SHAWS on itunes

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

When you say "NOT There", do you mean My Rebellious Son?  On US iTunes?  It should be, I just searched and downloaded it.  I think it's not in their iTunes page yet, you have to search the name specifically.  Or search for "Alexander Fu Sheng", "Sun Chung", or "Ni Kuang".  It seems to take some time for them to link everything up correctly. 

 

 

MY BAD. I was not using "quotation marks" around folks names. That's why it did not come up. You're right, it is there. 

 

 

 

[reason108]

Can someone (directed at Celestial) please link these movies together so we can see what is and is not available? 

Thanks for the heads up on Heads for Sale and My Rebellious Son. 

 

I also posted this in the Shaws on Netflix thread: I was comparing Masked Avengers between iTunes and Netflix. I thought that Netflix barely edged out iTunes in PQ because in random close-ups, there appeared to be more image detail. The file size for MA for iTunes is 2.85gb. And, the subs are different between the two. 

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Glad to see them releasing two films a week again. I'll just have to check the iTunes link weekly since they're back to adding new films. They're a week behind on Twitter (haven't mentioned Heads for Sale or My Rebellious Son.)

 

And I'll make sure to put folks names in quotes. So embarrassed I do that everywhere else, but not in iTunes.  

 

Interesting to hear Netflix is getting different versions. 

[Hei Meigui]

 

 

MY BAD. I was not using "quotation marks" around folks names. That's why it did not come up. You're right, it is there. 

 

 

 

This is driving me crazy, I started using the link that someone long ago provided because many times when I would search nothing would come up. For example I would search Gordon Liu, Chia hui liu, etc and stuff still may not come up. I do not know why everything shouldn't just come up if we search Shaw Brother's or Celestial. I even put in the names in chinese characters as some of the actors names are listed that way in the iTunes description.

 

Okay so I just tried so search using the quotes and some of the titles don't come up that way. argghhh

[Hei Meigui]

MY BAD. I was not using "quotation marks" around folks names. That's why it did not come up. You're right, it is there. 

 

 

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/my-rebellious-son/id1045043239

If you didn't get it

 

 

[Hei Meigui]

Shaolin Mantis and Men from the Monastery are both up on US iTunes.  Both with Mandarin and English dubs.  Normal HD:$8 SD:$4 pricing.

 

It's good to see them releasing movies again (Just a coincidence that the forum went back up just a couple days before?  Not possible).  But also a little weird.  There are still 10 movies (listed below) on their website as being available that are not.  That last batch of movies they released seemed to be riddled with issues which took them a while to sort out. Maybe they pulled the remaining ones to rework them before they get released.

 

Brave Archer and His Mate

Buddha's Palm

Full Moon Scimitar

House of Traps

Marco Polo

Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman

The Brave Archer

The Brave Archer 2

The Brave Archer 3

The Weird Man

I see these for sale other places but not on iTunes so maybe that is what "released" means. I have seen them on Amazon, and ebay

[bobostilllives]

just purchased and watched English dub version of HEADS FOR SALE . absolute classic. classic dub voices and an excellent movie. now to burn it to dvd. 

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

I see these for sale other places but not on iTunes so maybe that is what "released" means. I have seen them on Amazon, and ebay

The digital formats may be available elsewhere in the world, but not on U.S. iTunes? I am not sure. As you know,  dvd copies are still plentiful of most of these (either legit or bootlegs.)

 

 iTunes and Celestial seriously need to get their stuff together with the searching.  The easiest thing to do is just click on the iTunes Shaw Brothers link and compare existing releases to anything new. Heads for Sale immediately jumped out at me because I've been checking a few times a week every week. (No, I don't have a Shaw Brothers addiction, really.)

 

Thanks for the quick review of HFS Bobo...

 

 

[Chemical Lemon]

The Spiritual Boxer is up on US iTunes now. Mandarin/English dub, English/Traditional Chinese subs. I'm psyched to have an English dubbed copy of this now. I'm impressed with the current crop of releases, some really good picks, a nice mix. 

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Thanks Chemical Lemon! Found it this time.  This is the second Shaw film I've bought within the last 6-8 weeks (and this was a legit IVL) that went up on iTunes.   
 

