An interesting point, Steve: The big screen is where all great movies need to be seen."
I've never had an opportunity to se evenone of them on the big screen, anyone here done so? I think it would be great to have a series organized, but here in Columbus, there's just no chance...
Like so many "baby-boomers," I was introduced to the films of Charlie Chan via commercial television during the 1960s and 1970s.
During the 1970s, I saw "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi, "Frankenstein" with Boris Karloff, "King Kong" with Fay Wray, and a couple of Marx Brothers films on the big screen. But I do not remember seeing a Charlie Chan film in a movie theater.
If you go to Past Monthly Poll Results on this website, and scroll down to June 2011, you will find the answer to your question.
A couple of years ago, I found the film rental company that holds the 35mm film prints of the Charle Chan series. At that time, I was told that there were about six titles availabe for rental in the 35mm film format. The film prints were made from the film negatives about 40 years ago. Due to rental use, some of the prints have a lot of splices to them. This means that there are jumps in scenes and missing sections in the rental prints.
Instead of renting a 35mm print, the film company representative recommended renting a DVD copy of a Chan title. The company also rents 16mm prints and DVDs of several Chan titles.
Most Chan film run around 70 minutes. Four 18 minute film reels make up a complete Chan film. Given the costs of 35mm film stock and printing fees, it would cost somewhere between $2,000 to $4,000 to create a new print of a Chan film. Based on my past expereince in printing reels of my own films, this is my guess.