Long time fan, recent discoverer of the site here.

Outstanding site! I'm a long time (25+ years) fan of Charlie Chan's films. Local channel here in Arizona started showing them in the early 1980's and I've been hooked ever since.

AMC (before they sold out and started showing commercials) had had a 24 hour marathon in the late 1990's that showed 21 of Chan's Fox pictures (including the 1935 Pennsylvania referendum short, and basically, everything from 1934's "In London" to 1942's "Castle In The Desert", save for "Black Camel" and "Dead Men Tell"), but hadn't see 'em since - until about 8 months ago.

An internet "business" called "TheVintageTheatre.com", a place I'd come across entirely by accident, had a 14 DVD set called "The Charlie Chan Collection: Platinum Edition" featuring all 42 surviving Chan pictures (including 1929's "Behind That Curtain" and "Eran Trece") from Fox and Monogram for around $90. And, I fell in love with 'em all over again - public domain quality or no, they're still awesome.

Well, except for most of the Winters Monogram pictures - then again, maybe Oland and Toler just spoiled me rotten. :D

Of course, if I'd known at the time that Fox was re-releasing their restored Chan pictures, I'd have waited. Oh well.

Anyways, just wanted to stop by & say thanks for the site! Everything possible to do with Charlie Chan and so many unbelievable extras. I've spent the better part of the past 2 days here and I STILL haven't seen everything - and likely won't ever get enough. :D

Thanks again!

Dear Swing Man,

Welcome. I am very pleased tha you haver enjoyed our humble endevor thus far, and, I hope that your visits will continue to be enjoyable.

As of this time, the only way that fans of Charlie Chan can obtain copies of all the films from the series proper that exist is to frequent the twilight realm of the "grey market" sellers. Hopefully, this will change over the course of the next year or so, as Fox may continue to release its Charlie Chan holdings. It is fairly substantially rumored that Warner Brothers, who holds the rights to the final 11 films in the Chan series, as well as, amazingly, "The Black Camel," will be putting out their own Charlie Chan DVDs sometime this year. The main hold-up seems to be the dearth of good prints of a number of these movies.

So, the outlook is pretty promising for fans of Charlie Chan with regard to one day having access to all existing Chan series movies on commercially produced, authorized, DVDs.

Again, Swing Man, welcome to you...

Sincerely,
Rush Glick

Wow, Indeed! Could you send more info....its been so long!!! Your friend.

Dear Jan,

What a wonderful surprise! I sent you an email message.

Sincerely,
Rush

Thanks, Rush.

Re: "Grey Market", yep, that's how I got my copies (14 DVD-R's, basically).

Why it's taken this long for Fox & Turner (MGM/Warner) to start releasing their Chan films is beyond me, as it's definitely an untapped market - I expect that the 15 films released by MGM/Warner/Turner (6 Monograms) and Fox (9, including a subtitled "Eran Trece") in the past 2-3 years have experienced sales through the roof, what with properly restored prints and all.

Now, my copy of "Charlie Chan's Secret" is well above average for a public domain transfer, but how I'd love to see a fully restored print giving deserved justice to all it's subtle visual effects/props.

Again, thanks for the warm welcome & I'll end this post with my all-time favorite Charlie Chan quote:

"When prepared for worst, can hope for best!"