So awesome to have the opening 8 minutes on HD*...the rest is good for a sort of goofy, sweet Halloween film ('spirit possession' by the gods, but it veers completely away from the 'reality' of the Boxer Rebellion-ish trio in the beginning of the film.)  Interesting they're releasing a few comedies in this bunch. This is a very eclectic mix of films going up right now. I wonder what this week's second film will be...

 

*Now I can get legit screenshots of Wilson Tong's nanwu without conversion lines.  He's one of those Shaws characters that won't leave my memory no matter how hard I try. 

[Chemical Lemon]

The Tigress of Shaolin is up now on US iTunes. Cantonese/English dubs, English/Traditional Chinese subs. 

[Chemical Lemon]

Shaolin Rescuers is up on the US iTunes Store now. Oddly this comes with Cantonese/English dub, English Traditional Chinese subs. I would would have thought this would have the Mandarin dub. 

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Thanks, as always, for the constant updates Chemical Lemon. I found Shaolin Rescuers by clicking the link on Chang Cheh's name in another film, so yay!

Very nice to see three films appear this week. I wonder if the Mandarin print had issues?  

 

 

[reason108]

Since Celestial is not able to keep an update of what is available on iTunes; can someone create a sticky or something that would provide us the list? We could still talk about the releases here but I think we need a way to know what is going on since there is no official tracking at this point. Thanks to everyone that finds these by searching but if we miss a page or two, we might miss an important release. People should not just find these because they did a search on iTunes. We really need to know what IS on iTunes.  

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

A good idea reason108. Suggestion to anyone here: if you're on Twitter / social media perhaps you could politely NUDGE celestial to be more active about tweeting new releases. Last mention I saw there was Shaolin Mantis and Men from the Monastery.   While I appreciate what they're doing otherwise, you'd think they'd want to alert people when new content is up. Because you know, money. 

[Chemical Lemon]

As crazy as it sounds, I don't think they have much idea when content goes up.  That time recently when the mentioned it on facebook, was an hour after I mentioned to them that they were up and asked whether the 10 movies listed on their webpage would go up soon.  I think they give their movies to an aggregator and have little idea when they will get put up.  Whoever maintains their website probably does a bunch of other things and will occasionally remember to sync what's on their webpage with what's in their iTunes page.  The iTunes page updates pretty quickly, usually within 24 hours of a new release going out (occasionally a little longer).  I suspect this is maintained by someone else though, someone involved in the upload process.  That's where I usually notice new releases, although I occasionally find them while searching by director or actor.  I feel like everything involved is fairly manual and requires a lot of communication between people who are busy doing something else.  It does seem silly to me that they appear to be unaware of when movies go up on various digital sites.  I've tried asking questions through social media, and they're always very nice, but always just brush me off.  Which is fine, I think the person running their social media sites is almost entirely wrapped up in coming up with silly pictures and video's to drive traffic to their site and click on their iTunes page, which is usually the most accurate list of what's available.  

 

I maintain a pretty accurate spreadsheet of what's available on iTunes and various other info (dub,sub,price, anything worth mentioning).  The old version of this board didn't support spreadsheets very well, but seems like this one does.  I'm a bit busy with work, but sometime this weekend I'll try starting a new thread and keeping it up to date.  I'm also thinking of writing a program to search iTunes based on a list of IVL DVDs and the actors in each movie.  iTunes doesn't let you search by release studio and I don't think I can get access to the data on their iTunes page.  So searching by movie, director, cast, writer, producer credits seems to be the easiest way to determine what's out there without manually checking the iTunes page.  It doesn't help that they constantly use different names for each of the cast & crew.  But I can catalog frequently used alternatives and search for those too.  I'm busy at home and work though so I probably won't get to that for a while.

