The Cutting Room Floor: Lost, Censored & Deleted Bruce Lee Movie Scenes (Article)

[DragonClaws]

 

 

Edited July 2, 2022 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

Alternative angle, for the slow motion kick in the Hall of Mirrors?.

 

 

[Coliseum1972]

On 6/30/2022 at 5:55 PM, DragonClaws said:

 

Jason Hart said in his article that this scene was one of the casulities of the Hong Kong censor cuts, edited pre to the widespread public theatrical release in Hong Kong. Which most likely never made it to any kind of VHS release.

then it is strange that i get a deja vu feeling when i hear about this particular scene.....i cannot recall any saw scene on the vhs i saw or other cut scenes

[shukocarl1441996347]

On 7/10/2022 at 8:06 PM, DragonClaws said:

 

Alternative angle, for the slow motion kick in the Hall of Mirrors?.

 

 

Isn't that shot from the sidekick that sends Shek Kin on to spear poking through the revolving door?

[DragonClaws]

9 hours ago, shukocarl1441996347 said:

Isn't that shot from the sidekick that sends Shek Kin on to spear poking through the revolving door?

 

I go with your thoughts on this one, @leon00 shared that image in this thread a few years ago. He never listed any details with the picture.

[Cognoscente]

On 1/4/2018 at 7:21 PM, DragonClaws said:

Photo's of the alternative version of the final sequence, note the three cut's to Mr Lee's left leg. Confirming there was some fight footage cut from the Hall of Mirrors by Warner Brothers in post production. Are Mr Lee & Roper looking at Tanya (Ahna Capri) dead body?, in the last picture on the far right below.

Perhaps Lee had a different finishing technique for Han since Bruce pulled his groin during the initial filming of the mirror scene. Once he recovered, he reshot some of the mirror stuff. It would have been really trippy if Bruce used the disoriented vision effect from the Baker fight in Fist of Fury. Bruce did something similar with The Way of the Dragon when there were black and white photos depicting Chuck's POV showing five Bruces.

[DragonClaws]

 

Just now, Cognoscente said:

Bruce did something similar with The Way of the Dragon when there were black and white photos depicting Chuck's POV showing five Bruces.

 

Those images useally turn up in older Asian magazines, sometimes in colour.

 

[DragonClaws]

14 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

Perhaps Lee had a different finishing technique for Han since Bruce pulled his groin during the initial filming of the mirror scene. Once he recovered, he reshot some of the mirror stuff.

 

There might be more to those scar marks on his left leg, those pictures present a few different questions.

 

[makone]

Remember that the mirror scene was not the intended ending, that was designed while the movie was being shot. So maybe the cut leg was part of the original ending.

[DragonClaws]

On 7/17/2022 at 10:18 AM, makone said:

Remember that the mirror scene was not the intended ending, that was designed while the movie was being shot. So maybe the cut leg was part of the original ending.

 

Good point, Robert Clouse said it took him some time to convince Bruce Lee. To stage the last major fight in the hall of mirrors. I wonder what Bruce Lee had planned in terms of ideas for this last fight scene?. Before Clouse's wife came up with the idea.

“I took Bruce and showed it to him. He thought it was too fragmented, that you couldn’t get any action that would mean anything out of it,” Heller recalled. “Bob Clouse and I really fought hard for it, and we created this mirrored room.”

Clouse and Heller pushed ahead with the mirror concept, and once they showed the set to Lee and he was able to move around in the space, he became a believer. A special “closet” made of mirrors with a hole cut in one side for the camera lens was built, so that the cameraman would always blend into the rest of the scene, and filming of the famous sequence began. According to Hubbs, though, working for hours on end in that environment created a unique set of challenges"

source- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/559362/facts-about-enter-the-dragon-bruce-lee

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by DragonClaws

[Cognoscente]

In the novelization, Han pins Lee against a suit of Japanese armour and attempts to pierce the top of his head but Lee jumps high to kick him and "the hand of knives swivelled, turned back upon itself, sought Han's own flesh, and buried itself there, deep, deep into his chest."

[PandaPawPaw]

Does anyone know what was planned after Bruce went back down the pagoda or was it not decided yet?

