Hall of the Unknown - The Game Of Death Appreciation Thread

[PandaPawPaw]

 

[Josh Baker]

4 hours ago, PandaPawPaw said:

If you think about it, wasn't it a waste of time for BL and Co to even go in the Pagoda as they or BL at least go back down with nothing above Kareem's floor? I would of preferred something above floor 5 even if it was just treasure/mirror/teddy bear.

 

 

I imagine in the roof there'd some sort of small attic where the treasure is, there was a staircase leading to something.

[PandaPawPaw]

I'm working on a BL drawing where I was in the middle of creating the background for it but I hadn't done a drawing for this month (I aim to have at least one finished piece a month) and as I had finished the three GOD guardians I decided to use them and make a poster type drawing out of them.

The layout was a bit rushed as I was running out of time so it might not look great (plus I'm not an expert at drawing). The BL silhouette in the BG is taken from the other drawing I'm working on.

I added the stairs to mimic the fighters going up and only BL coming down on the other side.

So yeah that's that.

[DragonClaws]

On 8/30/2023 at 5:27 AM, Josh Baker said:

I imagine in the roof there'd some sort of small attic where the treasure is, there was a staircase leading to something.

 

When you consider Kareems mysterious character, that room could have there for many things. It's there for  a reason, they wouldnt have spent/money time building into the set otherwise. I'd love to have read Bruce Lee's full notes on his vision for Kareems character. I've never been totally sold on the idea, he would have been a big suprise revealed only at the end. If the film was to open with Tony Liu in a padded ceel, then they were building up his character presence from the start. Maybe there would have been clips from Tony Liu characters fight with him?, shot from angles that dont reveal Kareems size etc.

[PandaPawPaw]

https://blog.goo.ne.jp/dragonfever1127/e/aad0119ff615e05075573fb70fdc921a

Using google translate.

'Two DVD-Rs with the words ``Li Xiaolong ~ Decisive Battle Five-storied Pagoda'' & ``Li Xiaolong ~ True Tower of Death'' written on them. Last week, this DVD came out of the back shelf of my room and I picked it up for the first time in about 10 years.It was originally a Beta tape. Approximately 40 years ago, a 20-year-old young man named Ryunetsu dubbed from VHS to a Beta tape using a Beta video deck that was still in operation, and a friend of mine later copied it from Beta to DVD. These DVD-Rs were used for conversion dubbing. In fact, this ``Li Xiaolong ~ Decisive Battle Five-storied Pagoda'' was created by a 20-year-old Dragon fever youth who lined up two VHS decks and created ``Bruce Lee Game of Death'' (1978), a video software related to ``Game of Death'' that was available at the time. What would happen if you edited the five-storied pagoda fight based on director Li Xiaolong's original idea by making full use of the Western release version of "Game of Death" and "The Myth of Bruce Lee" (1984)? With this theme, I edited the takes of each floor myself, dubbed the real Li Xiaolong's monster bird sounds, and added my own sound effects such as hitting sounds.This is the only original edited version in the world. It's a great ``game of death'' five-storied pagoda fight video ``a game of death with a dragon's fever''! ! The real Li Xiaolong's action scene in the 78th edition of "Game of Death" was about 11 minutes long. However, the five-storied pagoda fight in ``Dragon's Death Game'' is about 20 minutes long. Looking back on it now, the picture quality is poor and the audio is difficult to hear, but I am impressed that over the 40 years since its production, it has been preserved without being lost or destroyed until today. Because I had the experience of editing ``Dragon Fever Game of Death'', I was able to examine the death game that received the most response in my memorable debut book ``Bruce Lee and 101 Dragons!'' published in 1994. Through the project ``I saw a game of death that no one knew about in the dark!'', I was able to make such accurate observations about the unreleased film of ``game of death''. In other words, this approximately 20-minute ``Game of Death'' is the origin of my life's work, ``The Journey in Search of ``Game of Death,'' which is the life work of Hong Kong film critic Jiro Chino. Furthermore, this DVD of "Li Xiaolong ~ Decisive Battle of Five-Storied Pagoda" includes various "Game of Death"-related footage that was available to the young Dragon Fever at the time, as well as various edits to the Five-Storied Pagoda Fight, even after the opening "Dragon Fever Game of Death". It also included countless versions that were made through adventurous and brute force trial and error, such as changing the & kaicho sound. Now, this is the origin video of Jiro Chino, a "traveler in search of 'Game of Death,'" which will be shown for the first time in Japan at "Ryunetsu Talk Live 2023," which is scheduled to be held in November this year. I am thinking of screening. Please look forward to the first and possibly last screening of the world's one and only "Ryuketsu no Death Game" edited by Jiro Chino in Japan! ! My self edited Game of Death pagoda footage DVD which I made them almost 40 years ago are found from my room.'

