Thanks for everyone's gracious welcome and more than generous replies. I must confess that even though I worded the first email to sound as if I had just found the site, I have been somewhat following the postings on the 'other site'(charliechan.net) off and on for about a year now and actually posted on the board before. I had visited this site before but not spent a lot of time here. Both sites are great and I enjoy them in my free time. Having said that, I still consider myself a 'newbie' and a very novice Chan fan when it comes to Chan trivia. If I may expound on this a little.....
My love for Chan movies and old movies in general(especially 'B' movies) began with my local TV station before the days of cable TV while growing up in the 70's. This particular station had a fairly large inventory of old movies to the point where they began broadcasting 'all night movies' every day, except on Sunday. Sunday evenings, however, back in the early 80's, I remember they started showing all of the old mystery movies, Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, and Sherlock Holmes. They would show them in chronological order too, beginning with the earliest movie in the series. I do recall, however, that they would always start with "Charlie Chan in London" as the first one. They did not even have a copy of "The Black Camel" (Any idea why??), which I have to confess, I have not seen yet! They did have "Charlie Chan in Paris"(one of my favorites) which I understand was discovered in the late 70's/early 80's timeframe.
Also, in the early 80's came the VCR. My family was quick to jump on board with this new gadget and thus began my collection of Chan movies. My collection dates back to the mid-80's and is incomplete, however, I do have most of them, including the Monograms, as well as most of the Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Moto movies. Since recording these back in the 80's, I have not added to my collection to complete the series, even though I have had ample opportunities i.e. the AMC days and Fox Movie channel festival showing from three or four years ago. In fact, mostly my VCR tapes have sat on the shelf collecting dust. Occasionally my wife, who also loves the Chan movies, and I would pull one out and watch it.
About a year ago, I made it a point to take stock of all the movies I had recorded and record the inventory. This is what started a renewed interest in the old movies and recently I decided to begin the long journey of archiving the tapes to DVD, which is going quite well and I am pleased with the quality transfers. Anyway, it was here that I started playing the 'what if' scenarios with the 'lost' movies in my mind. Suffice it to say, all of this has rekindled my fascination with old movies and an interest in the subject of movie restoration and the 'lost' movies. Perhaps it has something to do with me getting a little older too and acquiring a deeper appreciation for them and what they have meant to me in my life and the significance they hold for all of us who love movies.
Did not intend to be so long with this but I feel better now. Ha! Anyway, I will begin my new rekindled vigor for the Chan movies with acquiring some books on the subject. I want to start with one of the three authoritative books on the subject(Dr. Berlin, Mitchell, or Ken Handke(spelling????). Of these, which is recommended, particularly with the 'lost' movie subject in mind or does one compliment the other and so I should consider getting all three eventually? Also, are there any other publications, old newspaper articles, journals entries, website postings that anyone could point me too that expounds on the 'lost' movies and film restoration.
Finally, do we all need to band together with our torches in hand and parade down( I am thinking of the old Universal Frankenstein movie at the end where the villagers decide to take things in their own hands) to the Fox movie vault in Kansas and demand that they let us search for the 'lost' Chan movies. What is the last count...over a million movies they have? Might take a while but I'm game. Ha! Hope everyone has a great Memorial day!!
if you are looking for a copy of the black camel, try eddie brandt's saturday matinee at 5006 vineland,
north hollywood, cal. 818-506-4242 open sat. 8:30/5pm open tuesday-friday 1:00/6pm if you have no success please let me know.
Jeff,
I'm glad that Robert mentioned Eddie Brandt. It never hurts to hear about another Chan movie outlet!
Rush also has some listed on this website in the "links" section.
A lot of us started watching the Chans, Sherlocks, Motos, etc., as well as the Universal horror films years ago and took to recording them on cable as we could onto vhs tape.
So, Jeff, you are now amongst family!
Perhaps you could make the chat room tonight or some other Monday night? We cover a wide range of topics so you wouldn't have to worry about the cnversation if you don't have that particular movie?
I promise that I can "go long" too, so please do consider joining us!