The Charlie Chanthology (DVD, 2004, 6-Disc Set)

This is an expensive 6 DVD box set and is available individually. Made by B Studio Monogram during WII, these tales are more cautionary probably due to Anti-Oriental feeling at the time. Sidney Toler (the first box sex containing the successor to Warner Oland), spouts many Patriotic lines, as he is now working for the US Secret Service. And all the plots revolve around something missing that is vital to national security.

As with most of the Chan films, the sleuth has one of his sons playing amateur detective (mainly Benson Fong in this series with the exception of #4 son Edwin Luke (brother of famous Keye Luke) in his only motion picture. Mantan Moreland has been added for comic relief and is always funny but unfortunately a victim of Hollywood stereotype so atypical of the time for an actor of color.

This is not the best of the Toler series of Chan movies. Chanthology should have covered the years prior to the War when #2 son, Victor Sun Yen (who found fame later as the Chinese cook on Bonanza) dominate the series. He was much more lively and prone to getting into mischief than Fong. But the blane for these films cannot be blamed on any of the actors, but more on the times. The fun has gone out of the series, but are still great to watch.

Due to the low budgets, I was quite surprised at the transfers. The picture quality is great, however the sound is too low and tends to waiver on a surround sound system. All these titles were released prior on MGM and can still be found and this set at retail usually runs around a whopping $70. That may not seem like much but bear in mind each of these flix only run around 65 minutes (most of the Chan films never ran more than 70). Since many of the Oland, Toler movies have fallen into Public Domain, they are not available on on legitimate DVDs. Also this set has been released in Asia is frequently advertised for sale. I do not know the quality of these imports, but this American box set is far from perfect so I can only imagine what the counterparts are like.

Sometimes entertaining, but certainly not the best Toler outings. Fans however, will love them! And that's what counts.