Rosen, Phil

Mr. Wong, Detective - The Complete Collection (Mr. Wong, Detective / The Mystery of Mr. Wong / Mr. Wong in Chinatown / The Fatal Hour / Doomed to Die / Phantom of Chinatown)

Cashing in on the success of both Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto Monogram Pictures ushered in their own Oriental detective series in 1938 with Boris Karloff as Mr. Wong Detective. With horror films temporarily in the doldrums and his career needing a fresh tangent Karloff jumped at the chance to play the gentlemanly and dignified sleuth of Hugh Wiley stories. This turned out to be a lucky break for Monogram too. In 1939 horror films returned with a vengeance and Karloff who had been making more expensive thrillers for Universal and somewhat cheaper ones for Columbia was suddenly a much bigger name than Monogram could have afforded were he not already under contract. Karloff went on to star in a total of five Mr. Wong films for Monogram between 1938 and 1940. The sixth and final film in the series Phantom of Chinatown was issued in 1940 and actually starred Keye Luke who replaced Karloff as a younger Mr. Wong. MR. WONG DETECTIVE: When business magnate Simon Dayton is found dead inside his locked office moments after police detective Sam Street saw him at the window renowned private detective James Lee Wong joins forces with the homicide squad to interpret the only clues found at the scene--tiny fragments of delicate glass. Soon sinister agents of foreign powers start appearing in the shadows Dayton's business partners start dying under equally mysterious circumstances and Wong and Street have to race against time to prevent more murders including possibly their own. THE MYSTERY OF MR. WONG: When a wealthy collector of Chinese antiques with a list of enemies as long as a phone directory is accidentally shot during a game of charades brilliant Chinese detective James Lee Wong immediately suspects foul play. His suspicions are confirmed when it is discovered that a valuable gem has been stolen from the collector's safe and Captain Street of Homicide shows up mere moments after the shooting expla

The Charlie Chan Chanthology (The Secret Service / The Chinese Cat / The Jade Mask / Meeting at Midnight / The Scarlet Clue / The Shanghai Cobra)

Suspense-filled thrills! Laugh-out-loud humor! And some of the sharpest-tongued proverbs ever uttered in the Western world! This Chanthology boasts the best adventures of the greatest detective ever to unravel a wartime mystery or foil a high-profile heist: the inimitable Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler)!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 027616908384 Manufacturer No: 1006677

Though the Charlie Chan film franchise has earned brickbats for its casting of Caucasian actors as the Asian sleuth, the movies have retained popularity among aficionados of '40s-era B-crime pictures, and the six-disc Charlie Chan Chanthology, all featuring Sidney Toler as Chan, should please that crowd. The Missouri-born Toler starred in 11 Chan pictures for Fox before purchasing the rights to the character from creator Earl Derr Biggers's widow and bringing it to budget studio Monogram, where he starred in 11 more Chans before his death in 1947 (Roland Winters replaced him in six more features until 1949). At Monogram, Chan became a Secret Service Agent (a move calculated to cut down on exotic locations and sets), and comedy was integrated into the plots via Mantan Moreland's chauffeur Birmingham Brown; Benson Fong also joined the cast as Number Three Son Tommy, with occasional appearances by daughter Frances (Frances Chan) and son Eddie (Edwin Luke, brother of Keye Luke, who played Number One Son Lee in the Fox Chans).

Other than that, the six films collected here (the first six Chans for Monogram, and all but five directed by Phil Rosen) are largely indistinguishable from one another save for the murder victims and their demises. In The Secret Service, Chan investigates the death of a wartime inventor; a San Francisco socialite expires in The Chinese Cat; daughter Frances is involved in the murder of a psychic in Meeting at Midnight (a.k.a. Black Magic); another government scientist is killed in The Jade Mask, and death by remote control is the focus of The Scarlet Clue. Director Phil Karlson (Kansas City Confidential) adds some noirish atmosphere to The Shanghai Cobra, which has bank employees dying from apparent snakebites. Dated and controversial as they may be, the Chan films are engaging diversions for vintage mystery fans. No extras are featured in the set. --Paul Gaita

