What's the story with George Tan?

[Phantom Dreamer]

His 2003 Bruce Lee VideoAsia 4-pack killed one of my televisions. One of the audio commentaries was so quiet I had to turn the volume all they way up and it destroyed the television I was watching it on. Thank you Mr. Tan.

[mpm74]

And now, a word from our sponsor:

[Jesse Smooth]

Ah yes, our favorite Chinese Greek. Ironicall, he's the only Bruce 'expert' I would trust, as he's a New Yorker, he would more than likely be homest.

[The Dragon]

That is too bad. I think you could have found him.

LMAO...

Anyone get the notion that George Tan is a fake name?? That's why it may be so difficult to "track" him?

[Jesse Smooth]

His real name is Francois Cissiri, as I've been told. The last name is always sketchy.

[mpm74]

Ah yes, our favorite Chinese Greek. Ironicall, he's the only Bruce 'expert' I would trust, as he's a New Yorker, he would more than likely be homest.

lol I kinda like the guy. He's pretty straight to the point. And he had a bad ass mullet in the 90s. If it wasn't for his Dragon Video, I would have never seen Wheels on Meals circa '89!

I bet he's thinking the same thing... RIGHT THIS MINUTE!

[mpm74]

Found some recent photos (2012) of One Armed Boxer's buddy, George Tan, working on WHITE TIGER.

http://www.backkicks.com/cynthia-rothrock-fight-don-wilson/

[DragonClaws]

The last I heard of Geroge Tan was when he released the Bruce Lee DVD collection. The Dragon 4 Pack & The Bruce Lee Story/Unicorn Fist etc with commentaries and extras tagged on. This was around 2003 I think. Often wondered if he had been told to back off from the Bruce Lee scene?.

[mpm74]

Looks like George Tan is producing a Thai-made CONAN film...

Everyone already knows about Legend of Conan (aka King Conan), which has been on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s to-do list for about 2 years. The other, called Iron Shadows – a Thailand-produced film by renowned Bruce Lee historian, George Tan (Cinema of Vengeance) – is apparently in post-production phase and set for a 2015 release.

Click here for the full article.

[shaolin swords]

i remember as a kid ordering from dragon video back in 1995 ordering heroes of the east 5 element ninja shaolin martial arts crippled avengers and a couple of other vhs i always got the movies never got riped off just one time he sent me a extra package with like 10 flicks in the package it was like $250 worth of movies i guess he was trying to make some extra money but the package got sent back lol haaahaaaaa

don't know what kind of person he is really cant judge him never met him but back then he was the only source for me to get kung fu movies even tho they where like $40 pop

its funny the movies i bought in 95 from him still work lol

[mpm74]

i remember as a kid ordering from dragon video back in 1995 ordering heroes of the east 5 element ninja shaolin martial arts crippled avengers and a couple of other vhs i always got the movies never got riped off just one time he sent me a extra package with like 10 flicks in the package it was like $250 worth of movies i guess he was trying to make some extra money but the package got sent back lol haaahaaaaa

don't know what kind of person he is really cant judge him never met him but back then he was the only source for me to get kung fu movies even tho they where like $40 pop

its funny the movies i bought in 95 from him still work lol

Same here. Tell me, did you ever call them by phone to place an order? I swear, whoever was on the phone sounded really rude. lol Even though I was buying $80 worth of bootleg tapes, they acted like I was bothering them! "This is Dragon Video... what do you want?" lol no joke!

[shaolin swords]

whats up mpm well actually i was still a kid and of course did not have a credit card so when ever my birthday or Christmas came around I would have some one call who had a credit card to get a couple of flicks as a gift so I never really called but I remember one time some one was placing a order for my birthday and the guy on the phone told the person the movies I order was not good he recommended that I get ninja in the dragon den and crippled avengers so I did and they where amazing better then what I was going to order pretty cool of the person who was ever on the phone so really never had that problem the only thing is the one time they send me and extra package like $250 worth of flicks that I sent back lol

[DragonClaws]

Looks like George Tan is still MIA, the last I heard about this guy, he was working with Steve Kerridge on a possible magazine special. Before the two parted ways, I think Tan wanted to go for more sensational aproach, with facts that the BL Estate would not be down with?. He used to be very active online in the late 90's/early noughties.

