While
it is entirely possible that the "P.C. Police" will be on my tail for saying this,
I think THE CHARLIE CHAN CHANTHOLOGY ($70) is a whole heck of a
lot of fun. Although the Chinese sleuth’s movie exploits are something
that film buffs have been eager to acquire on DVD for some time,
sensitivity to "Political Correctness" has prevented fans that love and enjoy the
Charlie Chan movies from the 1930s and the 1940s from having access to vast
majority of these mystery outings. There should be little need to point
out that these films are a product of the era in which they were made,
especially since Caucasian actor Sidney Toler portrays the famous Asian detective
in all six CHANTHOLOGY films,
while Mantan
Moreland supplies somewhat stereotypical comic relief.
For
those unfamiliar with the Charlie Chan movie series, here is a very
condensed history: Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan character began
appearing in a series of programmers at 20th Century Fox in the early
1930s with Warner Oland in the lead role. When Oland passed away in 1938,
actor Sidney Toler was tapped to fill the shoes of the celebrated Honolulu
police detective. While the setting of the Fox Charlie Chan movies changed
from film to film, the movies followed a fairly basic formula- someone
important gets murdered and Charlie Chan is brought in to solve the case,
usually with the un-requested and un-required help of one or more of his
numerous offspring. After an entire library’s worth of adventures, the
rights to the Charlie Chan mysteries passed to Monogram Pictures, a lower
end studio that may have trimmed the series budgets, but not the level of
fun. Anyway, I am very happy with MGM Home Entertainment’s decision to
the following six Monogram produced Charlie Chan mysteries to DVD: CHARLIE
CHAN IN THE SECRET SERVICE, THE CHINESE CAT, THE JADE MASK,
MEETING AT MIDNIGHT (AKA BLACK MAGIC), THE SCARLET CLUE
and THE SHANGHAI COBRA.
CHARLIE
CHAN IN THE SECRET SERVICE finds the Chinese detective investigating
the death of an inventor, whose newly designed weapons systems enhancement
would greatly aid the war effort. THE CHINESE CAT has Chan stepping
in to debunk the assertions of a criminologist in regards to a long
unsolved murder case. THE JADE MASK features a few standard
elements from a "haunted house" movie, but finds Chan seeking an
unpopular scientist’s murderer amongst a particularly suspicious group
of suspects. MEETING AT MIDNIGHT involves a little police
arm-twisting to get Chan on the case, when it turns out that the Chinese
detective’s daughter was present at the murder of a spiritualist during
a séance. THE SCARLET CLUE has Chan seeking a murderer and
possibly a spy amid the actors and staff of a radio station. THE
SHANGHAI COBRA is definitely one of the strongest Monogram efforts; a
noir-ish entry that finds Chan investigating a series of mysterious deaths
resulting from cobra venom.
MGM
Home Entertainment has made all the films that comprise THE CHARLIE
CHAN CHANTHOLOGY available on DVD in their proper 1.37:1 full screen
aspect ratios. Considering age and budget limitations these six decade old
films look pretty nice on DVD. Certainly none of the black and white
transfers are a showcase for the DVD format, but everything is completely
watchable. Image sharpness and detail are adequate, although compared to
bigger studio movies from the same period; these programmers do appear
mildly soft. Blacks are usually accurate, as are the whites, plus all the
film produce decent contrast and grayscale. Sure there are some individual
shots across the series of films that appear a little dupey, or a bit
washed out, but for the most part, the movies hold up rather well. The
film elements for all six films show some sings of age, in regards to
minor scratches and blemishes, but they never appear particularly beaten
up. All six entries have a noticeable grain structure, which fluctuates a
bit, but it never becomes excessive. With the brevity of each film’s
running time and being presented on its own individual disc, digital
compression artifacts are never a cause for concern.
Each
entry in THE CHARLIE CHAN CHANTHOLOGY comes with a more than
respectable Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack. A very mild background hiss
can be heard much of the time, but it never becomes objectionable. Also
there are some mild distortions in some of the musical components of the
various soundtracks, but this too, isn’t particularly bothersome or
excessive. All the expected limitations in fidelity are present, so sound
effects aren’t particularly convincing. Fortunately, dialogue is always
understandable, so one isn’t likely to miss a clue or a red herring. No
other language tracks are provided, but English, French and Spanish
subtitles have been included. Full motion video, animation and sound serve
to enhance the DVD's interactive menus. Through the menus, one has access
to standard scene selection and set up features, although no supplemental
content has been provided.
As
I stated above, I think THE CHARLIE CHAN CHANTHOLOGY is a whole
heck of a lot of fun, and I am thrilled that some of the Charlie Chan
movies are finally making their way to DVD. MGM Home Entertainment has
provided the films with more than respectable presentations, which should
make eager fans more than happy. Hopefully, more Chan films will find
their way to DVD from MGM, as well as from 20th Century Fox, who owns many
of the better-known titles in the series. If you are a Chan fan, you’ll
definitely want to check out THE CHARLIE CHAN CHANTHOLOGY.
