This isn’t a recent purchase, but I recently saw Don’t Open Your Eyes on the internet. it is a 2006 movie from Clarence Fok and Wong Jing. It has Alex Fong, Yuen Wah, Timmy Hung and Roderick Lam (from New Police Story), and it is one of the worst movies I have seen in a very long time.
And I just bought saviour of the Soul. It has Andy Lau, Anita Mui and Aaron Kwok. It is a mindless futuristic movie with a little bit of stylish action. Not recommended.
Yin Yang DVD?
Hi all,
I’m going by memory here, so I may have something wrong. But I was at one of my fave stores yesterday, and they had a few of these 4 movie sets. I think the DVD company name is Yin Yang. The sets were in a thicker than normal DVD case, and they had many titles I had heard of, though the only one I can remember, and I may be wrong at that, is Shaolin Temple. It seemed to me that these are widescreen, english dubs going by the info on the back. My question is, what are these, and if anyone has seen them, and what the quality is like?
I didn’t find any new MA yesterday, though I did get some other Asian titles:
Space Amoeba.
Atragon.
Yokai Monsters, Along with Ghosts.
Thanks,
Chosen One
Sounds like Red Sun/PAnmeida. You can was go ahead and waste your money on those, but there is a good chance the discs won’t work. And if they do work, copy the discs to DVD-R, because Red Sun DVDs usually stop playing after a while.
Like Jethro said.
In fact, I mentioned my experience trying to buy the Gordon Liu 4-pack in an earlier post on this very thread. Red Sun/Panmedia are bootleg DVDs that hurt the legitimate releases from Image/Celestial. IMO, Yin-Yang Films is simply another name for Red Sun/Panmedia. In addition, though they say they are remastered versions, they always have flaws in them, even when they work. Far, far inferior to the remasters they stole from Celestial. Which is very sad, because most of these movies on these illegitimate releases are great movies, and buying them hurts the chances for legitimate releases of them.
My Kung Fu movie collection
So far…
-The Big Fight (Taiwan/Hong Kong-1972) - Roc Tien/Cheung Chin Chin
-Black Cobra (Italy-1987) - Fred Williamson/Eva Grimaldi
-Black Cobra 2 (Italy-1988) - Fred Williamson/Nicholas Hammond
-Black Cobra 3 (Italy-1988) - Fred Williamson/Forry Smith
-Black Fist (1975) - Richard Lawson/Dabney Coleman/Philip Michael Thomas
-The Black Godfather (1974) - Rod Perry/Damu King
-The Brave Lion (1977) - Wei Tzi Yung
-Bruce Lee from beyond the grave-Bruce Lea
-Breakout From Oppression (1978) - Fonda Lynn/Alan Tam
-Chase Step By Step (China-1982) - Chee Fung/Wong Gwan Sheong
-Chinese Connection-Bruce lee
-City Ninja (1986) - Wai-Man Chan/Chia Che Fu
-The Deadly Duo (Hong Kong-1971) - David Chiang/Chuen Chan
-Death Machines (1976) - Ronald L. Marchini/Michael Chong
-Death Of A Ninja (“Black Magic Wars”) (Japan-1982) - Hiroyuki Sanada/Sonny Chiba (in support
-Exit the Dragon enter the tiger-Bruce Li
-Fighting Mad (“Death Force”) (USA/Philippines-1978) - Jayne Kennedy/Leon Isaac Kenndey (both minor roles)
-Fists of fury-Bruce lee
-Four Robbers (Hong Kong-1987) - Charlie Cho/Feng Ku
-Four Shaolin Challengers (Homg Kong-1977) - Charlie Chan/Phillip Ko —Game of death-Bruce lee
-The Guy With The Secret Kung Fu (2 of them)(Hong Kong-1981) - Sally Chen/Fei Meng
-Hands Of Death (Hong Kong-1987) - Richard Harrison/Roc Tien
-The Head Hunter (Hong Kong-1982) - Rosamund Kwan
-Heroes of Shaolin Part 1 (Hong Kong-1979) - Sing Chen/Jang Lee Hwang --Heroes of Shaolin Part 2 (Hong Kong-1979) - Sing Chen/Jang Lee Hwang --Image Of Bruce Lee (1978) - Bruce Li/Chang Leih
-The Impossible Kid (Philippines-1982) - Weng Weng
-Infernal Street (Taiwan/Hong Kong-1973) - Feng Chang/Wan Hsi Chin -----Karate Kids USA (“The Little Dragons”) (1980) - Charles Lane/Ann
-Kung Fu Arts (Taiwan-1980) - Carter Wong/Sing Chen
-Kung Fu Kids Break Away (Hong Kong-1980) - Au Dai/Cheung Hoi
-The Master (series): “Max” (TV-1984) - Lee Van Cleef/Timothy Van Patten/Sho Kosogi/Demi Moore (bit part)