[AlbertV]

Found this on YouTube...yes, there is "George Tan" at 4:15

[DragonClaws]

 

Quote

It was in the offices of Ralph that I met a nefarious character named George Tan (although he called himself that, “Tan” is actually not his real name). GT is the greatest example of one’s reputation preceding him. From then until even today, the name George Tan continues to pop up and ALWAYS with some grim associated with it, some wrong doing he has engaged in etc. He lives overseas in the shadows as he would be hurt if he appeared in the U.S. and many other places. Back in late 1985 GT was friends with Ralph who asked me if GT could help me with the distribution of the SB titles. I declined because I had a very distinct way that I was distributing them and extremely careful of the title selection I was rolling out to build up the label. Plus, I was dealing with a lot of friends and a lot of credit being extended to me to initiate the very expensive process of releasing the movies on video. Around the corner from the Deuce there was a video store named Family video, I had arranged with the owner to have a showcase in there displaying my SB Video titles and the word that the SB movies were finally on video spread very quickly which led to my making deals with sub-distributors who were requesting orders of a hundred pieces a title (a common number for “test” orders back then). I had to use professional duplicators to fill those orders and I still couldn’t fill the orders fast enough. And they were retailing for $69.95! (I sold them for $29.95 to sub-distributors who bought bulk.) Among my second batch of titles was Return to the Master Killer which GT had a print of the same film that was not panned and scanned and slightly scoped which I really liked because I was already favoring widescreen from the way I filmed movies on the Deuce. So he offered to put his title up for release among my titles and I could throw him a percentage, he was also offering artwork of which a lot he had acquired from overseas. So I let him contribute at that point but only to a limited extent and then later on he came up with a few other Shaw Titles from Pal VHS sources overseas but the conversion process caused a lot of quality loss so I didn’t use them. For nearly a year I distributed the SB titles without incident until I had my first conflict with none other than GT who had continually been trying to make deals and inject himself into the business side of my SB Video label. All his deals were about the money while I cared most about the titles and their quality and exact roll-out to build the rep of the label. GT wanted to release any SB title and even films that weren’t Shaw but we could release under the same label regardless of the various quality. The final draw of my dealings with him came when I introduced him to John Keoh. I took him up to the office one afternoon then he went back on another occasion by himself and pitched John Keoh a project to write with him called The Black Ninja that was to star Tai Mak. I confronted him at the offices of Ralph who asked me not to fuck him up and I told him not to go up to the World Notthal offices again. Ralph was the one who was to produce the Black Ninja so he asked me to let it go. I explained to Ralph that the whole idea was a ruse that GT was using as an excuse to be up in the World Northal office and get access to the SB titles. Ralph asked GT straight and of course GT denied that so the agreement was made that I wouldn’t prevent GT from going up to meet John Keoh for their script sessions on the condition that GT wouldn’t get any titles from John. Regardless of whether GT did get any titles on the sneak, he was not allowed to release any on video.

The only reason I include this GT parasite is that his following actions later spread to many false assumptions and rumors. Before the demise of World Northal due to bankruptcy, they had acquired a new batch of Shaw Brother titles which included Disciples of the 36th Chamber, My Young Auntie, and The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. The first of these to complete the panning and scanning process was 8 Diagram, special attention was paid to the panning process as the word was that this was a modern classic. Both Larry Bensky and John Keoh didn’t even like kung fu movies but 8 Diagram was given special care and the next one to be panned in preparation for TV was My Young Auntie. Before that process could be completed World Northal would be closed down. But a lot would happen in those last days months leading up to that.

As soon as 8 Diagram was completed John Keoh let me have it. As I said, he was not a fan of these films so he was not aware of their being released on video and he had no idea I was releasing these titles on video. I covered up the beginning “Edited by” credit that listed John and Larry by overlaying a screen that said “Copyright SB Video” and in some cases listing any random year.

