 1978: movie tie-in novel, based on Stanley Mann and Mike Hodges’s screenplay. Second book in The Omen pentalogy.)

From the back cover

Little by little, one of the world’s most powerful families is close to being destroyed. And no one seems to know why. Those who suspect the truth do not live to reveal it.

“Only thirteen-year-old Damien Thorn seems immune from the bizarre accidents claiming the lives of those around him. Damien, whose own father tried to kill him seven years ago. . . Damien, whose loving foster family is learning the meaning of hellish fear. . . Damien, who is leaving behind the seeming innocence of youth to fulfill the terrifying prophecy foretold long ages ago. . . Damien, who is discovering that it is not, after all the meek but the master of ultimate evil who shall inherit the earth!”

Review

Damien is a solid, less dread-atmospheric follow-up to David Seltzer's The Omen. The writing is good, the characters and their relationships are well-sketched, the pacing of the book is an entertaining balance of backstory, characterization, action and kill scenes. Having said that, this first sequel is not as heady a B-movie thrill as its predecessor, a movie novelization that does little, if anything, to expand on the screenplay on which it’s based.

Damien is a fun, blast-through read, one that does not transcend its movie tie-in genre, but is still mildly entertaining─just don’t expect the over-the-top, beyond-its-source-flick thrills that Omen, a high-mark for movie tie-ins, trafficked in. Followed by another movie tie-in novel, Gordon McGill’s The Final Conflict (1981).

Additional note: In Damien (book and film) Richard Thorn’s brother is called “Richard,” the name given Damien’s human father in the film version of Omen. The book version of Omen calls Damien’s human father “Jeremy.”

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The film version of Damien was released stateside on June 9, 1978. Don Taylor and an uncredited Mike Hodges directed the film, from a screenplay by Hodges and Stanley Mann.

William Holden played Richard Thorn. Lee Grant played Ann Thorn. Jonathan-Scott Taylor played Damien Thorn. Lucas Donat played Mark Thorn.

An uncredited Ian Hendry played Michael Morgan. An uncredited Leo McKern reprised his role of Carl Bugenhagen. Sylvia Sidney played Aunt Marion. Elizabeth Shepherd played Joan Hart. Allan Arbus, billed as Alan Arbus, played Pasarian. Meshach Taylor played Dr. Kane. Nicholas Pryor played Charles Warren. Lew Ayres played Paul Atherton.

Robert Foxworth played Paul Buher. Lance Henriksen played Sgt. Neff.