The Shaw Brothers Bootlegs

[shukocarl]

Warners did distribute Big Brawl theatrically in the UK.

[irons]

Warners did distribute Big Brawl theatrically in the UK.

They did, I remember the logo coming up. First MA film a seen in the cinema. It was the old AA rating in the UK, meaning you had to be 14 year old or over. I sneaked in when I was around 12 I think.

[Tex Killer]

Extremely interesting thread. I will bump this, make coffee and go through whole topic...

[Cognoscente]

On 6/22/2012 at 8:23 PM, dionbrother said:

It was dumped on the New York market where it bombed. 89 screens is awful. Didn't play across the country, which is shameful for a Warner Bros. product. It sat on the shelf for a year, and played the Philippines and Hong Kong at least half a year before 42nd street. Of course, it fucking blew as a movie. Warners knew it was a dog. There was no offer on the table for more Jackie movies, no matter what he says now. Golden Harvest was pushing super hard for the unmade SINGAPORE SLING in 1987, going after Tom Hanks, then Chevy Chase, and then Jim Belushi. Nobody wanted to make it. There was talk of a collaboration with Burt Reynolds in a buddy comedy with them as spies, but also never made.

I wondered why Singapore Sling never got made. In the March '88 issue of Combat, Jackie also talked about GH wanting him to go to America to do a film with Burt Reynolds and Phoebe Cates.

 

On 7/7/2012 at 10:10 PM, shaolinkng7 said:

Burt Reynolds would have never made any movie with Jackie Chan. Jackie stole "Cannonball Run" and Burt never forgot it. Audiences loved Jackie Chan's character, and applauded him when he fought the motorcycle gang at the end of the movie. When the sequel came out Burt had Needham bury Jackie's character. Instead of driving the car Chan was stuck in the back seat behind giant Richard Kiel, and at the movie's end where the entire cast gets into a brawl Jackie is barely shown. Even the orangutan gets more screen time in that scene. Burt Reynolds had become a very arrogant prick by that time and would never want to be part of a picture where his co-star stole the attention from him. ( This is why "City Heat", made the same year, was a bit of a surprise. He agreed to a co-star credit below Clint Eastwood, more proof that Eastwood was at his peak during those years. )

I also wondered why Jackie didn't get much to do in the sequel.

[dionbrother]

Jackie was in Cannonball Run II for the Japanese distributors, same reason Golden Harvest made a GAME OF DEATH 2.  He likely only worked on it for a week.

[morpheus]

As terrible as those Shaw bootlegs are, they were at one time the only way some of us could view those films.  Yes, they had poor audio, were badly dubbed, and appeared as though the picture was videotaped straight off a television screen.  But these were often the most rented tapes in the local video stores.  We used to dub them -making the quality even worse- and played them over and over.  In some respect, these bootlegs perhaps inspired companies to reissue the films -many of which are available in Blu Ray today.  Some of the films released through World Northal were aired on Black Belt Theatre late Friday night or Kung Fu Theatre on USA Network.  We always plopped a blank VHS tape in the recorder and waited to see if it was a title we did not yet have.

[monk]

On 5/17/2012 at 1:27 AM, shaolinkng7 said:

Did no one think of video taping any of the martial arts movies when they aired on television in the 80s? We all did the same. We had an opportunity to tape our favorite movies when they were still being shown on television. We didn't. When they stopped airing them we all decided that we wanted those movies. We went to the video stores to buy them. What we found was Saturn Video or Master Arts, both with a lot of movies we never heard of, and none of the films from television. Then we found a store that sold Shaw Brothers movies on video. The photo copy shell case boxes and xeroxed labels made it obvious these were bootlegs. But with no other way to get these movies, you bought the Shaw Brothers bootleg.

 

The Shaw Brothers bootlegs were copied from videos that had a legitimate release. The question is, were the legitimately released videos authorized or unauthorized? Did the company that originally release them have a deal with Shaw Brothers to do so, or was it just a disgruntled employee of World Northal releasing the films on his own. My own opinion is that World Northal's deal to broadcast Shaw Brothers movies included the home video rights. Rather than selling the films to a third party, they decided to release them on their own. Using the press kits that would have been provided to them from Shaw Brothers, press kits that included publicity stills and the original movie poster, they cut together crude boxes, and offered the films through mail order. Since letterboxing a film was still unacceptable in the 80s, World Northal decided they needed pan and scan masters. But since hiring an editor to properly pan and scan a movie was expensive, the cheaper alternative was to use the already existing television edits, blocking out the extra credit for the television edit by Larry Bensky with a new copyright credit for Shaw Brothers. The shell cases included catalog numbers, unusual for any bootlegs at the time, but expected from any company manufacturing and distributing videos. Another thing unique to the Shaw Brothers videos was the SB logo on the top of the spine, and smaller SB logos on the front and back of the box.