-The Master (series): “Out-Of-Time Step” (TV-1984) - Charles Collins/**** Durock
-Ninja Champion (Hong Kong-1985) - Bruce Baron/Pierre Tremblay
-Ninja Death I (1987) - Alexander Lou/Fei Meng
-Ninja Death II (1987) - Lo Yiu/Fei Ming
-Ninja Death III (1987) - Lo Yui/Fei Ming
-Ninja Empire (Hong Kong-1990) - Mike Abbott/Marko Ritchie
-Ninja Heat (1988) - Chan Sheng/Chan Wai Mang
-Ninja The Protector (Canada/Hong Kong-1986) - Richard Harrison/Jackie Chan
-The Real Bruce Lee (Hong Kong-1973) - Bruce Lee/Bruce Li/Dragon Lee —Return of the dragon-Bruce lee
-Return Of The Kung Fu Dragon (Hong Kong-1976) - Sing Chen/Tao Chen ----Return Of The Street Fighter (Japan-1974) - Sonny Chiba/Yôko Ichiji —Shadow Ninja (Hong Kong-1983) - Roy Chiao/Wei Tung
-Shaolin Deadly Kicks (“Flash Legs”) (Hong Kong-1977) - Tao-liang Tan/Lieh Lo
-Shaolin Temple (Hong Kong-1976) - Sheng Fu/Kuan-Chun Chi
-Sister Street Fighter (Japan-1974) - Hiroshi Miyauchi/Sanae Ohba
-Snake Fist Dynamo (Homg Kong-1984) - Erik Yee/**** Lee
-The Snake, The Tiger, The Crane (Hong Kong-1975) - Carter Wong/Nan Hsi -Spirits Of Bruce Lee (Hong Kong-1973) - Michael Chan/Poon Lok
-The Street Fighter (Japan-1974) - Sonny Chiba/Waichi Yamada
-Tiger Love (1977) - Hu Chin/Lieh Lo/Ya Wang
-T.N.T. Jackson (Philippines/USA-1975) - Jeannie Bell/Stan Shaw
-The Weapons Of Death (1982) - Eric Lee/Bob Ramos
JACKIE CHAN
-Fantasy mission force
-In eagle shadow fist
-Rumble in Hong Kong
-Twin dragons
**** son thats alot of movies!!! i use own over 500 kung fu films but i started getting rid off alot of them and now i only get good ones, which i guess makes me a kung fu movie Connoisseur , instead of a kung fu movie buff like jethro.
Looks like you got one of those inexpensive multi movie sets. I have the Kung Fu 20 Movie Pack, 3 of the Brentwood 10 movie packs, and 2 of the St. Claire Vision 9 movie sets, and 3 10 movie Videoasia sets.
As well as a few single and dbl feature releases, all of various labels and quality.
Some good, some very good, some really bad, thats the transfer quality and the movie quality, mixed bags, but they are cheap, and have a lot of fun in them.
I know it’s not “kung fu” or “MA”, but I have also been collecting classic era “Peplum” movies, the mainly Italian made “Hercules/Gladiator” type movies of the 60’s. Fun stuff.
Chosen One
One question I always wondered about these “bootlegs”, is how come the people who make the “offical” releases can’t get a copyright or title exclusive holdings? I mean, if was a DVD company and started putting out True Grit, I don’t think it’d last long. Seems Celestial can stop these releases, but if they don’t have the rights and the titles are in PD, then maybe they can mark their transfers or something?
Well if they put a mark or something on it like Ocean Shores did, then people would be mad that there is a mark on it. A company like Celestial pays money to have a contract with Shaw Brothers so that they can release their movies. Celestial’s contract just expired, so therefore they won’t be releasing anymore of the Shaw Brothers titles. A company like Red Sun just waits for Celestial to remaster the film print, and then steal it. The reason nobody does anything abotu Red Sun is because not a lot of people care about old school kung fu movies. It wouldn’t even be worth taking them to court. Whoever took Red Sun to court would just end up losing money.
they got to do it the right way???
just take whoever’s in charge of red sun out to vegas, have a good time, booze,broads gambling whatever and then take them out to the desert and put a bullet in the back of there head. end of story
I need to steal all of his money first:D
I picked up Super Inframan today and plan to see it tonight. I’ll give my opinion on this soon.
I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say about that. And have you seen Deadly Breaking Sword? I saw it at best Buy today. I am guessing Cantonese is the original language, but Image only uses Mandarin tracks so I am trying to decide if I should get it.
