Fox to release Mr. Moto Volume 1 in August (1 Viewer)

[GregoryMesh]

Volume 2 is being released February 13. List price is still $59.98.

This outstanding collection includes four favorite Mr. Moto hits, all starring the inimitable Peter Lorre as the world famous sleuth. And as a special bonus, the 1965 feature film The Return Of Mr. Moto starring Henry Silva is included!

 

[Steve...O]

Thanks Gregory! I really enjoyed the pristine restorations of Vol 1 and look forward to this 5 film collection as well.

Any word on additional featurettes?

Steve

 

[Steve...O]

DVD Active has the offical artwork for Vol 2.

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releas...llection2.html

Other than the non-Lorre remake it doesn't say what special features are included (hopefully some more of those great John Cork documentaries will show up).

The "holy grail" of Moto bonus features would be any footage that was shot of Warner Oland in Charlie Chan at Ringside which ultimately was reshot as Mr. Moto's Gamble after Oland walked off the set during a nervous breakdown and eventually passed away. I dunno if Fox saved any of that footage, but it would be wonderful to have. Supposedly Fox tried to bill Oland $30k or so for the cost of reshooting.

Kudos also to Fox for releasing a proper authorized version of the public domain Mr. Moto's Last Warning.

Steve

 

[John Hodson]

More detail on that 'Mr Moto' set, including extras, at DVD Times here.

 

[Steve...O]

Thanks, John, for the Vol 2 extras.

That's a great list. I'm particularly interested in the Mr. Moto Meets Mr. Chan – the Making of Mr. Moto’s Gamble featurette to see if Fox includes any footage originally shot of Warner Oland in Charlie Chan at Ringside (which became Mr. Moto's Gamble after Oland walked off the production and subsequently passed away). Fox simply reworked the script, making Keye Luke/Lee Chan a Moto assistant and reshooting some of Oland's scenes with Lorre instead.

The Marquand bio and others all sound equally interesting. Fox has done the Moto series proud with these sets, including rescuing one of the films from public domain jail.

Steve

 

[Robert Crawford]

Kudos to Fox, but their pricing of this boxset is very overpriced in my opinion.




Crawdaddy

 

[Steve...O]

Agree on the overpriced. Fortunately I am a Costco member and they've been carrying many of these Fox sets at 45%-50% off list. That still leaves them higher priced than the Warners boxes sitting next to them (often with more films in the box). I may roll the dice and see if these show up in store rather than ordering on line as I have with other Fox releases.

I hope this March Michael Shayne set (4 films on 2 discs for $29.99 MSRP) is a sign that Fox has rethought their pricing model. Maybe the warehouses full of Betty Grable and Will Rogers sets convinced them of that.

 

[Mike*HTF]

Let's hope that's the case.
In the meantime, those new Motos can't get here soon enough - excellent box art and some really interesting extras (I'm curious to hear the Silva commentary on the remake).

 

[Steve...O]

The DVD Beaver site has a nice review of the 2nd Moto volume here. Even the compressed screen caps look miles better than the battered 16mm prints that usually circulate for these titles. It's great to see "Last Warning" rescued from PD status. The menus look nice and I am very anxious to see the special features on this one; I'm told they are very good.

Hopefully Costco will be carrying this with their usual $30-$35 price for Fox boxes. The MSRP Fox put on this makes even online pricing steep.

Someone who already has the set said there wasn't any advertising slip in the set promoting Chan Vol 3 so I guess we'll have to wait awhile to hear news about it coming out.

Steve

 

[Mike*HTF]

I'm really looking forward to this - but also sad that there aren't any more Moto's to look forward to.

 

[Steve...O]

High MSRP aside, the Vol 2 Moto set is very well done. The source prints/transfers are all much better than anything I've ever seen for these titles and the films themselves are highly enjoyable although a couple have over the top comic relief in my opinion.

John Cork has assembled 4 more fascinating documentaries that genre fans will enjoy. History fans will also enjoy the documentary that puts the end of the Moto series in context of the times of WW2.

Although not advertised, there are 6 trailers on this set (5 for Lorre films and 1 for the Silva film). The Silva film is subtitled although the menu doesn't tell you this.

One caution: the liner notes spoils the end of DANGER ISLAND.

A big "thank you" to Fox for releasing all 8 Moto films (and for rescuing LAST WARNING from PD status) and treating them to great cover art, insightful features, and liner notes. Here's hoping Vol 3 (and beyond) of Chan isn't too far off.

Steve

 

[David_Blackwell]

I just got my set. I will reveal my thoughts by the end of the week.