 

Legal or not, the company that released and distributed he original Shaw Brothers videos vanished the same time World Northal went bankrupt. Here is what I learned happened next. A warehouse in the city, possibly in Queens, had thousands of the Shaw Brothers videos. These were the original tapes in clam shell boxes that were printed, not photo copied, and with labels that were printed stickers, not glued on xerox copies. Someone had leased the warehouse and used it to store the tapes, and from there shipped them across the country to the video stores that ordered them. According to a local video store that bought one of the Shaw Brothers videos in the mid 80s, the price was around $80 per tape. Whoever pressed the tapes could no longer afford to pay the back lease and forfeited the tapes. The warehouse offered the tapes to overstock outlets for $7 a tape to be retailed at $10. Someone who was distributing the cut rate tapes noticed how well they sold, and as the stock ran out decided how easy it would be to photo copy the shell box and press additional tapes. Once the knock offs started appearing, bootleggers began making color xerox boxes of the knock offs. Bootleg Shaw Brothers videos were soon available across the city, and soon spread out to other cities. Only about 45 titles were on Shaw Brothers videos. Since Shaw Brothers was such a goldmine that bootleggers began searching for other Shaw Brother videos, sometimes going as far as buying and converting legally released PAL tapes from the U.K. There had been a few Shaw Brothers movies that were legally released by legit video companies, such as South Gate, but were distributed direct to rental shops instead of in stores for an affordable price. Even Master Arts and Saturn originally marketed their videos at $80 direct to rental shops who had no idea which moves were classics and which were crap. Whenever a Shaw Brothers tape was discovered in a rental shop that had not yet appeared on the bootleg market, it was like finding gold. Bootleggers paid these rental shops top dollar for the tapes and their boxes.

 

The following is a list of all the bootleg Shaw Brothers movies that turned up on VHS in the 90s, including the original Shaw Brothers videos with their catalog number. Covers often had two different movie titles. Both the U.S. release title and the original H.K. title. Usually the second title was on the movie poster on the front of the box.

 

 

3 Evil Masters ( The Evil Masters ) SB-1033

4 Assassins ( Marco Polo ) SB-1089

Angry Guest ( Kung Fu Killer ) SB-1080

Avenging Eagle SB-1029

Challenge of the Masters SB-1028

Chinatown Kid SB-1035

Death Chambers ( Shaolin Temple ) SB-1060

Disciples of Death SB-1026

Destroyers ( The Magnificent Ruffians ) SB-1081

Dirty Ho SB-1034

Duel of the Iron Fist ( The Duel ) SB-1082

Dynasty of Blood SB-1038

Executioners From Shaolin SB-1033

Fists of the White Lotus SB-1043

Five Deadly Venoms SB-1051

Five Masters of Death SB-1058

Flying Guillotine SB-1053

Grand Master of Death SB-1054

The Heroic Ones SB-1059

Heroes Two SB-1031

Instructors of Death/The Martial Club SB-1040

Invincible Kung Fu Brothers ( Shaolin Avengers ) SB-1062

Invincible One ( Disciples of Shaolin ) SB-1061

Iron Chain Fighter SB-1052

The Kid With the Golden Arm SB-1052

Killer Army ( The Guerrillas ) SB-1078

Killer From Shantung ( The Boxer From Shantung ) SB-1088

Kung Fu Hellcats SB-1086

The Kung Fu Instructor SB-1040

Kung Fu Vengeance SB-1039 [ Note: Never shown on Black Belt Theater. And this version was unedited for content ]

Kung Fu Warlords ( Shaolin Archer ) SB-1085 [ For a while the movie inside the box was "Thunderbolt Fist" with it's opening credits removed. "Kung Fu Warlords" finally turned up in 1993, source unknown. ]

Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu SB-1041

Master of Kung Fu SB-1027

Mortal Combat/Crippled Avengers SB-1036

Roar of the Lion SB-1053 [ Bootleg sourced directly from a World Northal video edit, including the leader that is not shown on television.]

