Fulvue Drive-In.com
Current Reviews
In Stores Soon
 
In Stores Now
 
DVD Reviews, SACD Reviews Essays Interviews Contact Us Meet the Staff
An Explanation of Our Rating System Search  
Category:    Home > Reviews > Charlie Chanthology (MGM/Monogram)

The Charlie Chanthology (MGM/Monogram)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C     Extras: D     Films: B-

 

 

One of the best known literary detectives only had six books written on him, yet Charlie Chan will not go away.  First, Fox Films began adapting the character into a series of successful B-movie detective films, then when they merged with 20th Century Pictures, the series got even more ambitious.  When 20th Century-Fox dropped the character after 14 years of profitable releases while he was still hot, a huge mistake that “poverty row” studio Monogram took full advantage of.  Bringing Sidney Toler over, the series ran for eight more years, leaving Fox outfoxed.  MGM has issued the first six films in their Charlie Chanthology box and it is not bad at all.

 

A few changes included weaker production values and screenplays, lower-still budgets, a son who was more of a cartoon and the odd addition of black stereotypes, the latter two of which were a very poor substitute for and distraction over the rest of what was missing.  Nevertheless, Toler was still in good form and it was that above all else that carried this last leg of the series as long as it did.  He died towards the end and Roland Winters was the final vintage Chan until the series folded.

 

Another twist no studio could have held back is that this was an era for Chan where he happened to be fighting World War II, a predicament many of the great detectives found themselves in.  Even Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes was transported top the modern day to outwit the Nazis.  The films are listed slightly differently here than on the box, which may be referring to production order, but our list is the release order as follows:

 

Charlie Chan In The Secret Service (1944) has Chan onto the killer of an inventor who may have had greater value to the U.S. Government and its enemies than first thought.  This set the tone for the rest of the Monograms and even though it was noticeably poorer in production values, it looks good as compared to some later entries.  The mystery has to compete with some propaganda and elements that are more like Action films, which is odd considering that Chan does not move all that physically fast.

 

The Chinese Cat (1944) is a formulaic Maltese Falcon-like tale, except, this cat has more value busted, as it contains a particularly valuable uncut diamond.  A young woman tries to track down the killer of her father, now infuriated a book is out accusing her own mother of the murder.  The George Callahan screenplay tries to recreate the mystery style of the Fox films, but still does not succeed as much as it could have.

 

Meeting At Midnight (aka Black Magic) (1944) is a fan favorite because it plays so well when the 1970s revivals of these films were shown on the late, late show broadcast of hundreds of TV stations and theatrical film bookings back in the day.  Though it is not a great mystery or a great film, the atmosphere created by the low budget makes this a unique entry in the series, no matter what its shortcomings.

 

The Jade Mask (1945) repeats The Chinese Cat somewhat as a scientist who could reinforce wood to be as strong as steel is killed, but the twist is the murder victims are made to seem like they are actually still alive.  A novel idea that Callahan’s screenplay again never fulfills.

 

The Scarlet Clue (1945) brings Chan back to the world of radio dramas, but despite sending up that world, this is not as good as the Fox entry Charlie Chan At The Wax Museum (1940), but is still one of the better films here as a secret radar set up might offer the biggest surprise of all.

 

The Shanghai Cobra (1945) continues to try to pick up the momentum of the series as the pre-Noir detective tries a Noir twist (via cinematographer Vincent Farrar), something the Fox films missed out on completely.  (Noir began in 1941).  An interesting entry, even when it does not work.  A deadly cobra is on the loose, but the deadlier killer might be stolen nuclear radium.  You’ll love the special request jukebox.

 

As you can see, when Monogram realized they had a much-needed hit on their hands, they began to get creative in entries when old formulas failed.  Unfortunately, the team of writer George Callahan and well-known journeyman director Phil Rosen kept running into other problems that might have been avoidable if a bigger, richer company had taken over.  As it stands, there are some very interesting failures here, some fun successes, and many lessons in effective low-budget filmmaking in parts. 

 

The full screen image on all six DVDs are not bad for the age of the prints and the transfers being a couple of years old.  Video Black on all six are consistent enough and remarkably, these Monogram films survived in decent shape, which is amazing for a studio that disappeared over a century ago.  The prints tell us that these were from the United Artists catalog, which has a ton of films that need fixing more than most, so this is the best these are going to look until MGM (who owns all the United Artists holdings) does them in digital High Definition.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is not as full as it could be, sounding a bit on the small side on all the DVDs, but you can turn it up with no major problems, but be careful when turning it off and switching to another audio source.  The menus are nicely designed and surprisingly colorful, but there are sadly no extras.  Where are the trailers?

 

Fox recently cancelled a marathon of their Chan films on their Fox Movie Network over silly, politically correct complaining, while a Fox DVD executive said he’d love to see the films on DVD except he did not think they would sell.  I think the former is ridiculous, while the latter will be proven wrong by this set.  Though it will not set any records, I believe it will do better than expected and we will hopefully get both companies to eventually release all the existing films from the series (yes, some of the earliest films are lost for good, unless they miraculously surface) completely for the first time ever, once and for all.  MGM could give us two more boxes and Fox even more.  The Charlie Chanthology is fun and worth a look.  As a matter of fact, it could likely start a whole new revival of the character for new generations to appreciate and enjoy.  We’ll be there for that!

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


Marketplace


 
 Copyright © MMIII through MMX fulvuedrive-in.com