It is kind of weird Bruce bothers going up the Pagoda only to go back down. Yeah he shouts to the outside "What now!?" and the other guy goes "The game is not over until we die" but after defeating Kareem, Bruce doesn't attempt to see if there is anything else on the next floor as there are stairs going up.

I think after defeating Kareem, Bruce should of gone to the next floor and nothing is there then he breaks the paper window and asks "What now".

[Cognoscente]

By the time that he killed Kareem, he had more energy to go down stairs than to go up. I think that Hai Tien was more concerned with getting the job done than getting a peek at the treasure.

According to Bruce's script notes, there was supposed to be a big fight outside the pagoda but I don't see how it could have topped the Kareem fight unless he was doing a style of fighting where the joke is that a tired Bruce Lee is stronger than an energetic commoner.

Edited July 19, 2022 by Cognoscente

[DragonClaws]

 

Robert Clouse in his Making of Enter the Dragon book states Bruce Lee spent two weeks. Shooting scenes on the mirrored room set in order to educate himself on filmmaking techniques?. While Matthew Polly's book says the star only spent four days filming, and this was in order to refine the ending of the film?.

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by DragonClaws

[Cognoscente]

Four days to film with Clouse, and two weeks of pick-up shots without him. Andre Morgan mentioned that it was the latter which really enhanced the finale.

[DragonClaws]

Just now, Cognoscente said:

Four days to film with Clouse, and two weeks of pick-up shots without him.

 

Matthew Polly states that the four days of filming happened after Robert Clouse had left the set, not while he was still there. Robert Clouse himself said, that Bruce Lee filmed for another two weeks and not four days. Seems like there both talking about the same shoot?.

 

[Cognoscente]

Unless Clouse didn't realize that those were the same weeks when Bruce was doing those GOD screen tests on the weapons chamber set, perhaps with Bruce only doing mirror-related stuff for a couple of days each week.

By the end of which, Bruce lost so much weight by the time he started to do the Sammo fight.

Edited July 19, 2022 by Cognoscente

[starschwar]

9 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

By the time that he killed Kareem, he had more energy to go down stairs than to go up. I think that Hai Tien was more concerned with getting the job done than getting a peek at the treasure.

According to Bruce's script notes, there was supposed to be a big fight outside the pagoda but I don't see how it could have topped the Kareem fight unless he was doing a style of fighting where the joke is that a tired Bruce Lee is stronger than an energetic commoner.

 

Do we know what sort of ending was planned?  Happy, tragic, bittersweet?  Do we get any background on who or even what the temple guardians are meant to be?  Maybe, by choosing to forego the treasure, Hai Tien becomes the guardian of the final level?  Completely baseless speculation on my part, mind you.

[Cognoscente]

There was no specific detail other than cliff notes. Bruce goes outside, there's a betrayal involving a "gunman" waiting outside the pagoda, there's a big fight and the police show up to arrest the boss.

Guns aren't allowed on the island due to the metal detectors, so either the gunman was using an ivory gun or the gang outside were able to dismantle the detectors since all of the guards were taken out.

[ShawAngela]

I found a picture on a site showing Shih Kien and John Saxon talking to each other, while another man is drawing a tatto on a girl's back. I don't remember to have seen this scene in the movie. Does it ring a bell to anyone ?

[PandaPawPaw]

Probably a deleted scene.

Edit: Been told It's in the bloody film!!.

Edited July 26, 2022 by PandaPawPaw

[shukocarl1441996347]

30 minutes ago, PandaPawPaw said:

Probably a deleted scene.

It's in the bloody film!! That's a publicity still from a different angle

[PandaPawPaw]

Calm down. It's been a while since I've seen it and I don't remember the tattoo guy (one of my least watch BL films).

[PandaPawPaw]

I watched that scene and lo and behold it's a guy doing the tattoo! I remembered it being a woman for some reason.

I was wondering was the footage for the special edition readily available or did Warner Bros have to search for it?

[DragonClaws]

Just now, PandaPawPaw said:

I was wondering was the footage for the special edition readily available or did Warner Bros have to search for it?

 

It was in the Warner Brothers archive, which I should imagine is pretty well organised?.