Because I had by now distributed so many SB units and many to sub-distributors, I had no way of keeping track of any units that might turn up in a store that weren’t mine. If someone used the same outlets that I did and released them using some of the same printing materials I was using, I wouldn’t know unless I checked the tape until 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. In 1987 I encountered a video store that had a copy of 8 Diagram Pole Fighter which I had only just released to a sub-distributor and that distributor had not yet released the title yet. I recognized the cover as mine but knew the title shouldn’t have hit any stores yet. I asked for the tape to be played in the store and immediately recognized the panning of World Northal AND my “Copyright SB Video” over the front credit of John Keoh, I also noticed that it was a generation downgraded so I knew this was not some title GT had gotten on his own from John Keoh. This title was in fact taken from MY source. I went directly to my duplicator who was handling the 8 Diagram title and demanded a clear accounting of all who had access to the duplication facility, it was then that I learned that GT had been coming by on occasion to “help out” at the facility. Meanwhile during those visits he had been copying my 3/4 masters to a set a 3/4 copies for himself, he would then have those copies dubbed by two different duplicators. I told Ralph about the situation and vowed to smash GT as soon as I got my hands on him. Ralph told him stay away from the office till he could calm me down but I had already put the word out and as soon as George turned up on the Deuce one of the ushers called me to tell me he was at a certain theater and that he would keep GT there as long as possible. I was at the Family video store around the corner so I dashed out to catch him and as I neared the theater I saw GT coming out and as soon as he spotted me he took off running down the Deuce. I chased him for a block and he ran for his life but I couldn’t leave the counter at Family Video for too long, so I turned back. That was the last time I ever saw GT. But certainly not the last I ever heard of him. GT had gotten some money from Ralph to shoot some footage for the Black Dragon featuring Tai Mak against some ninjas. The idea he had was to target the black audience with a low budget rip-off of the 8 Diagram Pole Fighter story by replacing the Yang Clan with a group of black ninjas. Ralph asked me to come in and review the footage and give him an honest opinion on it. It was terrible, with 8 Diagram moves being copied with ZERO filmmaking skills, Ralph immediately pulled the plug on the entire project.

 

Taken from the this interview with JohnnyRay Gasco, which I recenlty posted in the Classic Martial Arts Cinema forum.

Link- https://nostalgiaking.com/2017/04/20/diggin-kung-fu-with-johnnyray-gasca/

[DragonClaws]

 

It appears George Tan never left the Martial Arts movie scene.

 

 

 

[CT KID]

@DragonClaws how nice of you to resurrect a thread l started in 2006 about this weasel lol. Hard to believe we're still talking about this dude all these years later. Wonder why this guy who is Greek wanted to change his last name to Tan to try and make people think he was Chinese? One thing's for sure, the man loved a dollar...

[AlbertV]

On 1/12/2015 at 11:09 PM, mpm74 said:

Looks like George Tan is producing a Thai-made CONAN film...

 

Everyone already knows about Legend of Conan (aka King Conan), which has been on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s to-do list for about 2 years. The other, called Iron Shadows – a Thailand-produced film by renowned Bruce Lee historian, George Tan (Cinema of Vengeance) – is apparently in post-production phase and set for a 2015 release.

 

Click here for the full article.

Oh there was an update on this. The movie never got released because the Robert E. Howard estate threatened to sue GT for trademark infringement. Here's a video about it.

And let's not forget White Tiger is now known as Death Fighter and it took so long because producer Karen Kaing had sued GT to get the film released until she finally won and got sole producer credit on the film.

[CT KID]

How this guy hasn't served some prison time by now is amazing with all his scams and schemes.

[Cognoscente]

On 12/11/2006 at 5:46 PM, Guest Atomic Mystery Monster said:

This old thread mentions Tan and someone named "Martin Barab", but I don't know what the connection between the two is.

Interesting that Martin is an attorney: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0052774/

Even more interesting is that Martin produced a 2020 movie called Jiu Jitsu. It features Tony Jaa, JuJu Chan, Alain Moussi...and Nicolas Cage!

