Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

DVD Empire is selling for $35 which is an awesome price for an 8 disc set. There are some truly wonderful films in this batch; Fox kept producing strong Chans until they shut down their B unit.

The last disc has me intrigued. There was a documentary produced for the 1968 Chan retrospective at the NY Museum of Modern Art; I wonder if this is that. Of course John Cork is a whiz at creating new features so I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't another one of his creations. I am very anxious to see what all he has done for these last 7 movies.

Kudos to Fox for the great job they continue to do with all their classic releases. They will merit serious consideration for "Studio of the Year" this year.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

Fox is definately pulling ahead of Warners this year in the classics department.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

The extras on Fox dvds are superb--particularly the featurettes on THE BIG TRAIL and the western classics. Remember that Fox did not produce cartoons or shorts and can only draw from the Fox library unlike WB which has access to MGM, RKO, Lorimer, Allied Artists as well as WB. The Restoration comparisons are impressive and so are the marketing examples with the trailers and the interactive pressbooks. (Check out "Three of a Kind"on CHARLEY'S AUNT. It's a 10 minute promotional short with Jack Benny, Tyrone Power, and Cesar Romero). As for customer service....the final disc of CLEOPATRA with the exit music restored, a remastered THE GANG'S ALL HERE, and FRONTIER MARSHAL! And what other company would have the chutzpah to do a Frank Borzage Collection, which is not only a great contribution to dvds but to film history by bringing out these rarely seen films from this underappreciated and important director? The only non-pd Borzage films on dvd were MGM/UA's CHINA DOLL and WB's release of STRANGE CARGO on a Joan Crawford collection.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

Seems more likely that this will be a four-disc set, with two movies per disc. They're able to do that because it looks like this set has one long documentary instead of a few short ones.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

I really glad to see Fox continuing with this but a little sad the Chans are coming to an end.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

I'm surprised that they never used slimlines unless they eventually hope to release them individually.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

It is my understanding that there will be "short ones" included in this set as well. My speculation is that there will also be a couple of recreations of lost Chans as well (two on previous sets and two on this one). I am hopeful that the recently rediscovered trailer for the missing CC CARRIES ON will also be included. Another possible extra would be some outtakes (also from a missing film) that have circulated on blooper tapes.

From a consistency standpoint it also makes sense to have one film per disc since Fox has commissioned attractive new "poster art" for these films. I do agree with Charles that slimlines would have made much more sense though. I have a sneaky suspicion that Fox will eventually release a mega Chan box using slimlines.



Hi Mike, me too, although I give Fox tons of credit for reversing their earlier decision to not release these and ultimately giving each of these films the deluxe treatment. But Chan may not be done yet....Warner Home Video is said to be actively looking for better elements for the 11 Monogram Chans they own in hopes of putting out their own box set. These films will probably appeal to Chan completists only although poverty row fans will eat these up. IMO the Winters entries are superior to the last two Tolers which are unbearably bad films which essentially have a dying actor (although he didn't know it at the time) carrying bad scripts.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

Great news.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

My copy arrived earlier this week and I've had a chance to watch 2 of the films and sample the others. All the transfers are very sharp and the films look exceptional with DEAD MEN TELL being amazingly detailed.

All 7 films have their original theatrical trailers and extensive still galleries featuring publicity shots and behind the scenes type material.

Contrary to earlier reports (and Fox's own website), this is a 4 disc set, not 8. These are flippers which will understandably make some nervous. In my experience though, I've never a single issue with a dual sided Fox disc. Universal, yes, but Fox, no.

The artwork is attractive and features lobby card type art for the covers.

There is a 30+ minute documentary included on the last disc that has some nice info and interviews that I think those interested in filmmaking history will enjoy. Alas, the recently discovered trailer for one of the missing films was not included.

Thanks to Fox for finishing up this series of box sets in style. Each one was done with class and respect and I greatly appreciate the work they've done on this and other classic releases recently.

Steve

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

I didn't buy this volume because I barely touched the previous four volumes due to so many movies and so little time to watch them. I'll eventually buy it once the price drops further than the current preorder pricing.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

Thanks Steve. I'm looking forward to this release.

Stuart Galbrath IV also has posted a very positive review of the set at DVDTalk.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

DVD Beaver has an equally positive review up as well.

The transfers on this set are just blowing me away. Miles better than what used to run on AMC and significantly improved even on the VHS versions that were released on a handful of the titles.

As Mike said above, it is sad to see these coming to an end. Maybe WHV will pick up the mantle and release the Monograms? Perhaps Fox will deliver the long awaited Lloyd Nolan Michael Shayne Vol 2 collection?

Speaking of the Monograms, there was an interesting blog post the other day that says that Moe Howard and Larry Fine wanted Mantan Moreland to replace Shemp after the latter's passing but was overruled by the head honcos at Columbia. What a shame as Moreland was flat out funny in whatever he did.

Steve

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

Whoever Fox outsources their artwork creation to is very talented from a design standpoint, but they know nothing about film history. The previous release had multiple instances of "Sydney" Toler playing Chan. In this volume it is noted on the front cover that Victor "Jury" is one of the stars of "in Rio". It seems like they run the written portions through a spell checker and they hit "replace all" whenever a word is flagged.

Nitpicks aside...I did watch "Rio" and "Dead Men Tell" this afternoon and continue to be amazed at how sharp this prints are. Stuart's DVD Talk review mentions that one can see the hairs on on Toler's ears in some shots (not that you'd want to), and he is unfortunately correct

Gonna finish this set off tonight with one of the best films in the entire series: "Castle in the Desert". Great story and a cast that includes Doug Dumbrille and Henry Daniell.

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

My box arrived this morning and I'm down with a cold so I can't wait to delve into these! Yay!

Just looking at the box, does anybody else find it odd that two of the discs reverse the order of each film so that the later one is listed first? Disc One lists MURDER CRUISE first with IN PANAMA second (backwards from release order) and Disc Two lists MURDER OVER NEW YORK first with WAX MUSEUM second (again backwards) while Disc Three has DEAD MEN TELL and RIO listed the right way. The enclosed booklet makes the same error as lists them as MURDER CRUISE (2), IN PANAMA (1), MURDER OVER NEW YORK (4), WAX MUSEUM (3), etc. A minor quibble to be sure but confusing to someone who doesn't know and may want to watch the series in order.

Based on all the great reviews i can't wait to dive in...what a way to recuperate!

Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

Yes, I found it a bit annoying, but that didn't keep me from enjoying "Castle in the Desert" last night.

I do wish Fox would have put one movie per DVD and packaged them in thinpaks though, like they did for their recent Tyrone Power Matinee Idol Collection (though those were double features too.) Oh well...

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Re: Charlie Chan Collection Vol 5 on September

I noticed the title swapping also. Annoying but no real harm done since it's essentially flipping Side A with Side B and vice versa as opposed to having multiple discs involved. If Fox had used dual layed single sided discs it wouldn't have been so noticable.

The liner notes do follow the faulty sequence though and thus contain inaccurate data in this regard.

Yes, slim packs would be ideal. Maybe if/when Fox releases the Complete Chan Collection for Christmas '09 they'll use them.