While
it is entirely possible that the "P.C. Police" will be on my tail for saying this,
I think THE CHARLIE CHAN CHANTHOLOGY ($70) is a whole heck of a
lot of fun. Although the Chinese sleuth’s movie exploits are something
that film buffs have been eager to acquire on DVD for some time,
sensitivity to "Political Correctness" has prevented fans that love and enjoy the
Charlie Chan movies from the 1930s and the 1940s from having access to vast
majority of these mystery outings. There should be little need to point
out that these films are a product of the era in which they were made,
especially since Caucasian actor Sidney Toler portrays the famous Asian detective
in all six CHANTHOLOGY films,
while Mantan
Moreland supplies somewhat stereotypical comic relief.
For
those unfamiliar with the Charlie Chan movie series, here is a very
condensed history: Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan character began
appearing in a series of programmers at 20th Century Fox in the early
1930s with Warner Oland in the lead role. When Oland passed away in 1938,
actor Sidney Toler was tapped to fill the shoes of the celebrated Honolulu
police detective. While the setting of the Fox Charlie Chan movies changed
from film to film, the movies followed a fairly basic formula- someone
important gets murdered and Charlie Chan is brought in to solve the case,
usually with the un-requested and un-required help of one or more of his
numerous offspring. After an entire library’s worth of adventures, the
rights to the Charlie Chan mysteries passed to Monogram Pictures, a lower
end studio that may have trimmed the series budgets, but not the level of
fun. Anyway, I am very happy with MGM Home Entertainment’s decision to
the following six Monogram produced Charlie Chan mysteries to DVD: CHARLIE
CHAN IN THE SECRET SERVICE, THE CHINESE CAT, THE JADE MASK,
MEETING AT MIDNIGHT (AKA BLACK MAGIC), THE SCARLET CLUE
and THE SHANGHAI COBRA.
CHARLIE
CHAN IN THE SECRET SERVICE finds the Chinese detective investigating
the death of an inventor, whose newly designed weapons systems enhancement
would greatly aid the war effort. THE CHINESE CAT has Chan stepping
in to debunk the assertions of a criminologist in regards to a long
unsolved murder case. THE JADE MASK features a few standard
elements from a "haunted house" movie, but finds Chan seeking an
unpopular scientist’s murderer amongst a particularly suspicious group
of suspects. MEETING AT MIDNIGHT involves a little police
arm-twisting to get Chan on the case, when it turns out that the Chinese
detective’s daughter was present at the murder of a spiritualist during
a séance. THE SCARLET CLUE has Chan seeking a murderer and
possibly a spy amid the actors and staff of a radio station. THE
SHANGHAI COBRA is definitely one of the strongest Monogram efforts; a
noir-ish entry that finds Chan investigating a series of mysterious deaths
resulting from cobra venom.
MGM
Home Entertainment has made all the films that comprise THE CHARLIE
CHAN CHANTHOLOGY available on DVD in their proper 1.37:1 full screen
aspect ratios. Considering age and budget limitations these six decade old
films look pretty nice on DVD. Certainly none of the black and white
transfers are a showcase for the DVD format, but everything is completely
watchable. Image sharpness and detail are adequate, although compared to
bigger studio movies from the same period; these programmers do appear
mildly soft. Blacks are usually accurate, as are the whites, plus all the
film produce decent contrast and grayscale. Sure there are some individual
shots across the series of films that appear a little dupey, or a bit
washed out, but for the most part, the movies hold up rather well. The
film elements for all six films show some sings of age, in regards to
minor scratches and blemishes, but they never appear particularly beaten
up. All six entries have a noticeable grain structure, which fluctuates a
bit, but it never becomes excessive. With the brevity of each film’s
running time and being presented on its own individual disc, digital
compression artifacts are never a cause for concern.
Each
entry in THE CHARLIE CHAN CHANTHOLOGY comes with a more than
respectable Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack. A very mild background hiss
can be heard much of the time, but it never becomes objectionable. Also
there are some mild distortions in some of the musical components of the
various soundtracks, but this too, isn’t particularly bothersome or
excessive. All the expected limitations in fidelity are present, so sound
effects aren’t particularly convincing. Fortunately, dialogue is always
understandable, so one isn’t likely to miss a clue or a red herring. No
other language tracks are provided, but English, French and Spanish
subtitles have been included. Full motion video, animation and sound serve
to enhance the DVD's interactive menus. Through the menus, one has access
to standard scene selection and set up features, although no supplemental
content has been provided.
As
I stated above, I think THE CHARLIE CHAN CHANTHOLOGY is a whole
heck of a lot of fun, and I am thrilled that some of the Charlie Chan
movies are finally making their way to DVD. MGM Home Entertainment has
provided the films with more than respectable presentations, which should
make eager fans more than happy. Hopefully, more Chan films will find
their way to DVD from MGM, as well as from 20th Century Fox, who owns many
of the better-known titles in the series. If you are a Chan fan, you’ll
definitely want to check out THE CHARLIE CHAN CHANTHOLOGY.