Charlie Chan in The Jade Mask

Some families have reunions this one has alibis! In this thrilling 1945 endeavor Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) finds himself at odds with an entire family any one of whom could be a killer! Helped by his pseudo-intellectual Number Four Son (Edwin Luke) and his panicky partner Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) Charlie investigates the recent murder of a brilliant but much-loathed scientist (Frank Reicher) who invented a gas that makes wood as strong as steel. But the investigation is anything but elementary as Charlie sleuths his way through suspicious scientists sultry sisters a silent cousin and a butler with a very stiff upper lip!System Requirements: Running Time 66 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 027616908346 Manufacturer No: 1006673

Charlie Chan in The Scarlet Clue

Number Three Son have excellent head; question always remain: what it contain? Charlie ChanThe unflappable Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) takes on a group of fast-track media types in this forties send-up of bad radio drama snarling sponsors and tense thespians that also features Mantan Moreland and partner Ben Carter doing their classic nightclub routine a Chan movie first!A fatal mistake made by an impatient detective in Chan s employ leads the master sleuth to a radio studio that is somehow connected to a radar operation in the same building. A bloody heel print lethal cigarettes and an icy wind tunnel all provide Charlie with clues to a dastardly scheme to steal top-secret radar plans but these suspects are experts at deceit. After all it s their business!System Requirements: Running Time 65 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 027616908377 Manufacturer No: 1006676

Charlie Chan in Meeting at Midnight

Released in 1944 as Black Magic this unusually absorbing (Los Angeles Times) mystery was celebrated on the revival circuit making it one of the best-known films of the series! Filled with fun spiritualist gags like levitating hankies and gamboling skeletons Meeting at Midnight is a rendezvous you ll want to experience again and again!When Birmingham (Mantan Moreland) gets a job as a butler for the Bonner family he doesn t know that they re con artists who specialize in trick s ances. But things get really spooky when a murder occurs and Charlie Chan s daughter Frances becomes a suspect! Charlie (Sidney Toler) surmises that nearly everybody has a motive but even he doesn t yet realize how dangerous these ghoulish swindlers really are!System Requirements: Running Time 65 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 027616908353 Manufacturer No: 1006674

Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat

Every time I meet a Chan I meet trouble. Charlie ChanNumber Three Son Tommy comes to the aid of a damsel in distress by offering Charlie Chan s services in this top-notch whodunnit fare (Variety) starring Sidney Toler and Benson Fong.Leah Manning (Joan Woodbury) has never stopped searching for her father s murderer although the police and the DA gave up long ago. And now to add insult to injury an expert criminologist has written a novel accusing her mother of the crime! Charlie s investigation leads him to a cutthroat gang of gem thieves out to steal a wealth of diamonds hidden in a porcelain Chinese cat!System Requirements: Running Time 65 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 027616908322 Manufacturer No: 1006671

The Valentino Collection (The Young Rajah / Stolen Moments / A Society Sensation / Moran of the Lady Letty)