Does he mean the GOD78 version was on beta or something else?

Edited September 1, 2023 by PandaPawPaw

[DragonClaws]

On 8/25/2023 at 1:17 PM, CastleOfDeath said:

The problem with Redux is that it's edited from the perspective of today.

Not, at any point in 1972, would GH, or Bruce, or anyone have edited the material that fast. Why because it was 1973 not 2023 and Michael Bay did not exist then.

 

I dont think it was edited like a modern movie, those 70's movies were not shot with the sharper, quicker cuts than can be achieved with digital editing, rather than the 1970's old-school approach to cutting a film together. If you had used Micheal Bay style of editing, Re-Dux probably would have been condensed down to 17-minutes, closer to the 1978 edit. Id love to have seen Arrow take that version and add the log sequence. I understand why the first version from Artport and Warner Brother wanted to use as much unseen footage as possible, it made sense. However, it really removed any kind of pace, and for that reason they plod more. I doubt Bruce Lee would have had those three fights, running for forty minutes, in what was most likely going to be a 1-hour and thirty minute movie. Im taking a guess with the runtime, as we will never know for sure.

[shukocarl1441996347]

1 hour ago, DragonClaws said:

 

I dont think it was edited like a modern movie, those 70's movies were not shot with the sharper, quicker cuts than can be achieved with digital editing, rather than the 1970's old-school approach to cutting a film together. If you had used Micheal Bay style of editing, Re-Dux probably would have been condensed down to 17-minutes, closer to the 1978 edit. Id love to have seen Arrow take that version and add the log sequence. I understand why the first version from Artport and Warner Brother wanted to use as much unseen footage as possible, it made sense. However, it really removed any kind of pace, and for that reason they plod more. I doubt Bruce Lee would have had those three fights, running for forty minutes, in what was most likely going to be a 1-hour and thirty minute movie. Im taking a guess with the runtime, as we will never know for sure.

I prefer Alan Patillo's 1978 edit of the footage over any of the other versions. In hindsight the removal of the two allies made him cut the fights so they are almost what you'd expect today. The 3rd floor fight is still too clunky even in this version though but I suspect that's due to mis-matched fighters (in height and skill).

[DragonClaws]

15 hours ago, shukocarl1441996347 said:

The 3rd floor fight is still too clunky even in this version though but I suspect that's due to mis-matched fighters (in height and skill).

 

Agreed, and the fact Kareem was doing his first and only screen fight. Dan Inosanto got some work on The Green Hornet show during the 60's, and appeared in some of Bruce Lee's home shot movies shot during his time in the U.S. All these fights, may have been intercut with other non-action scenes?. Hard to say where these would have been spliced into the fights. The opening moments of Dan Inosanto/Chieh Yuen fight, most likely would have been intercut, with the last few moments of the second pogoda fight.

 

[CastleOfDeath]

The beta tape footage is the same source used for A Warrior's Journey I guess. The guy just got it way earlier. Could be interesting to watch.

[ShawAngela]

On 8/31/2023 at 9:00 PM, DragonClaws said:

 

When you consider Kareems mysterious character, that room could have there for many things. It's there for  a reason, they wouldnt have spent/money time building into the set otherwise. I'd love to have read Bruce Lee's full notes on his vision for Kareems character. I've never been totally sold on the idea, he would have been a big suprise revealed only at the end. If the film was to open with Tony Liu in a padded ceel, then they were building up his character presence from the start. Maybe there would have been clips from Tony Liu characters fight with him?, shot from angles that dont reveal Kareems size etc.

Do you mean that Liu Yung should have play in Game of death ?!

[PandaPawPaw]

I always find the last scenes of BL walking back down the pagoda really sad.

I'm also surprised how no one has done a full blown modern remake of it.

[DragonClaws]

14 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

Do you mean that Liu Yung should have play in Game of death ?!

 

Yes, he was the only actor to appear in all of Bruce Lee four completed action films.

 

[ShawAngela]

1 hour ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Yes, he was the only actor to appear in all of Bruce Lee four completed action films.

 

Wow ! I didn't know that ! What happened ? How come there are scenes with James Tien and not a single one with him ?