The Savage 5 SB-1032

Seven Soldiers of Kung Fu ( 7 Blows of the Dragon 2 )( All Men Are Brothers ) SB-1079

Shaolin Handlock SB-1033

Shaolin Mantis SB-1037

Slice Of Death ( Abbot of Shaolin ) SB-1028

The Spearman ( Flag of Iron ) SB-1039

Street Gangs of Hong Kong ( The Delinquent ) SB-1084 [ For some reason the film inside the box was "Young Avenger" with the opening credit changed to "Street Gangs of Hong Kong: The Delinquent". Around 1992 someone sourced a U.K. video release of the film, with the ending that was cut out of the Black Belt Theater version. ]

Ten Tigers of Kwangtung SB-1050

Unbeatable Dragon SB-1042

Warrior of Steel ( Man of Iron ) SB-1052

 

Bootlegs sourced from U.K. Warner Brothers PAL. including box:

Challenge of the Ninja

Mad Monkey Kung Fu

The Masked Avengers

Superfighters

Return of the Master Killer

( Also included a Shaw Brother film called "The Killer" which never aired on BBT )

 

Bootleg sourced from Warner Brothers USA

Seven Blows of the Dragon

 

Bootlegs sourced from unknown video company but using same style box with no company logo:

Five Fingers of Death

Super Ninjas

 

Bootleg sourced from EMI UK video

"Triple Irons", which was never shown on BBT, was bootleged under it's H.K. title "The New One Armed Swordsman" but using the "Triple Irons" dub version.

 

Ended up at Master Arts Video:

Iron Fingers of Death [ Under the alternative title "Death Mask of the Ninja" ]

Karate Exterminators [ Under the alternative title "Lightning Kung Fu" ]

Stroke of Death (?) [ Under the title "Monkey Kung Fu" ? ]

 

Bootleg sourced from Embassy:

Master Killer

 

Bootleg sourced from South Gate:

Two Champions of Death

( Strangely enough, no one bothered to bootleg "Bells of Death" or "Duel of Fists". Both ended up on the trade market. )

 

Bootleg sourced from Trolley Car Record & Filmworks

7 Brothers Meet Dracula

 

Bootlegs that showed up in the 90s in handmade boxes, source unknown:

8 Diagram Pole Fighter

Avenging Warriors

Blast of the Iron Palm [ the only Shaw Brothers bootleg to have been cam corded from a theater ]

Daredevils of Kung Fu

Deadly Mantis [ Yes, again. Bootleggers did not realize it was the same movie as "Shaolin Mantis" ]

Master of Disaster ( a.k.a. The Treasure Hunters )

Shaolin Intruders

Shaolin Martial Arts

 

Trade Tape available in the 90s with no box:

Bloody Avengers ( Taped off of WNEW-5 with station logo )

 

The following Black Belt Theater movies, as far as I knew, were never available on the bootleg market or as trade videos:

Deadly Angels

Bruce Lee: His Last Days, His Last Nights

Strike 4 Revenge

 

Also:

 

The horror movie "Black Magic" was bootlegged in a Shaw Brothers Video box but without a catalog number.

 

An odd wrap around box for "One Armed Swordsman", possibly a copy of a movie card, existed. But contained the movie "One Armed Swordsmen" with David Chiang and Jimmy Wang Yu.

 

"Secret Rivals" was bootlegged in a box with the Shaw Brothers Video logo, even though the back of the box identified it as a Seasonal Film. "Secret Rivals 2" was in an identical box but with the Tamo Video logo instead of the Shaw Brothers logo.

 

"Dance of the Drunken Mantis" was in a box with a Shaw Brothers logo.

 

"Ninja Warlord" was another movie found in a faked Shaw Brothers box. It was the only

 

Someone went out of their way to make the box for the Golden Harvest film "Hand of Death" with Jackie Chan look like a Shaw Brothers Video, logo and everything.

 

"Kung Fu Commandos" was bootleged with the Shaw Brothers company logo edited on to the beginning.

 

A box with the Shaw Brothers logo, the Chinese poster for "A Fist Full of Talons" and the English title "Wandering Dragons" and yet a third movie inside was for a while available on the bootleg market.

 

"The Best of Shaw Brothers" and "Best of Shaw Brothers II" had fight scenes edited out of different Shaw Brothers movies. It was obviously put together by bootleggers.

i had the southgate super ninjas tape. i think i had 10 tigers of kwangtung as well.

i also got marco polo, 5 shaolin masters, men from the monestary and shaolin temple, killer army, and flag of iron from canal st. i think i still have those somewhere 

(edit i remember a release of bells of death that i got later)

Edited July 14, 2021 by monk