Charlie Chan: Meeting at Midnight

"Phil Rosen's Meeting At Midnight (1944) has shown up in a nicely mastered DVD from MGM/UA. The source print -- which uses the alternate title Black Magic, with ""Meeting At Midnight"" superimposed below), with the credits window-boxed -- is so sharp that it glistens, and even the most darkly lit shots in the full-frame (1.33-to-1) image have usable picture information. The audio isn't quite a match for the image, mastered at a fairly low volume level that requires a boost on this end. The movie itself isn't that good, and some of Mantan Moreland's antics slow the action up, but Sidney Toler's good-humored performance as Chan makes up for it, and the presence of Frances Chan representing the distaff side of his progeny is refreshing. And the film has some strange and disconcerting moments involving people being drugged and hypnotized, and a novel murder weapon. The 65 minute movie has been given a very generous 16 chapters, all accessible through and easy-to-use two-layer menu that opens automatically on start-up."