VCI starts Martial Arts blu ray collection

[Kwok Choi]

On 7/29/2021 at 11:28 AM, saltysam said:

It's definitely a different print to the one used for the DVD i had as the title card is different. If you could spoiler an example of what should be there i can check it.

Okay great for instance 

Spoiler

1) Kurata San's deadly kick "defeat" and eventual death. 2) Wong Ching's encounter with the leg of a chair. 3) Tung Choi Bo's death with the broken spear in the pony tail. All at the end fight with Meng Fei.

This is the best I can do without spilling all the beans.

[Yihetuan]

On 7/31/2021 at 2:41 PM, Kwok Choi said:

Okay great for instance 

Spoiler

1) Kurata San's deadly kick "defeat" and eventual death. 2) Wong Ching's encounter with the leg of a chair. 3) Tung Choi Bo's death with the broken spear in the pony tail. All at the end fight with Meng Fei.

This is the best I can do without spilling all the beans.

Yes, all those scenes you mentioned are in the film and there are bloody close ups of the death scenes.

[Asmo]

On 7/29/2021 at 12:29 PM, Kwok Choi said:

From a post in a thread on Blu-ray.com..............

" VCI Entertainment’s new Classic Kung Fu cinema focused label The Pearl River Collection will be releasing on Blu-ray “The Basher Box”, punching its way to retailers on April 13, 2021. It will include Ulysess Au-Yeung Jun’s The Prodigal Boxer (1972) and Fong Long-Seung’s The Awaken Punch (1973), to be followed later in the year by the seminal Duel of the Seven Tigers from director Yang Chuen.

The Basher Box features two early Kung Fu films showcasing the transitional shift from the Wuxia Pian sword fighting knights of classics such as Touch of Zen to the more brawling style of action that paved the way for both Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

In a 1973 film that bares many similarities to Bruce Lee’s debut film The Big Boss, The Awaken Punch‘s Henry Yu Yang plays an altruistic fighter who begins to build a name for himself as he violently cleans up a town from within its more seedier elements. But when he must abide by a promise to his dying father to give up his fighting ways, he will be faced with a new challenge in the arrival of the knife-throwing master Tien Feng (Fist of Fury) and his gang. With action from the legendary Yuen Woo-Ping (Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and a cameo from a young Jackie Chan and others, this basher is the epitome of the Punch and Block violence that began a long trend within Martial Arts cinema.

The Prodigal Boxer (1972) is an early take on the legend of martial artist Fong Sai-Yuk (later to be portrayed by the likes of Jet Li and Alexander Fu-Sheng), here played by Mang Fei. Once Fong Inadvertently kills a student of the rival school run by Iron Hand Tan (Kurata Yasuaki), this action leads to a series of near death confrontations between the men concluding in a tournament battle of the ages. Choreographed by Shaw Brothers’ Lau Kar-Wing (the brother of the great Gordon Liu and Lau Kar-Leung) this film represents the brawling style of the time as well as the genesis of the more stylistic “Shapes” trend of martial arts action that would soon follow.


Special Features:
* NEW 4K Transfer of The Prodigal Boxer from a 35mm inter-positive???????
* NEW 4k Transfer of The Awaken Punch from a 35mm negative
* Audio Commentary on The Prodigal Boxer with actor/director Michael Worth and Clones Cast/Cinema Bushido host Matthew Whittaker
* Creative Chaos: The Basher Genre: an interview with Michael Worth and Action Choreographer John Kreng
* Original Theatrical Trailers to both films
* Newly commissioned artwork from artist Bryan Meredith
* Essay booklet on the Basher genre within Kung Fu Cinema History"...........................................................................

I have put question marks, highlighted and underlined the word "inter-positive" in the description above. There is also a full review of The Prodigal Boxer Blu-ray on this link in the same forum https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Prodigal-Boxer-Blu-ray/285078/#Review but I did not notice anything being said about cuts so if anyone has bought and watched this set can they please comment on The Prodigal Boxer? Many thanks.

An interpositive is a copy of a film that's usually made for duplication (i.e. duplication of negative copies of the film) rather than made to be projected.

[Kwok Choi]

22 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

Yes, all those scenes you mentioned are in the film and there are bloody close ups of the death scenes.

Good news! Thanks for the info. Highly appreciated 

 

17 hours ago, Asmo said:

An interpositive is a copy of a film that's usually made for duplication (i.e. duplication of negative copies of the film) rather than made to be projected.

Yes and that interpositive can be cut before being duplicated for release in extra sensitive territories without affecting the original negative. The practice is different around the globe but for small territories like the area where I grew up, we would run the general release prints for the Board of Censorship and they will indicate where cuts should be made. We will then put a soft tissue on the bottom spool of the projector to mark the points then make the cuts in due course. These cuts should be re-inserted when the print is retuned to the distributor.

