You are correct, those two Monograms are the worst regarding print quality. My present copy of "Shadows Over Chinatown" (on a "grey market" DVD, of course!) is so dark during parts of the movie, that the action can barely be made out! "The Red Dragon" is also of lesser quality, but is much more watchable.
The difficulty that Warner Brothers has had in putting out their Monogram Charlie Chan holdings, the final eleven films in the series, has been the locating of the best prints available today for these pictures. Hopefully, they will be releasing all or at least some more of these Chan movies in the near future, should sales for the first collection warrant such a move on their part. Please note that from all indications, sales figures for "TCM Spotlight: Charlie Chan Collection" have been VERY good, and this may translate into excellent news for Charlie Chan fans.
