The Official "Dragon Dynasty" Thread!

Old Pang Yau · Post by **Old Pang Yau** » 05 Sep 2008, 17:20

With the references to BCI, it's funny to think how far they've come. They went from releasing half-assed VHS-to-DVD public domain Sonny Chiba titles under the Brentwood label to releasing some of the very first Sonny Chiba Blu-ray titles, and now some of the classic Jackie Chan 80s films.

Btw, anyone seen the online ads for Fist of Legend? There's actually a 15 second TV spot on Kung Fu Cinema... dunno if it'll actually show up on TV though (like on Spike TV, here in the US... which actually used to play Fist of Legend, like, every other weekend a few years back)

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Sep 2008, 19:16

Was it dubbed or subbed? Channel 5 over here showed Big Boss awhile back, in awful English.

chenlung · Post by **chenlung** » 05 Sep 2008, 19:33

bradavon wrote:Was it dubbed or subbed?

Dubbed, I believe.

Old Pang Yau · Post by **Old Pang Yau** » 05 Sep 2008, 19:48

Yeah, it was the original Dimension Films version. Yet strangely enough, they showed the Miramax Dragons Forever subtitled a few times.

eon · Post by **eon** » 06 Sep 2008, 08:35

Has anyones Fist of Legend shipped? My order from DVDPacific is still "on order"...

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 06 Sep 2008, 09:59

Let us know what FOL is like when it comes

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 06 Sep 2008, 13:22

eon wrote:Has anyones Fist of Legend shipped? My order from DVDPacific is still "on order"...

Sounds like it's not out yet, you'd have thought some of the American fans on AsianDVDGuide would have reported on it by now!

duffen_ · Post by **duffen_** » 06 Sep 2008, 18:53

My was shipped from axelmusic yesterday

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 07 Sep 2008, 11:46

Yi, time to go eat humble pie.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 07 Sep 2008, 12:22

EvaUnit02 wrote:Yi, time to go eat humble pie.

After alllllll those many MANY years of waiting and disappointments, humble pie sounds great. I HOPE I'll get served humble pie.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 07 Sep 2008, 12:29

Positive review from HKfilm.net
http://www.hkfilm.net/dvdrevs/fol.htm

But:

Deleted scenes: Five short scenes which were previously only available on a Taiwanese DVD are included here. They don't really add a whole lot to the movie, and they don't look all that great due to the fact that they weren't remastered and still have the dreaded Chinese/English "burnt-in" subtitles on them. But it was good to see them included on here, since the Taiwanese DVD has long been out of print.

Which scenes are they? I have the Siren VHS, and which cut was that? The HK cut or the Taiwan cut? I wouldnt want to miss the scenes with Billy Chow killing the japanese teacher, or the talk about ants and elephants etc.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 07 Sep 2008, 12:52

I'm sure that was the HK cut, Yi.
Do you mean the deleted scenes are viewbale seperately or intergrated into the film?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 07 Sep 2008, 12:56

the deleted scens are only accesible(sp?) in the menu, and are not remastered.

If this DVD is the same cut as the Siren VHS, I'm happy. That's the version I think is perfect.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 07 Sep 2008, 14:26

AFAIK the MIHK VHS is the same as the Siren VHS.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 07 Sep 2008, 15:27

Yi-Long wrote:Which scenes are they? I have the Siren VHS, and which cut was that? The HK cut or the Taiwan cut? I wouldnt want to miss the scenes with Billy Chow killing the japanese teacher, or the talk about ants and elephants etc.

You never got the ritek DVD then Yi? Off the top of my head I can't remember all the scenes, but the one that sticks out the most is of Chin siu-hou's character smoking opium in the brothel. IIRC most (or all) of the scenes just flesh out Chin's character a little.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 07 Sep 2008, 15:46

That scene where Chin Siu Ho is smoking opium is also on the Siren VHS!

Damn... that's not on the DD DVD!? Bastards

chenlung · Post by **chenlung** » 07 Sep 2008, 16:13

The Siren VHS is Cantonese and has the Taiwanese scenes?

There's 6 deleted scenes, the one that could be missing is of the soldiers pausing for a few seconds before entering the dojo after someone is killed at the end. I wonder if they're progressive.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 07 Sep 2008, 16:38

chenlung wrote:The Siren VHS is Cantonese and has the Taiwanese scenes?