[dionbrother]

Tan has never faced charges for his video bootlegging tomfoolery because his specialty is making money off material that is either in the public domain or the original rights holders care nothing about the product.

[CharlieParker]

That long blog extract is basically one bootlegger who has no right to sell Shaw Brothers films telling us "it was all about the movies" (while quietly raking in a mountain of cash) getting pissed at some other guy for stealing the films he stole. 

Neither party had the rights to the SB back catalogue (unless I'm missing some key piece of information?) And if they were just doing it for the love of HK cinema, why charge almost $70 for a $2 or even $1 tape?

 

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by CharlieParker

[Cognoscente]

Tan missed his true calling - working for Tai Seng. They were the largest importer of Hong Kong films into the U.S. They were notorious for price gouging (up to $80 for a tape). They even had the nerve to split movies on to two tapes to increase the price, although all seems to be forgotten and forgiven with Tai Seng's boss (Frank Djeng) currently doing audio commentaries.

[mpm74]

9 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

Tan missed his true calling - working for Tai Seng. They were the largest importer of Hong Kong films into the U.S. They were notorious for price gouging (up to $80 for a tape). They even had the nerve to split movies on to two tapes to increase the price, although all seems to be forgotten and forgiven with Tai Seng's boss (Frank Djeng) currently doing audio commentaries.

That would have been a good partnership. But from what I gather, George Tan was doing some sideline stuff that was definitely not in line with Tai Seng's company core values lol (even though Tai Seng was selling double cassettes for $80 bucks, which should be prison time, considering one tape was able to hold some of those double-VHS movie titles). 

George Tan didn't want all the red tape that was involved with a corporate place like Tai Seng. He would have said no to Tai Seng. 

But it's because people like George Tan that I was able to watch many Jackie Chan movies that – til this day – still haven't seen official U.S. releases that are worth mentioning (that's changing soon!). Tai Seng was well on their way, but they done fucked up somewhere along the line (anyone know why they went under, like, did they try to hire Bey Logan or something?) 

Tai Seng was the innovator of the YELLOW SUBTITLES. I can just imagine it: "Frank Djeng: Let's do something different. Let's make them yellow instead of white". (controversial, but very innovative! ). 

I'm thinking they got greedy and wanted the market. I remember when HKflix was forced to pull off some titles because of some monopoly Tai Seng had in place. Karma? 

Either way, all of the above have had their place in ORIENTAL MOVIE HISTORY.

For now, 88 Films, Eureka and Arrow are the true leaders in the Dee Vee Dee and Blue Raye industry. 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by mpm74

[graniteplanet]

I also ordered flicks from Dragon Video in the early/mid '90s.  Most were $39.95 and the odd one a little more.  The first time I ordered from him there was no issue.  But after that first time I would wait for a good 2 months and have to write the company inquiring about my order.  Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.  I even called inquiring, but got their answering machine.  I left a polite message inquiring about my order asking them to call me back.  Still nothing.  I called them again and got the machine again, this time I left a message saying I was placing an order for a BUNCH of movies.  They weren't long calling back then hahaha.  But when they did call back, they just gave me the run around, feeding me horseshit about my order.  But I will say, through Dragon Video, it was the first time I saw the Chinese versions of Bruce's movies, my first taste of the Green Hornet (the 2 theatrical Green Hornet movies that were released after Bruce's death), Longstreet (the quality on that was terrible, but I still got my first taste of it) and Here Come The Brides.  I still have the videos and watched one of them the other night.  I remember the ad above for the Tracking The Dragon book series and anxiously waiting for that to come out, but to no avail.  I eventually gave up on them.

A short time later I learned of J.A.R.S. Video Collectables that was owned by Joe Ragus.  He was awesome to deal with.  No bullshit with this guy and had a HUGE collection of kung fu flicks.  He was an awesome dude.  Too bad I never learned of him before Dragon Video.

Edited May 18, 2023 by graniteplanet