Chris - I am fond of several of the Philo Vances, as well as the early Perry Masons, especially the ones with Warren William (did you know he invented the lawn mower?).
Oh, anyway, I found them both (sets of all Philos and Perrys) out there, but I am always so leary when things are not carried at amazon (ie. are the ones I found legit?).
What do you think folks? Should I post the name of the sellers, and have you all check them out?
In my quick search, I found one Philo Vance title: "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933) with William Powell. Recommended as the best of the Philo Vance mysteries. This title is in the public domain, which means that the film is copyright free. Both www.Oldies.com and www.DeepDiscount.com sell this title. Price ranges from $5.95 to $6.25. Deep Discount offers free shipping.
As for the old Perry Mason movies, I didn't find any titles at Oldies or Deep Discount. Given that ... one may check www.iOffer.com. At this site, one may find "gray" market copies of films not available through regular home entertainment distribution.
At iOffer.com, there is a person sells DVDs of three Philo Vance films. For example: "Phlo Vance's Gamble" (1947) is listed at $5.00. That's a great price for a classic movie. The seller mentions that the quality of the three DVDs varies from good to poor. At least this guy is honest about the DVDs. Give him credit.
All - the place I found to find all these DVDs was "thevintageplayhouse" dot com (without the quotes). The prices were high enough to make you think it might be legit, but I wonder. There is the complete Chan set out there, not divided up by rights holders (ie. one big set, even the unreleased ones). Make of it what you will. I hate to advertize it, yet would like someone to check it out. (I could copy my old Perry Mason tapes to DVD, if I wanted to, but would prefer to wait for a better copy.)
Here I am back, again. Trying to answer my own question, I guess. Had one of my kids check the site out, and they think it looks OK (they work in the copyright protection field, so are knowledgible and sensitive to the issues). So what do you all think?
