The state of classic martial arts film distributors?

[Sheng]

Originally Posted by Markgway

I invented that term.

Really ? Honestly wasn’t aware of that, blood. But then your semantic invention must have spread like wildfire! In any case, the amount of “pinkification” that I detected with my “four eyes” was a minor and pretty bearable flaw.

Originally Posted by Markgway

Were HKL discs better than anything coming out in Hong Kong? Of course. But they were often flawed. The truly great discs (Duel to the Death, Dragons Forever, etc) were sadly in a minority.We had 5.1 remixes (Warriors Two, etc), dubtitles (Heart of Dragon), cropping (Legend of a Fighter, Police Story 2, etc), pinkification (Fist of Fury, etc), incorrect language (The Big Boss, etc). Are we to ignore these flaws lest it upset label supporters? I say 'no'. I tell the truth and if it bothers anyone then don't buy. The choice is down to the individual. I won't pretend something is better than it is.

“Truly great discs”… well, I guess you might have mainly films in mind that you personally care about. From the eighty-some HKL discs on my shelf the majority is pretty damn good, even by today’s standards. And I happen to think that they ought to be picked up despite the flaws you outlined!
As you know I’m no fan of 5.1 remixes or slight cropping (as in LEGEND OF A FIGHTER – otherwise a fabulous disc that EVERYBODY should buy!!), neither of dubtitles or, uh… “pinkification”… But all these to me were rather negligible flaws (the censoring of some HKL titles I thought of as rather unforgivable though… and the horrendous rock music that they had playing during some of their interviews was a major turn-off as well. But we all have our sensitive points, I guess).
Well, and “wrong language”… I’m certainly not excited of getting served a different language as the one a film was originally shot in, but I’m probably a lil’ more tolerant if its another Chinese language that’s offered (actually I even admit that the Mandarin dub of HKL's DRAGON GATE INN wasn’t bad at all). Its still a hell of a lot better than issuing a film only in English (like DD dared to do with their DRUNKEN MASTER 2) – coz that is definitely the wrong fuckin’ language!!
As for the Canto track on THE BIG BOSS, I just picked up the new K & R Blu Ray. It has a Mandarin option too – unfortunately no Mono… Things just never seem to be perfect in this nick of the cinema world that people like us inhabit, huh?

[andy338]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Surprised to see Cine Asia choose Legendary Amazons and 1911 given that they were critical and commercial flops.

Yes the choice of Cineasia releases never ceases to amaze me, they recently confirmed on their facebook page that they won't be bringing out Dreadnaught and I suspect that they'll not bother with similar classics but then they release crap like 1911.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

It's mindboggling! I was really hoping for Dreadnaught since it's the one HKL I never got a hold of!!!

[blue_skies]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Were HKL discs better than anything coming out in Hong Kong? Of course. But they were often flawed. The truly great discs (Duel to the Death, Dragons Forever, etc) were sadly in a minority.We had 5.1 remixes (Warriors Two, etc), dubtitles (Heart of Dragon), cropping (Legend of a Fighter, Police Story 2, etc), pinkification (Fist of Fury, etc), incorrect language (The Big Boss, etc). Are we to ignore these flaws lest it upset label supporters? I say 'no'. I tell the truth and if it bothers anyone then don't buy. The choice is down to the individual. I won't pretend something is better than it is.



.

Well I think that could be part of the problem people expecting perfection, boycotting decent releases then choosing to trade DVD –r/torrent instead. If it isn't financially viable for the company's to put the movies out there and we all lose as there's nothing being released. Let's be honest I would rather have an imperfect quality release than nothing at all, or trying to find an inferior copy.

Originally Posted by TibetanWhiteCrane

It's mindboggling! I was really hoping for Dreadnaught since it's the one HKL I never got a hold of!!!

me too
I was looking forward to also getting warriors two, duel to the death,she shoots straight and the odd couple but somehow I suspect those titles will not be forthcoming.


edit: a big thank you to Kingofkungfu2002 for giving me his spare HK DVD of Dreadnaught

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Duel To The Death is on play.com used for 17.48 euro..... not to bad, though Warriors Two is at a whopping 49.99!

