Product Details

• Actors: Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Virginia Brissac, Ben Carter, Benson Fong
• Directors: Phil Karlson, Phil Rosen
• Writers: Earl Derr Biggers, George Callahan, George Wallace Sayre
• Producers: James S. Burkett, Philip N. Krasne
• Format: Box set, Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: July 6, 2004
• Run Time: 390 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00020X87A
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,325 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #51 in	Movies & TV > Boxed Sets > Horror
  #72 in	Movies & TV > Classics > Mystery & Suspense

• For more information about "The Charlie Chan Chanthology (The Secret Service / The Chinese Cat / The Jade Mask / Meeting at Midnight / The Scarlet Clue / The Shanghai Cobra)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Though the Charlie Chan film franchise has earned brickbats for its casting of Caucasian actors as the Asian sleuth, the movies have retained popularity among aficionados of '40s-era B-crime pictures, and the six-disc Charlie Chan Chanthology, all featuring Sidney Toler as Chan, should please that crowd. The Missouri-born Toler starred in 11 Chan pictures for Fox before purchasing the rights to the character from creator Earl Derr Biggers's widow and bringing it to budget studio Monogram, where he starred in 11 more Chans before his death in 1947 (Roland Winters replaced him in six more features until 1949). At Monogram, Chan became a Secret Service Agent (a move calculated to cut down on exotic locations and sets), and comedy was integrated into the plots via Mantan Moreland's chauffeur Birmingham Brown; Benson Fong also joined the cast as Number Three Son Tommy, with occasional appearances by daughter Frances (Frances Chan) and son Eddie (Edwin Luke, brother of Keye Luke, who played Number One Son Lee in the Fox Chans).

Other than that, the six films collected here (the first six Chans for Monogram, and all but five directed by Phil Rosen) are largely indistinguishable from one another save for the murder victims and their demises. In The Secret Service, Chan investigates the death of a wartime inventor; a San Francisco socialite expires in The Chinese Cat; daughter Frances is involved in the murder of a psychic in Meeting at Midnight (a.k.a. Black Magic); another government scientist is killed in The Jade Mask, and death by remote control is the focus of The Scarlet Clue. Director Phil Karlson (Kansas City Confidential) adds some noirish atmosphere to The Shanghai Cobra, which has bank employees dying from apparent snakebites. Dated and controversial as they may be, the Chan films are engaging diversions for vintage mystery fans. No extras are featured in the set. --Paul Gaita

Product Description

Disc 1: CHARLIE CHAN IN THE SECRET SERVICE Disc 2: THE CHINESE CAT Disc 3: THE JADE MASK Disc 4: MEETING AT MIDNIGHT Disc 5: THE SCARLET CLUE Disc 6: THE SHANGHAI COBRA

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great set of dvds, July 22, 2004

By	Pieni Ruusu - See all my reviews

I loved the entire Charlie Chan series! These Monogram Chan films are very entertaining in my book.
Sure the early ones were better (that could be said of any film series), but the movies in this set have become old friends. I have no complaints about this set. It's good fun!
I just hope they put out the rest of the Charlie Chan series on DVD too.

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the Best of Charlie Chan by a longshot..., January 12, 2005

By	Jon Ell "jon-el" (Aliso Viejo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

As others have commented, these are the Monogram movies that came out post-WWII and not very good when compared to the earlier movies from Fox (featuring Sydney Toler with #2 son Victor Sen Young and before that Warner Oland with #1 son Keye Luke). While I don't want to discourage anyone from these, know that these are not the movies that Chan enthusiasts such as myself know and love and that there is much better that has not (yet) made it to DVD. I do hope someone at Fox or whoever owns the rights to these movies gets the message and releases *those* movies on DVD. This is like releasing a James Bond series but excluding the Sean Connery films. I really wished they would have released those earlier movies first and issued these later.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charlie Chan Monogram series, October 1, 2004

By	Richie & Janice Urquhart (Durango, CO United States) - See all my reviews

I agree with those other reviewers that these 6 are not the best. However I still enjoy them and glad that I purchased them. These 6 films are good fun but probably not as good as the FOX movies. I can't hardly remember them. However I think they are more about traveling to solve the mystery. I hope Fox will someday release them. I'd purchase them in a heartbeat.