MGM is the first studio releasing Charlie Chan mysteries on DVD back in 2004. After that, we've seen excellent boxes from Fox and the first volume from Warner, but unlike those releases, Charlie Chan Chanthology is available in a 6-disc boxset as well as individually. In fact, right now the boxset is out of print, so unless you are looking at Amazon marketplace or ebay, these films are only available separately. I'm not sure how MGM ended up with the rights to the first six movies released by Monogram in 1944-1945 because the rest of Monogram films are currently in Allied Artists library owned by Warner/Turner. The set consists of six keep cases housed in a black box, with a drawing of Charlie Chan on the cover.

Each film is just a little over hour-hour long, so single-layered discs are acceptable. The image quality is not as good as the films in a recent set from Warner - there is some debris and marks on the prints, but overall the transfers are acceptable. The mono soundtracks are consistently clear and there are English, French and Spanish subtitles provided for each title. There are no extra features, but with a wealth of information about Charlie Chan films available in the sets from Fox, it's not missed in these lesser films from Monogram. The set and individual films are not as highly recommended as previously mentioned collections from Fox, but if you enjoyed films in those sets, you can take first six Monogram Chans for a spin.

  - Gregory Meshman

DVDBeaver whole-heartedly recommend all of the Fox Charlie Chan Boxsets:

and with the Chantology Collection Out-of-print you may still buy all the individual titles of the set:

CLICK to order from:

MGM

Region 1 - NTSC

1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: ? mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• None

DVD Release Date: July 6, 2004
Keep Case

Chapters 16

CLICK to order from:

MGM

Region 1 - NTSC