Product Details

• Actors: Bela Lugosi, Maria Alba, Clara Kimball Young, Lucien Prival, Dean Benton
• Directors: Ray Taylor
• Writers: Barry Barringer, Harry A. Earnshaw, R.R. Morgan, Vera M. Oldham
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Vci Video
• DVD Release Date: June 29, 2004
• Run Time: 208 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00028G6DA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,550 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Return of Chandu" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

RETURN OF CHANDU - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This same serial also available on two separate DVDs -- Great stuff!, July 27, 2008

By 

Patrick W. Crabtree "The Old Grottomaster" (Lucasville, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Return of Chandu (DVD)

I own this same 1934 serial which was first available by purchasing these two SEPARATELY-PACKAGED DVDs from ALPHA VIDEO:

The Return of Chandu the Magician, Vol. 1
(Volume One, Chapters 1-6)

The Return of Chandu the Magician, Vol. 2
(Volume Two, Chapters 7-12)

By buying EITHER the newer singly-packaged version by VCI, OR, the separately-packaged version (by ALPHA VIDEO, as I have listed above), you will get the COMPLETE 1934 SERIAL, shown in its entirety, in 12 chapters. Now, there has been some discussion on reviews here that the VCI print is better than the ALPHA VIDEO print -- that's probably true but I have to say that I'm very pleased with the picture and sound quality of the latter. Thus, if budget is your priority, I think that you'll be plenty happy with ALPHA VIDEO's 2-volume version. If you're a stickler for quality, then you'll of course want the single-package VCI version.

I compared the total times and, whichever way you buy it, the VCI and ALPHA VIDEO versions are within four minutes of one another, based upon what the packaging descriptions state (the single VCI DVD totals 208 minutes and the two ALPHA VIDEO DVDs total 212 minutes), so I'm sure that they're very close in terms of scenes. I just wanted to let potential buyers know all this information in case they preferred to go with the two separate DVD option.


Also, this terrific Lugosi serial was later edited (cut) into the following 1935 film:

Chandu on the Magic Island:Feature

If you want this cut-down "Movie Feature Version" of the original serial, go with the above packaging and NOT this one:

AMC Monsterfest: Chandu on the Magic Island/ Ghosts of Hanley House

"Ghosts of Hanley House" (which I own on a separate DVD of its own) is a really, cheesey, poorly made movie of a completely different genre so you're not getting a bargain by acquiring the two films on a single DVD!


"The Return of Chandu the Magician" (serial) is just superb with Lugosi playing Frank Chandler, aka Chandu the Magician, as he battles on with the evil High Priest Vindhyan on the South Seas Island of Lemuria.

It is on this island where Chandu's fiancée, the Egyptian Princess Nadji (played by the lovely Maria Alba) is being held captive until Chandu can rescue her. You'll love seeing the special effects as Chandu "vanishes" into thin air -- it really freaks out his adversaries too!

This serial entry is, of course, shot in black-and-white and the aspect is full-screen. As I previously mentioned, the total running time for the two-DVD option DVDs is 3 hours and 32 minutes <212 minutes>. (The running time for the 1935 feature film, Chandu on the Magic Island:Feature is only 65 minutes!)

For a full Saturday afternoon of old theater serial nostalgia, grab this one ASAP! Tons of fun -- my highest recommendation!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Much footage sewn onto fantasy serial., August 26, 2006

By 

rsoonsa (Lake Isabella, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Return of Chandu (DVD)

Bela Lugosi is not typecast in this fantastic twelve-part adventure serial, playing the lead as Frank Chandler/Chandu the Magician, enjoying his role as a representative of the forces of White Magic pushed against those of Black, while displaying vigourous fighting skill, successfully wooing a young Egyptian princess, and cutting a lean and dashing figure in yachting gear, complete with nautical cap. The somewhat lumpy plot engages Chandler/Chandu in an ongoing series of escapades pointed at achieving the rescue of his fiancee, Princess Nadji(Maria Alba) and others from the clutches of the idol-worshipping sect of Ubasti, which covets Nadji's blood in order to revivify an ancient mummified princess entombed upon the mysterious island of Lemuria. Director Ray Taylor, an old hand at such entertainments keeps events moving briskly, but repeated scenes and footage, a good deal of which is to be found in the previous year's Skull Island setting from KING KONG, and the port locale from SON OF KONG, reduces original action to less than 60 minutes from the serial's running length of over two and one-half hours and, if viewed at one sitting, becomes lacking in effect to most viewers, unless insomniac.

2.0 out of 5 stars Fairly Dire 1934 Bela Lugosi Serial, July 16, 2011

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Return of Chandu (DVD)

Serials date back to the silent era and were a popular ticket well into the 1950s, but while we remember Pearl White and Flash Gordon fondly, the genre did not really blossom until Republic Studios began to generate a series of high quality serials in the 1940s. Serials are an acquired taste, but titles such as SPY SMASHER, THE ADVENTURES OF CAPT. MARVEL, and the Columbia-made THE PHANTOM set such high standards that they remain extremely entertaining to this day. Unfortunately, that makes earlier serials, especially ones made by lesser studios, seem positively creaky, and such is sadly the case with Bela Lugosi's serial work.

In the 1930s Lugosi would appear in five serials: THE WHISPERING SHADOW and THE RETURN OF CHANDU, both from 1934; SHADOW OF CHINATOWN, 1936; SOS COAST GUARD, 1937; and THE PHANTOM CREEPS, 1939. While these were occasionally imaginative in concept, they were also produced by low-rent studios that were more concerned about budget than quality, and as a result all four are pretty ho-hum. And such is the case with THE RETURN OF CHANDU, which was based on the 1932 film CHANDU THE MAGICIAN (in which, ironically, Lugosi played the villian), and which was itself based on a radio series of the same name, which played in various incarnations and with occasional breaks all the way from 1932 to 1950.

The Lugosi series, which is in twelve chapters, presents Lugosi in a very rare heroic role: Chandu, raised in the orient, and master of white magic. When an Egyptian princess is threated with kidnapping and human sacrifice, Chandu rushes to her aid--and the result is very much what one might expect of a 1934 cliffhanger. Poisonous darts are fired. Cars wreck. The princess is kidnapped! The princess is placed under a black magic spell! And so on. The trouble with it is that THE RETURN OF CHANDU actually looks a bit like one of the movies Lugosi made with the notorious director ED Wood some twenty-something years later. Everything is incredibly cheap, everything looks like it was done in a single shot with no retakes, the script is weak, the plot is weak, and the special effects are just as unspecial as they can be.

There are several versions of the serial. There is, of course, the original serial itself, which ran about three and a half hours in all twelve chapters. Somewhat later, the serial was edited into at movie 1935 movie version titled CHANDU ON THE MAGIC ISLAND, used the second half of the serial, and ran about sixty minutes. It also appears that somewhat later the entire series was edited into a feature-length film of about an hour and a half to two hours and again titled THE RETURN OF CHANDU. Given that the film seems to be in public domain, there are also an abundance of DVD versions, some the serial, some the feature-length version. Unfortunately, and again given that the film seems to be in public domain, the print seems pretty bad regardless of distributor. The picture is at best grainy, and it is often cluttered with streaks, scratches, and artifacts, and the sound tends to come and go.

Bela Lugosi was a memorable performer, but although he was popular in serials during the 1930s, these do not really show him at his best, and unless you are a diehard Lugosi fan you might want to pass on his serials in favor of the more obvious--and superior--feature films like DRACULA, THE BLACK CAT, and so on.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer
In Memory of Webster Armstrong