As one of the most iconic personalities of the silent film era, Rudolph Valentino achieved an unprecedented level of fame, due in part to his exotic good looks and a magnetic personality that leapt from the screen. His undeniable cultural resonance, coupled with his untimely death in August of 1926, has made him a recognizable and still-relevant figure throughout the world. Flicker Alley s 2-Disc THE VALENTINO COLLECTION is the definitive DVD compilation featuring digital reconstructions and home video premieres of four previously unavailable Valentino films a new digital reconstruction of two lost films: The Young Rajah (1922) and Stolen Moments (1920), featuring new musical scores by Jon Mirsalis, A Society Sensation (1918), featuring Bob Mitchell at the pipe organ, and Moran of the Lady Letty (1922), featuring a restoration of the film s original intertitle text and tinting and a new score by Robert Israel. The collection boasts an extensive assortment of bonus short films (with new musical scores), rare audio recordings, previously unpublished photos, promotional materials, production photos and other rare items detailing several aspects of Valentino s remarkable life and legacy, sure to fascinate film fans and scholars alike. DVD FEATURES: *All new, speed-corrected film transfers and new digitally recorded music for all featured films and silent shorts Five Vintage Bonus Films: Rare silent shorts featuring new music scores by Bob Mitchell at the pipe organ, including A Trip to Paramountown, Screen Snapshots, and Character Studies. In addition, two more sound films: Round About Hollywood, an early Cinecolor travelogue, and Rudolph Valentino, an early memorial tribute film Additional Rare Footage: Unique Valentino (and Valentino-related) film clips, including a newly-uncovered, original 35 mm tinted nitrate fragment from Stolen Moments Valentino In Memoriam: An exceptional collection of rare images and vintage audio recordings, including an exclusive audio interview with the original Lady in Black, Ditra Flame Valentino Forever: A new short film by author and historian Tracy Ryan Terhune documenting the Valentino memorial services and the history of the Lady in Black Valentino Landmarks: Explore significant locations of Valentino s life in Hollywood, featuring an interactive video tour of his Falcon Lair estate, slide shows of his Whitley Heights residence and personal belongings, and historic descriptions of the Formosa Apartments and Lasky Studios. A Friend Remembered: A fascinating collection of over 75 captioned behind the scenes and candid images (many never-before-published) photographed by Valentino s close friend, Paul Ivano Who's Who In Hollywood: Over 80 pages of biographical information and unique photographs of the major performers and technicians involved with the four featured VALENTINO COLLECTION films, as well as key persons in Valentino s life Virtual Scrapbooks: Over 175 historical documents from the four featured VALENTINO COLLECTION films including lobby cards, poster art, advertisements, production stills, and other surviving promotional materials Two Remarkable Slide Show Presentations: Valentino The Athlete and Valentino and His Beloved Pets feature two different sides of the Valentino persona New Booklet Essay: DVD introduction by Emily W. Leider, author of Dark Lover - The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino

Charlie Chan in the Secret Service

If man places self in way of finger of suspicion must not be surprised if he receive poke in the eye. Charlie ChanThe World War II years filled with espionage and spies of all sorts were perfect for the foibles of Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler). And in this 1944 venture America s Number One Chinese detective is enlisted by the Secret Service to find the person who murdered the inventor of a top-secret device.Charlie takes his time as he investigates the case of a scientist murdered for devising a way to protect US forces from German U-boats. Bedeviled by a gaggle of eccentrics his nervous assistant (Mantan Moreland) and his exuberantly in-the-way offspring (Benson Fong and Marianne Quon) Charlie must decide which of a houseful of guests is actually the plan-purloining Master Spy!System Requirements: Running Time 65 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 027616908339 Manufacturer No: 1006672

Wings Over the Pacific

The drums of war are pounding in the distance, and American expatriate Jim Butler fears that the tiny South Pacific island he and his daughter Nona call home will soon be caught in the fray. The news of America's declaration of war against the Axis powers brings these fears to life, as a German and an American fighter plane crash-land on the island. Wary of drawing attention to Sunday Island, Jim refuses to let either pilot make radio contact with their respective combat units. With Lieutenant Alan Scott and Kurt Heimen essentially prisoners, Butler does his best to hide another secret that would make his home a prime asset for either side-the rich supply of oil on the island. Heimen discovers the oil, and turns to subterfuge and murder to alert his allies. Butler begins to see that choosing sides is inevitable if his South Pacific paradise is to remain free. Starring: Edward Norris Robert Armstrong Directed by : Phil Rosen Screenplay by: George Wallace Sayre DVD Details : Run Time: 61 minutes Number of Discs: 1 Originally Released in 1943 Black White No region encoding; For global distribution.

Horror Classics, Vol. 8: Don't Look in the Basement!/House on Haunted Hill/The Sphinx/Werewolf in a