The Shanghai Cobra)

Starring:Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Edwin Luke, Hardie Albright, Frank Reicher, Janet Warren, Cyril Delevanti, Al Bridge, Ralph Lewis (II), Dorothy Granger, Edith Evanson, Joe Whitehead, Henry Hall, Jack Ingram, Danny Desmond, Lester Dorr, Nora Cecil, Benson Fong
Director: Phil Rosen, Phil Karlson
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
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).

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).

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:

Not great--just very entertaining.......2007-07-05

These Sidney Toler Charlie Chans move well-- good dialogue-humor is well done--Sometimes a bit too stereotypical--but it's easy to see why these movies were so popular in their day. All in all they hold up better than I would have expected. Most enjoyable.

charlie chan chanthology.......2007-07-04

Wonderful! Just what I remember it being when I was young....If you remember the Chan mystery series then this is the one, Charlie Chan's children are in these series. The Dvd's came on time and couldn't wait to watch them..my teenage son came home and started watching with me, he was entranced and we had a marathon and watched all of them. Great product!

Charlie is my hero.......2007-07-03

This vendor responded to my purchase very quickly. Well-packaged, no damage. I'm in Chan heaven. Charlie Chan rocks!

Warner Oland, Why Did You Die?.......2007-06-27

These Chan films are from the Monogram series, long after the series, which had begun so brilliantly with Warner Oland at 20th Century Fox 10 or more years earlier, had fizzled. Fox dropped it after a handful of Sidney Toler films (which aren't available yet on DVD). Supposedly Toler bought the rights to the name Charlie Chan from the widow of author/creator Earl Derr Biggers and then sold himself and the rights to Monogram. The films suffer terribly. Toler is a tired old man in ersatz oriental makeup, and cheap, boring, repetitious "comedy" relief is provided in extremis by Mantan Moreland as a cliché blabbering, superstitious black lackey. The stories are so-so, but whatever values there may be are undermined by those two main stars. Benson Fong, as Number Three Son, is generally good -- charming though not so enthusiastic as Keye Luke -- but most of the time he has to play opposite Moreland or, in one pathetic film, a Chinese actress named Frances Chan as his sister of the same name...and she couldn't act her way out of a wet paper bag.

There are two more Warner Oland Chan movies that have yet to make it to DVD. It would be nice if Fox would release those along with the early Toler films. But forget these Monogram pot boilers.

A Great 6 Pack.......2007-05-22

I have all of these films with Sidney Toler and Mantan Moreland which I watch in "rotation" in my video collection. Any "TRUE" Chan fan should have 'Chanthology' in their collection as a fan will enjoy these 6 movie classics from the 1940's. For the most part the films are wholesome family entertainment. I highly recommend them.

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