Rumble In The Bronx (1995)

[starschwar]

As always, thank you all for your feedback.  Here's an example of a very long line on the hardsub, and Tman's more plausible translation used in its place.

 

 

[Asmo]

Don't Give a Damn and How to Meet the Lucky Stars (1995 and 1996 releases) still had dubbed audio, and films from HK indeed do still have theatrical subs. However, they're better written these days.

[starschwar]

Wow, '96?  That's incredible.  I wonder if that was the very last, or if there were still some holdouts.

[Asmo]

5 hours ago, starschwar said:

Wow, '96?  That's incredible.  I wonder if that was the very last, or if there were still some holdouts.

Mr. Nice Guy for one, but that's a bit of a different case where it was shot sync-sound in English and then dubbed into Cantonese and Mandarin.

[ZenkaigerBat]

On 6/20/2021 at 8:26 PM, starschwar said:

Here's a little something I've been tinkering with for my own amusement for a while ( @tman418 seems to have had a similar idea)- an attempt to combine three DVD releases' strengths in lieu of a proper remaster.  Here's some footage as it appears on the Taiwan DVD, unaltered other than IVTC.

 

 

Here it is again, with the Japanese DVD's sync-sound audio, and North American DVD footage where available, The rest is (to my limited ability) color corrected and has its aspect ratio adjusted.  Two flavors of subtitles - superimposed over the burn-ins and down on the bottom letterbox.  I left anything I consider legible untouched.  Which do you all think is the superior solution?  Or is there another option that has escaped my attention?  Suggesting regarding font, color, outline, etc - or anything else - are welcome. 

 

 

 

I love this verison better.

[starschwar]

@ZenkaigerBat Which, you linked both?  That said, I've been working with the bottom-letterbox style in light of recent feedback.  It's very easily moved and resized, however.  I could do both as separate versions.

[ZenkaigerBat]

9 hours ago, starschwar said:

@ZenkaigerBat Which, you linked both?  That said, I've been working with the bottom-letterbox style in light of recent feedback.  It's very easily moved and resized, however.  I could do both as separate versions.

I wasnt able to download it, my pc isnt able to. I did enjoy your subs much better to read.   

[tman418]

Hello everyone,

I am "The Film Whisperer" on YouTube. I made a custom "reconstruction" of the original HK version of "Rumble" (which includes a few exclusive scenes from the US version), and my own fan-edit of the film "The Film Whisperer" edit.

Here's a YouTube I explain it all, and there's a Mega download link included in the video description to download my edits.

 

[tman418]

On 6/24/2021 at 3:43 PM, starschwar said:

As late as 1994 (perhaps later?) they were still sometimes shooting without sync-sound - Drunken Master II being the obvious example.  Obsolescence does not mean extinction.

That said, these subs from the Taiwan DVD seem to be designed based around the Mandarin dub, which presumably has some significant script alterations.  There are subtitles present in places where there is no spoken dialogue in the original sync sound.  Some subtitled lines are preposterously long compared to their sync sound counterparts.  Bits of English do not match up at all to what is being spoken, even beyond the norm.  Tman seems to have at least some knowledge of Cantonese, because many lines are rendered differently than the hardsubs.  They make perfect sense in context, so I'm giving him benefit of the doubt and assume that his versions are more correct.

Anyway, the Taiwan DVD is a quick and cheap scan of a theatrical print they had lying around.  The aspect ratio is wrong - there's less picture information on the sides, more vertically, and it is stretched (I have corrected that).  There's lots of bad color, tons of damage, and multiple instances of missing bits of footage.  Moreover, it's a double-sided disc, with the other side featuring the New Line edit, with optional digital Chinese subtitles.  So clearly, they had the technology to do something more presentable than the old hardsubs, but either lacked the budget, film materials, or effort to do so.

For the missing bits, usually the North American version has that covered.  Otherwise, I use the Japanese DVD and approximate the heavily-cropped image's position within the correct aspect ratio's framing to provide better visual continuity.

You're sort of right. Once I got the chance to sit down with a Cantonese-speaking neighbor of mine (although her English is kinda poor), I realized that the scripts in Mandarin and Cantonese are very similar. Although it seems to me that the Mandarin version added some more "edgy", dialog, haha.

Like for example, Uncle Bill talks specifically about a "white" robber who shot Keung's (Jackie Chan) father. And in the preceding moments before the first grocery store fight, Elaine (Anita Mui) refers to Angelo as  some kind of racial slur for white pepole in Mandarin, haha. My wife (from mainland China) confirmed this for the dialog and subtitles.

[starschwar]

Uncle Bill's racial specificity in that version does come across as very odd, considering his more enlightened views on the matter when talking to Keung about his bride-to-be mere minutes later.  I guess that's just the nature of dubbing - someone always takes liberties, no matter how illogical.  In the New Line dub, Bill says that Keung has recently won many martial arts tournaments - and then asks him if he practices.  Or how he keeps trying to sell Anita Mui's character on the grocery store after she's already decided to buy it (in the real movie, she is only considering buying it at that point and had not made up her mind).

Edited June 28, 2021 by starschwar

[Cognoscente]

[Cognoscente]

[PandaPawPaw]

What was Jet Li doing there? Shooting a film or something?

 

[J.J. Hayden]

1 hour ago, PandaPawPaw said:

What was Jet Li doing there? Shooting a film or something?

Probably some promo event back in HK. The cardboard cut out and the walls have Chinese writing on them. I assume it was before Jet made High Risk, LOL.

[legendarycurry]

1 hour ago, PandaPawPaw said:

What was Jet Li doing there? Shooting a film or something?

 

Maybe he was doing my Father Is A Hero with Anita for the same studio?, I dunno. Or it is just a promo event as J.J suggested.

[J.J. Hayden]

4 minutes ago, legendarycurry said:

Maybe he was doing my Father Is A Hero with Anita for the same studio?, I dunno. Or it is just a promo event as J.J suggested.

I think you're spot on, I hadn't noticed at first, but after your comment, I noticed Jet is wearing his costume from the finale of My Father Is A Hero.