Master of the Flying Guillotine: Discussion and Appreciation

[Hei Meigui]

Yay!! I finally watched it last night

 

It was great. It is so funny to see Wang Yu in a non Shaw brother's film so he didn't have all that makeup on!! I almost didn't recognize him!! I didn't check though and none of you who recommended it let me know it was the second in a series. Now I have to go back and find The One Armed Boxer to see what set the stage. I was also surprised at the ending Spoiler

 

I'm so used to a sad ending or someone dying especially if they get a girl that likes them!! It wasn't depressing!!

 

 

I also loved that they had the daughter, played by Doris Lung, fight in the tournament and win!! Yeah a good female character!!

I watched it in English Sub.

Many of you all raved about it. Why do you like it and what was the best fight scene/Part of the movie for you?

 

I bought the new shirt design before I saw the film, but I wish now there was an image of Wang Yu character instead. I'll just wear it when I am pissed off and feel like I want to channel my inner blind monk!!

Edited September 27, 2015 by Hei Meigui
spelling

[Tosh]

Yay!! I finally watched it last night

 

It was great. It is so funny to see Wang Yu in a non Shaw brother's film so he didn't have all that makeup on!! I almost didn't recognize him!! I didn't check though and none of you who recommended it let me know it was the second in a series. Now I have to go back and find The One Armed Boxer to see what set the stage. I was also surprised at the ending Spoiler

 

Hidden Content

 

 

I also loved that they had the daughter, played by Doris Lung, fight in the tournament and win!! Yeah a good female character!!

I watched it in English Sub.

Many of you all raved about it. Why do you like it and what was the best fight scene/Part of the movie for you?

 

I bought the new shirt design before I saw the film, but I wish now there was an image of Wang Yu character instead. I'll just wear it when I am pissed off and feel like I want to channel my inner blind monk!!

They do have the One Armed Boxer shirt.

 

Very cool you saw it for the first time, what did you think about the music? And that Opening! Great cornball shlock that you can tell they were taking seriously, beyond the last fight I dig his fight with the Muay Thai boxer.

[paimeifist]

My favorite scene is when Kam Kong (Blind monk) goes into the tavern, and decapitates the man posing to be the one-armed boxer! So menacing, coupled with the music, of course.

 

I also always enjoy the fact that he is introduced by killing a bird to practice his guillotine throwing, and follows it up by throwing bombs at his own home and destroying it! We instantly know this guy is insane!

[DrNgor]

Has there been anything written about whether Lau Kar-Leung had a hand in choreographing all the fights, or if left the majority of the action direction to his brother Lau Kar-Wing?

[Yihetuan]

A shame this movie will never get the proper release it deserves. We can always dream!

https://makeminecriterion.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/master-of-the-flying-guillotine-jimmy-wang-yu-1976/

[kevenzz]

This movie certainly deserve a blu ray version

[Drunken Monk]

[DrNgor]

Beautiful stills, @Drunken Monk

[Killer Meteor]

 

[WaverBoy]

We really need a Blu-ray of this

[SMK]

The Master of the Flying Guillotine is one of my all-time favorite movies!! 

[Yihetuan]

2 hours ago, WaverBoy said:

We really need a Blu-ray of this

I remember Greg Hatanaka on a podcast or in an interview mentioned that MOTFG will likely never get a blu ray release. I can't recall the reason of hand? Does anyone remember this interview? His distribution/licensing rights have long expired anyway.

[Killer Meteor]

There's two problems holding up a future release

 

1) The negative was dammaged by First Films in between 2002 (the first DVD) and 2004 (the second) and is now in very poor condition

2) Neu! did not take kindly to their music being swiped by the film, and wants it removed from future releases.

 

Someone gets Nicholas Refn on the case!

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

2 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

 

2) Neu! did not take kindly to their music being swiped by the film, and wants it removed from future releases.

I get the whole rights issues thing and all, but seriously.... how many people became Neu! fans or were generally introduced to kraut rock through this movie? Def can't have hurt their record sales.

[spannick]

the Aussie DVD already had a Version (English Export Version with much better Quality than the old Shit uncut DVDs) with the Music replaced Celestial-Style Casio Trash and the Movie is total worthless Crap without Neu!...

 

 

[Killer Meteor]

Yes, I remember that Aus release. Was very disapointed!

The non-anamorphic release from Pathfinder ironically looks much better than their anamorphic re-release!

[Killer Meteor]

46 minutes ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

I get the whole rights issues thing and all, but seriously.... how many people became Neu! fans or were generally introduced to kraut rock through this movie? Def can't have hurt their record sales.

I bet they only found out when "Super16" was used in Kill Bill as homage to MOTFG!

[Yihetuan]

16 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

Yes, I remember that Aus release. Was very disapointed!

The non-anamorphic release from Pathfinder ironically looks much better than their anamorphic re-release!

I remember buying the Deluxe edition for the enclosed booklet but it definitely wasn't worth it as the picture quality suffers in comparison to the earlier edition. I had to repurchase the Ultimate edition after I foolishly sold it thinking I had upgraded.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

3 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

I remember buying the Deluxe edition for the enclosed booklet but it definitely wasn't worth it as the picture quality suffers in comparison to the earlier edition. I had to repurchase the Ultimate edition after I foolishly sold it thinking I had upgraded.

I did almost the same.... traded away the first one when I saw the Deluxe edition was out, bought that instead...... clowned myself.

[saltysam]

I've got the Australian version of this, is the USA ultimate edition superior?

[WaverBoy]

9 hours ago, saltysam said:

I've got the Australian version of this, is the USA ultimate edition superior?

As Spannick posted above, the PQ is better on the Aussie version, but it’s cut and has shitty replaced music.  The best version overall is still the original non-anamorphic Pathfinder DVD, which is what I have; uncut, original music, and better PQ than Pathfinder’s anamorphic DVD re-release.

[Yihetuan]

On 2/7/2020 at 3:14 AM, spannick said:

the Aussie DVD already had a Version (English Export Version with much better Quality than the old Shit uncut DVDs) with the Music replaced Celestial-Style Casio Trash and the Movie is total worthless Crap without Neu!...

I can't watch this movie without the Neu! soundtrack. It's just not the same. It's a real shame that First Films damaged the negative. That got me thinking that the best available print has to be a fan edit. Are there any fan edits of the movie floating around where they took the superior R4 English export cut and added the cut scenes from the Chinese version and original pirated soundtrack?

Edited February 9, 2020 by Yihetuan

[chen lung]

Hopefully the superior film restoration and transfer methods of today will mean a new master could be produced from whatever material may exist (the last time was about 15 years ago).

Pathfinder made a balls of both releases, in my opinion (I got the 2-discer, which was interlaced, if I'm not mistaken). Subtitles were lacklustre for a start (mainly dubtitles), so I got the Winson DVD, which might have been better and had the first transfer.

I know these films were probably produced on a low budget, but stealing music is wrong in any case, and it ends up being a hassle for the distributors and audiences in the future (having to pay fees or altering soundtracks).

[chen lung]

Question: was the UK DVD censored (i.e. the chicken)? Nothing is noted for the 1986 submission (two from 1977 have Y next to them), so I don't know if it was pre-cut.

[Killer Meteor]

The UK DVD and VHS were uncut from a BBFC point of view.