 

 

[Hei Meigui]

As crazy as it sounds, I don't think they have much idea when content goes up.  That time recently when the mentioned it on facebook, was an hour after I mentioned to them that they were up and asked whether the 10 movies listed on their webpage would go up soon.  I think they give their movies to an aggregator and have little idea when they will get put up.  Whoever maintains their website probably does a bunch of other things and will occasionally remember to sync what's on their webpage with what's in their iTunes page.  The iTunes page updates pretty quickly, usually within 24 hours of a new release going out (occasionally a little longer).  I suspect this is maintained by someone else though, someone involved in the upload process.  That's where I usually notice new releases, although I occasionally find them while searching by director or actor.  I feel like everything involved is fairly manual and requires a lot of communication between people who are busy doing something else.  It does seem silly to me that they appear to be unaware of when movies go up on various digital sites.  I've tried asking questions through social media, and they're always very nice, but always just brush me off.  Which is fine, I think the person running their social media sites is almost entirely wrapped up in coming up with silly pictures and video's to drive traffic to their site and click on their iTunes page, which is usually the most accurate list of what's available.  

 

I maintain a pretty accurate spreadsheet of what's available on iTunes and various other info (dub,sub,price, anything worth mentioning).  The old version of this board didn't support spreadsheets very well, but seems like this one does.  I'm a bit busy with work, but sometime this weekend I'll try starting a new thread and keeping it up to date.  I'm also thinking of writing a program to search iTunes based on a list of IVL DVDs and the actors in each movie.  iTunes doesn't let you search by release studio and I don't think I can get access to the data on their iTunes page.  So searching by movie, director, cast, writer, producer credits seems to be the easiest way to determine what's out there without manually checking the iTunes page.  It doesn't help that they constantly use different names for each of the cast & crew.  But I can catalog frequently used alternatives and search for those too.  I'm busy at home and work though so I probably won't get to that for a while.

 

 

Awesome if you can do this. I also find that I have had to cut and copy the Chinese characters for the actor as sometimes they are listed in the movie description and that will pull them up when typing the name alone wont. Thank you for your diligence in this. I searched the Shaw Brother's site on iTunes and looked up by producer, director, writer, and actors and the full listing seems to be showing up on that one page. I may have missed a few but it looks somewhat complete.

I am also going to call Apple tonight and talk to the iTunes reps and see what other info I can get.

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Props, Chemical Lemon. Appreciate all you do and the updates. Yeah, Celestial post way too much fluff on social media. I've pretty much stopped looking at their social media except to check for iTunes / blu ray updates. Interesting, you've been politely blown off. I'll keep looking in iTunes, thanks for the suggestions. 

 

Good look with the calls, Hei.

 

On a related note, I may sell more of my Shaws (Funimation / IVLs);  with so much appearing on iTunes, I don't need both formats for every film.  I'll post in the Wanted section if I decide to sell; but the Funimation Shaolin Rescuers and Invincible Shaolin are among two I am seriously considering parting with.

 

Anyway, looking forward to seeing  Celestial post more films, it's a nice treat to see another Shaw film available in the format. 

 

 

[Hei Meigui]

As crazy as it sounds, I don't think they have much idea when content goes up.  That time recently when the mentioned it on facebook, was an hour after I mentioned to them that they were up and asked whether the 10 movies listed on their webpage would go up soon.  I think they give their movies to an aggregator and have little idea when they will get put up.  Whoever maintains their website probably does a bunch of other things and will occasionally remember to sync what's on their webpage with what's in their iTunes page.  The iTunes page updates pretty quickly, usually within 24 hours of a new release going out (occasionally a little longer).  I suspect this is maintained by someone else though, someone involved in the upload process.  That's where I usually notice new releases, although I occasionally find them while searching by director or actor.  I feel like everything involved is fairly manual and requires a lot of communication between people who are busy doing something else.  It does seem silly to me that they appear to be unaware of when movies go up on various digital sites.  I've tried asking questions through social media, and they're always very nice, but always just brush me off.  Which is fine, I think the person running their social media sites is almost entirely wrapped up in coming up with silly pictures and video's to drive traffic to their site and click on their iTunes page, which is usually the most accurate list of what's available.  

 

I maintain a pretty accurate spreadsheet of what's available on iTunes and various other info (dub,sub,price, anything worth mentioning).  The old version of this board didn't support spreadsheets very well, but seems like this one does.  I'm a bit busy with work, but sometime this weekend I'll try starting a new thread and keeping it up to date.  I'm also thinking of writing a program to search iTunes based on a list of IVL DVDs and the actors in each movie.  iTunes doesn't let you search by release studio and I don't think I can get access to the data on their iTunes page.  So searching by movie, director, cast, writer, producer credits seems to be the easiest way to determine what's out there without manually checking the iTunes page.  It doesn't help that they constantly use different names for each of the cast & crew.  But I can catalog frequently used alternatives and search for those too.  I'm busy at home and work though so I probably won't get to that for a while.