There are several new Warriors Two HKL aussie versions on ebay.co.uk.

I had to get the Aussie HKLs of Game Of Death, Knockabout and Hapkido, as they were all off the grid at the time.

[blue_skies]

Originally Posted by TibetanWhiteCrane

Duel To The Death is on play.com used for 17.48 euro..... not to bad, though Warriors Two is at a whopping 49.99!

There are several new Warriors Two HKL aussie versions on ebay.co.uk.

I had to get the Aussie HKLs of Game Of Death, Knockabout and Hapkido, as they were all off the grid at the time.

yeah that's too expensive for me at around £17.
there is too many movies I want and not enough money! it wouldn't be so bad if things didn't go out of print and then people charge a fortune for them.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by Sheng

Really ? Honestly wasn’t aware of that, blood. But then your semantic invention must have spread like wildfire!

I thought it was snappier than "they reddened the image".

Now what'll happen is that someone will come along and say they used it 6 mins before I first did and then my claim to fame will be all but over.

slight cropping (as in LEGEND OF A FIGHTER – otherwise a fabulous disc that EVERYBODY should buy!!)

Did we see the same DVD? The cropping was more than slight (2.35 to 1.78) and they used the wrong language dub. I'm glad the film isn't a favourite so I don't have to own that crappy disc.

the censoring of some HKL titles I thought of as rather unforgivable though…

Ironic as it's one of the few flaws that wasn't their fault

Well, and “wrong language”… I’m certainly not excited of getting served a different language as the one a film was originally shot in, but I’m probably a lil’ more tolerant if its another Chinese language that’s offered

I guess I can relate to that... but only because most English dubs are so awful. I could also point out that Dragon Inn isn't the director's cut but I think that might be rubbing salt into the wound...

As for the Canto track on THE BIG BOSS, I just picked up the new K & R Blu Ray. It has a Mandarin option too – unfortunately no Mono… Things just never seem to be perfect in this nick of the cinema world that people like us inhabit, huh?

The best option is the Fox Ultimate Ed. DVD. That has Mandarin mono (though it goes out of sync for one scene IIRC). Would be nice if Fox put that version out on BD (with sync fixed of course).

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by andy338

they recently confirmed on their facebook page that they won't be bringing out Dreadnaught and I suspect that they'll not bother with similar classics but then they release crap like 1911.

WTF??????????????????????????????????????
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Why??????????????????????????????????????
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Originally Posted by blue_skies

I was looking forward to also getting warriors two, duel to the death,she shoots straight and the odd couple but somehow I suspect those titles will not be forthcoming.

Yeah, well done Cine Asia for reissuing the fucking titles everyone already fucking has because they were still widely fucking available. Fucks.

I'm not on Facebook, but I think I might send an email to those cocksmokers once I've cooled down. Is there a link to where they made that comment so I can quote it?

EDIT: Found the facebook page and it won't let me view comments. A stupid 'login' prompt keeps popping up.

EDIT: Managed to 'cache' it.

[nectarsis]

Damn...and I was just looking at getting the HKL Legend of a Fighter...thanks for the info Markgway ;)

[Killer Meteor]

If you can get HKL Legend Of A Fighter, it's worth getting to see the film, but quality isn't much better then a good Vengeance VIdeo - "remastered" perhaps but it's heavily cropped on the sides, and on the top.

Regarding HKL's pinkification, it's an example of them meddling. I'm perfectly willing to accept film prints go pink, but HKL took existing transfers and did unecessary tampering to them. If they were a company that communicated better, then we'd get the sense they'd read the criticisms and stop, but instead they took it over to Dragon Dynasty's Police Story.

Maybe if in 2001, they realised fans didn't like remixes, we wouldn't have had that awful Warriors Two DVD in 2005.

Yes, we sat through video bootlegs (even this wipper snapper had the Fist Of Unicorn where the top of the picture is at the bottom and loved it!), but why should we not have reasonable expectations of DVDs? Markgway and I are certainly not unreasonable - you won't hear me moaning if an interview is interlaced!