There's 6 deleted scenes, the one that could be missing is of the soldiers pausing for a few seconds before entering the dojo after someone is killed at the end. I wonder if they're progressive.

I think so. I remember the Chin Siu Ho opium/waterpipe smoking scene I think. And I believe I've only seen the Siren VHS, apart from the evry very first time I saw the movie, which was a bootleg of the canto-version I think, as my chinese neighbours had it.

Old Pang Yau · Post by **Old Pang Yau** » 07 Sep 2008, 20:19

Here's a German comparison between the HK cut (from the French DVD, apparently) and the Taiwanese cut:

http://schnittberichte.com/schnittbericht.php?ID=1062

Most of the "deleted scenes" are actually extensions, it seems.

I'm REALLY hoping the DD DVD doesn't have the shot-change-flicker issues Tai Chi Master had. Let's not forget, a lot of the "official" reviews for TCM neglected to mention this and said "it looks great!". Fingers crossed, and if no one else gives a verdict by Tuesday, I'll take the plunge and say if it shows up again or not.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 07 Sep 2008, 20:38

Yeah I've seen those scenes on my Siren VHS. So as far as I'm concerned, the DVD is 'cut', as I feel those scenes are integral and added something to the movie. That's a shame.

chenlung · Post by **chenlung** » 07 Sep 2008, 21:31

Yi-Long wrote:Yeah I've seen those scenes on my Siren VHS. So as far as I'm concerned, the DVD is 'cut', as I feel those scenes are integral and added something to the movie. That's a shame.

Very odd that such scenes were in Cantonese. Only this version will have had those scenes as versions by Mei Ah and HK Video don't. Dimension doesn't either. I take it Golden Harvest perhaps did a 'Dragons Forever' with the 2 Yuen Biao scenes?

Remember the Taiwanese version has 2 bits not in the HK cut.

Old Pang Yau · Post by **Old Pang Yau** » 07 Sep 2008, 21:46

Yi-Long wrote:Yeah I've seen those scenes on my Siren VHS. So as far as I'm concerned, the DVD is 'cut', as I feel those scenes are integral and added something to the movie. That's a shame.

See, this is where different cuts become a touchy subject when people prefer cuts other than the original country's original cut. Such as how many people seem to actually prefer the "international cut" of Police Story 2 to the actual Hong Kong cut. Needless to say, they really didn't care for the extended 121 minute cut.

Personally, as how the HK cut of Fist of Legend is the very first one I ever saw (on a rental Tai Seng VHS, no less), I'm fine with these scenes being featured as a separate extra. But I can understand for someone who originally saw these scenes in the film, this can be jarring and irritating.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 07 Sep 2008, 22:22

Word is coming in that though the Mandarin track on FOL is genuine mono, and the English is the same as the old Dimension (which personally I quite like for its music), the Cantonese has added bird foley.

Sigh...

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 08 Sep 2008, 17:34

Old Pang Yau wrote:Such as how many people seem to actually prefer the "international cut" of Police Story 2 to the actual Hong Kong cut. Needless to say, they really didn't care for the extended 121 minute cut.

That would be me.

The editors at Golden Harvest knew what they were doing with these Jackie films as many of them are actually better in their international cuts.

Police Story 2 being a prime example, but also My Lucky Stars, Dragons Forever, and Dragon Lord.

The cuts made to Armour of God were a mistake, and I can't remember what was removed from the int'l versions of Project A II and Miracles.

Old Pang Yau · Post by **Old Pang Yau** » 08 Sep 2008, 20:10

Markgway wrote: That would be me.

The editors at Golden Harvest knew what they were doing with these Jackie films as many of them are actually better in their international cuts.

Police Story 2 being a prime example, but also My Lucky Stars, Dragons Forever, and Dragon Lord.

The cuts made to Armour of God were a mistake, and I can't remember what was removed from the int'l versions of Project A II and Miracles.

Yeah, at least these edits were done by the company that produced them, so there was a chance of them at least being somewhat on par with the original cuts. Not to mention that they had the decency to retain the original music scores... well, most of the time. I know Young Master was a big exception.

As for Fist of Legend, is "bird foley" the only distraction on the Cantonese track? I can deal with ambient foley, but once you get into new fight sound effects, then I'm pissed. Well, tomorrow's the "big day"... let's see what happens...