 

 

I called Apple and spoke to the iTunes folks. They officially have no idea about what is being posted. At least the girl I talked to didn't. I may call again. I just wanted to be able to search by Shaw Brother's or Celestial. We have to go through Action and Adventure, or by the peron's name or the movie. At least the direct link seems to be up to date now. i'll call Apple again to try to speak to someone else.

[reason108]

Props, Chemical Lemon. Appreciate all you do and the updates. Yeah, Celestial post way too much fluff on social media. I've pretty much stopped looking at their social media except to check for iTunes / blu ray updates. Interesting, you've been politely blown off. I'll keep looking in iTunes, thanks for the suggestions. 

 

Good look with the calls, Hei.

 

On a related note, I may sell more of my Shaws (Funimation / IVLs);  with so much appearing on iTunes, I don't need both formats for every film.  I'll post in the Wanted section if I decide to sell; but the Funimation Shaolin Rescuers and Invincible Shaolin are among two I am seriously considering parting with.

 

Anyway, looking forward to seeing  Celestial post more films, it's a nice treat to see another Shaw film available in the format. 

 

 

Please do not make that mistake!  Your dvd collection will probably outlast your iTunes downloads.   

At least a dvd or blu-ray can be played in pretty much any player and you can do pretty much what you want with your disc. I think that it is a better investment in the long run than a download that comes with a lot of rules on how, how many times and where you can use it. 

 

 

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

I won't pu pu that advice reason. I'm one of those folks who finds a few movies and keeps watching them. Most films (from any genre)  I do not watch more than once are sold etc.  I won't worry about the binge and purge any more though (real life is calling.)  Right now, iTunes films are the price that works for me.  

 

And thanks Hei for calling Apple.  

[reason108]

Just picked up Spiritual Boxer, Opium and the Kung Fu Master, The Kid with the Golden Arm, Disciples of Shaolin and The Shaolin Avengers. That should be enough to hold me over for a while. 

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Nice haul reason. Just picked up Heroes of the East in SD, more China vs. Japan fu. 

[reason108]

Nice haul reason. Just picked up Heroes of the East in SD, more China vs. Japan fu. 

 

Cool. Thanks. I have added one more title to that list since I posted. I went ahead and picked up Crippled Avengers. Still want to see them return Marco Polo and The Brave Archer series. I was hoping that some of these would make it to blu-ray but it seems from the other post that those are not on the list for them to put on blu-ray as of yet. Sadly, I spent some extra money on the holiday over the weekend that could have gone towards more Shaws.  

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Okay, found the list on Celestial's Facebook apparently half of the 17 aren't new and My Rebellious Son is listed twice, so that's 16:

 

Going by Chemical Lemon's recent posts:

 

Shaolin Mantis, Men from the Monastery, Tigeress of Shaolin, Shaolin Avengers, Heads for Sale, Shaolin Rescuers, Spiritual Boxer and My Rebellious son are new. 

 

(Cut and pasted from Facebook post:

 

https://www.facebook.com/ShawBrothersUniverse/posts/10153704097049395

 

The following titles are now available at iTunes! Find your favorite here: www.itunes.com/shawbrothers

1) The Shaolin Avengers
2) My Rebellious Son
3) The Spiritual Boxer
4) Shaolin Rescuers
5) The Tigress of Shaolin  
6) Men from the Monastery
7) Shaolin Hand Lock
8) Shaolin Intruders
9) Shaolin Mantis
10) Two Champions of Shaolin
11) The Young Vagabond
12) Kid From Kwangtung
13) Opium and the Kung-Fu master
14) My Rebellious Son
15) My Young Auntie
16) Heads For Sale
17) The Treasure Hunters

 

...

 

Additionally on their Facebook, they once again claimed the Brave Archer series is coming digitally (this time on Oct 21st.)