I hope everyone is having a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, I'm a bit under the weather (darn summer colds). However the time spent recuperating was well spent as I finally had a chance to view the complete DVD of the subtitled Eran Trace.
In a word - WOW. The DVD-R transfer is one of the best I've seen. To be sure, the age of the material makes itself known occasionally, but this film looks very good considering its age and the fact it probably was stored in less than ideal conditions.
The subtitling job is first rate and exceeds the job on most commercial DVDs. I know this must have taken a ton of time on the part of Rush/Adrian to translate and Andy to manually insert the captions at the right spot on the film.
The film itself is quite enjoyable. Manuel Arbo, who makes his first appearance 40 minutes into the movie, makes a delightful pixiesh Chan. His physical energy is not something we're used to seeing in a Chan so that took some getting used to.
I can't recommend this DVD highly enough to Chan fans. Kudos to Rush, Adrian, and Andy (plus anyone else involved in the making of this DVD). I hope all Chan fans who are able purchase this DVD from Andy.
Extra kudos are due to Andy for another reason. I mentioned this the past Monday night chat that I ordered Andy's complete Chan set only to find to my great disappointment that my newer Toshiba DVD player couldn't display the DVDs correctly. Let me stress that the fault is NOT with Andy's discs, apparently my player is one of a handful that have a problem with his particular brand of media. Anyway, Andy was very responsive in his communications back to me regarding return and refund procedures. Way to do business Andy; you're one of the good guys. I should also point out that my order arrived just 6 days after I ordered it.
I don't know why I could play Eran Trace and not the others, but I'm glad that I could. To say that it left me pining for the chance to see the original "Charlie Chan Carries On" is quite the understatement.
The script for "ERAN RECCE" is a little different from that of the original "CC CARRIES ON." If you will scan quickly through the script from the latter, which we have on display here, you can see a few differences. This is not to say, of course, that some changes to this script were not made during the filming of "CARRIES ON."
I had a chance to look at the script from "ERAN TRECE" a few years ago, and, as "THE BLACK CAMEL" was shot before filming on the former took place, there was even supposed to have been the family scene at the breakfast table as seen in "CAMEL" included in "ERAN TRECE."
One humorous note: In "ERAN TRECE," Mrs. Chan is speaking JAPANESE!
I'm sad I didn't get to watch "The Black Camel" with you all tonight, but thought I'd take a break and check in here. I was anxious to watch the newly subtitled "Eran Trece" as soon as possible after receiving it last month. I enjoyed it very much although by necessity somewhat distracted with other things at the time. I recently breezed through the script of "Charlie Chan Carries On" provided on your most honorable website and it seemed very similar to me, but between the distractions while viewing the film and the amount of time which had lapsed since viewing it, I was unsure if it was exactly the same or not. I knew there was a difference in the running time between the two films and that they were filmed a few months apart. While I was watching "Eran Trece" I tried to picture Oland in the role and what the lost film would be like (sigh!), but was unsure if there were major or minor differences in the script. Not knowing isn't a problem when you know who to ask! Thank you, as always, for a very informative answer!
~Mrs. P
P.S. Mrs. Chan speaking Japanese is a very fun blooper! I would have never known. To quote Lili (or Iris) Wong in "Charlie Chan in Rio", "It's all Chinese to me!"