[DragonClaws]

Just now, ShawAngela said:

Wow ! I didn't know that ! What happened ? How come there are scenes with James Tien and not a single one with him ?

 

They just didnt get round to filming any of his scenes, it appears Bruce Lee only filmed a handful of the fights scenes.

[DragonClaws]

 

- "1972: Bruce Lee lived in the same street as VK in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. One day Bruce phoned him and said: "Thanks for teaching me the Sil NIm Tao" and asked if he was interested in playing a small part in his new film " Game of death"."

Source - http://www.victorkanvt.com/news.html

 

Thanks to @greenbamboo, for sharing this information over at the Bruce Lee Lives Forum.

 

 

[PandaPawPaw]

I still think BL would of had to redo the opening of the 3rd floor. Tien, Yuan and Lee are all far to energetic and scratch free. No way they would of got past the guards and two previous guardians without a mark on them.

I'm guessing James or Chieh would of beaten at least one of the previous guards and not have Bruce beat them all though I'm guessing one of them beat the 1st guardian as Bruce comes up later on the 3rd floor implying he was finishing of the 2nd guardian?

Am I right in that all three would of entered the Pagoda together and not have Bruce trailing behind while the other two jumped ahead?

[DragonClaws]

2 hours ago, PandaPawPaw said:

I still think BL would of had to redo the opening of the 3rd floor. Tien, Yuan and Lee are all far to energetic and scratch free. No way they would of got past the guards and two previous guardians without a mark on them.

 

The levels each got harder, the first two may have been easier and even shorter than the last three?. Whats interesting, is at what point would this whole pogoda sequence have started in the finished film?.

 

2 hours ago, PandaPawPaw said:

I'm guessing James or Chieh would of beaten at least one of the previous guards and not have Bruce beat them all though I'm guessing one of them beat the 1st guardian as Bruce comes up later on the 3rd floor implying he was finishing of the 2nd guardian?

 

Agreed, there was also some loses to the team who raided the pogoda on the first two floors.

 

2 hours ago, PandaPawPaw said:

Am I right in that all three would of entered the Pagoda together and not have Bruce trailing behind while the other two jumped ahead?

 

It might have been a running joke, that James & Chieh character were always ahead of the rest of the team. They were all there for different reasons, and came with their own agendas. Which shows in there actions as they climb the tower.

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by DragonClaws

[PandaPawPaw]

I finished my Chieh Yuan drawing for my BL piece. I'll give it a tweak and the text is still just rough (the Hapkido text is just a placeholder).

I just have James Tien to do now then I can start putting the whole drawing together.

Edited September 12, 2023 by PandaPawPaw

[PandaPawPaw]

 

[PandaPawPaw]

Cinematographer Tadashi Nishimoto.

I've never seen what he looks like.

I wonder which shots were down to Nishimoto and what was BL.

I always gave credit to BL for certain stuff like the POV shot of Kareem rocking on his chair but maybe that's what Nishimoto bought to the table. Either way it really does benefit from Nishimoto as the cinematography is far better than other BL movies.

[PandaPawPaw]

I really like this theme for GOD.

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[PandaPawPaw]

I've always thought Kareem's floor should of been way darker. The natural light from outside (which was sunny) would of made the floor brighter but if you watch it, the windows are dark (for the most part).

I think it would of been better if the weather started out bright and sunny and as they go up the Pagoda, the weather turns and by the time BL gets to Kareem's floor, the weather has gotten really overcast/rainy. Then as BL progresses in the fight, the weather becomes brighter enabling BL to tear the windows and let light in or something like that.

Just some things I'd change/improve if I could.

[PandaPawPaw]

I finished the James Tien drawing and yes I know the shirt isn't that great but that shit was hard to do!

[DragonClaws]

On 9/24/2023 at 2:16 AM, PandaPawPaw said:

I've always thought Kareem's floor should of been way darker. The natural light from outside (which was sunny) would of made the floor brighter but if you watch it, the windows are dark (for the most part).

I think it would of been better if the weather started out bright and sunny and as they go up the Pagoda, the weather turns and by the time BL gets to Kareem's floor, the weather has gotten really overcast/rainy. Then as BL progresses in the fight, the weather becomes brighter enabling BL to tear the windows and let light in or something like that.

 

Ive talked about this to Alan Canvan, in the 1978 version all the levels are much darker looking. Then again its set at night, even though you can see the blue sky when Billy Lo cracks one of the panels. He's got candles lighting Kareems hall, so it wouldn't have looked like the other floors.