Deadly Breaking Sword is pretty good, not Sun Chung’s best but enjoyable. It was hyped a lot before it was released so I was a bit disappointed but all in all it is pretty good.
Kind of like Gangmaster in terms of hype but not quite living up to it.
I have a VHS of Inframan. I like it. Kinda Ultraman like. Shaw also did The Mighty Peking Man which is sorta like King Kong, it’s good too, or they are all bad in that good way.
Chosen
I watched Super Inframan last night and liked it. I kinda grew up watching Ultraman TV series, and this is simply a Chinese version of it. I watched the Mandarin/English subtitle option and am glad I did. Although my Mandarin is rusty now after many years away from Taiwan and few opportunities to speak it, the dialogue I could follow w/out the subtitles made it very funny. Actually, the fact everyone was playing it straight, and the movie was done with such a serious tone, made it hilarious – or unintentionally so. Especially the “professor” or whatever character played by Wang Hsieh, when he points to Danny Lee and says he will create the “Lightning Fist” or whatever, for him; “Lightnight Fist?” Then professor points at him: “Lightning Fist!” And of course, the monsters bobbing around like Weebles.
I was a bit surprised that they only had him grow to giant size once, to fight the one monster who grew into a giant. You’d think during the end fight, he could’ve saved a lot of time growing into a giant again and stomping all the monsters, but then there wouldn’t be any drama to that. I think this movie is more for adults than children, at least nowadays, or people who can see the unintentional humor and enjoy the '70s wildness of the film.
I have seen Deadly Breaking Sword back in the day. Not Fu Sheng’s, Sun Chung’s, or Ti Lung’s best film. But not bad, either. Certainly far better than the wuxia-type stuff released in recent years.
CLF Nole:
I actually like Gang Master a lot. Back when I saw it 25 years ago, I had no expectations, it was part of another Shaw Bros triple feature at the Chinese theater. I thought it was one of Jason Pai Piao’s better roles as the villain.
I read somewhere that Celestial won’t be releasing anymore Shaws, but I hope the ones still in the pipeline will come out, like Shaolin Intruders, one of the better ones on their short list. I know that Dragon Dynasty already has a list of about 50 Shaws classics, including the 4 already out, that they’ll be releasing. I hope DD’s list grows, because some of the best ones are not on that list of 50.
DD has 52 Shaw titles, but that doesn’t mean they will be releasing them all. Here is the list, thanks to gfanik from the kungfufandom forum- http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2007/11/hkcfn-exclusive-new-dragon-dynasty.html
And Celestial remastered over 500 shaw Bros movies, but they will not be doing anymore. Hopefully somebody else picks up those titles. Hong Kong godfather is one I really want to see uncut and remastered. Same with To Kill a MAstermind. And Image has Shaolin Intruders. Hopefully they will be releasing it soon. The next Image title to be released is Killer Snakes.
BTW, I just saw Brave Girl Boxer in Shanghai and a movie called Knife Of Devil’s Roaring And Soul Missing. Both were a lot of fun. Both of these movies are in a Videoasia 2-pack under the titles Return of the Leg Fighter and Shanghai Girl Boxer. Picture quality is bad but watchable. Dorian Tan stars in Knife Of Devil’s Roaring And Soul Missing and his voice is dubbed by the same guy who did Sanada’s voice in Ninja in the dragon’s den.
I think I saw Hong Kong Godfather; is that the gangster movie starring Gordon Liu? If that’s the one, it was nice and bloody.
I read a list of Shaws remastered by Celestial. If DD and Image don’t release all the good ones, perhaps another legitimate company can come along and properly release some, too (Anchor Bay, perhaps?).
You are probably thinking of Godfather of Canton, a classic gangster type movie with Gordon Liu. I haven’t seen it. I haven’t seen Hong Kong godfather either, but I saw the final fight and it is probably the craziest fight I have ever seen. It is like 8 minutes long and one of the bloodiest fights ever. I started a thread about it. http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48127&highlight=craziest+fight
Jimbo:
I did like Gangmaster it’s just prior to Celestial releasing it there was such hype about how good it was and I guess the bar was set to high. I am not crazy about Hui Ying Hung’s (Kara Hui) brother in the lead role. I thought it could have been better cast.
Chan
Today I picked up the Columbia/Tristar DVD of Jackie Chan’s New Fist of Fury. I used to have a crappy dvd release of this, and I liked what I saw. So I was happy to get it on a good release, and for 4 bucks too. I know many don’t like this movie, of the other Lo Wei ones, but I do.
Chosen One