Edited August 1, 2021 by Kwok Choi

[Asmo]

3 hours ago, Kwok Choi said:

Yes and that interpositive can be cut before being duplicated for release in extra sensitive territories without affecting the original negative. The practice is different around the globe but for small territories like the area where I grew up, we would run the general release prints for the Board of Censorship and they will indicate where cuts should be made. We will then put a soft tissue on the bottom spool of the projector to mark the points then make the cuts in due course. These cuts should be re-inserted when the print is retuned to the distributor.

Very interesting info, I didn't know that the cuts could be reinserted as part of the final process. Thanks @Kwok Choi

[Kwok Choi]

7 hours ago, Asmo said:

Very interesting info, I didn't know that the cuts could be reinserted as part of the final process. Thanks @Kwok Choi

Thank you too...........and just another little thing I forgot to mention is that one of the processes I like and prefer is the method some distributors in the West use for their release prints. They would duplicate the original negative and then make inter-negatives from the duplicate or an answer print. The inter-neg is then used to make thousands of release prints for projection in theatres and when these inter-negatives start showing wear and tear, more will be made from the duplicate negative of the original leaving the original negative itself intact in mint & pristine condition.

Some film companies in India at one time used to print from the original negatives and as a result the prints were stunning but there was a high risk of damage to the source that is why some classic Indian films are lost forever; luckily in this age of digital restoration, some films can now be restored if the damaged negatives have been properly preserved. The reason they did this is due to the poor projection facilities in many territories in the sub-continent and the film-makers strive or quest to achieve the best possible projected image and sound quality nationally.

For censorship,telecine copies are made of a submitted cut of the film, then sent on whatever viewing format is required by the censors. This method is faster and cheaper. If any cuts are required, they would then be hacked from the inter-neg made for the cinema release prints in that territory.

 

[KUNG FU BOB]

@Kwok Choi thanks for all the fascinating, detailed posts above. Great stuff.   By the way, no need to worry about saying too much- just use the "spoiler feature" that @SMK was cool enough to add to the forum. After you type your post simply highlight the "spoiler" section of your text, then click on the little eyeball symbol in the text toolbar (found between the quotations and smiley symbols). Then that section of your text will be hidden unless a member chooses to click on and read that part.

It's good to hear that the PRODIGAL BOXER is uncut. Michael Worth is looking out for us.

[saltysam]

Any whispers about when Pearl River will be making their next announcement?

[Kwok Choi]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:43 PM, KUNG FU BOB said:

@Kwok Choi thanks for all the fascinating, detailed posts above. Great stuff.   By the way, no need to worry about saying too much- just use the "spoiler feature" that @SMK was cool enough to add to the forum. After you type your post simply highlight the "spoiler" section of your text, then click on the little eyeball symbol in the text toolbar (found between the quotations and smiley symbols). Then that section of your text will be hidden unless a member chooses to click on and read that part.

It's good to hear that the PRODIGAL BOXER is uncut. Michael Worth is looking out for us.

I would like to thank Pearl River and VCI for releasing The Basher Box. A lot of passion and effort went into making this available. I bought both the DVD and Blu-ray to encourage and support the label. Do not underestimate the power of nostalgia. This brought back very fond memories of my youth.

Please release whatever is available in good quality like these two films as there is definitely an audience waiting that appreciates the effort. Well done to Mr Worth and everyone else involved who made this project a reality.

[saltysam]

Pearl River release schedule sucks. At the current rate we'll be lucky to see one title a year.Contrast with the germans who are releasing stuff every other week.

[Yihetuan]

4 hours ago, saltysam said:

Pearl River release schedule sucks. At the current rate we'll be lucky to see one title a year.Contrast with the germans who are releasing stuff every other week.

I totally forgot that Pearl River was still a thing. I wonder if it went defunct because MW hasn't mentioned anything about it in his last few podcasts whereas he used to give regular updates about it. The last update was a few months ago where he mentioned Duel of the 7 Tigers needed final approval before its release.

Perhaps the Pearl River titles didn't sell well enough? VCI still lists Duel of the 7 Tigers as TBA on their website and their fb page hasn't had any updates on forthcoming Pearl River titles in a very long time (since the Dynamo release). Not looking good I'm afraid.

[Super Ninja]

Pearl River is probably our only chance to see a restored version of 7 Commandments of Kung Fu, I'd hate them to quit before releasing that one and Duel of the 7 Tigers.

[Iron Head Rat]

1 hour ago, Super Ninja said:

Pearl River is probably our only chance to see a restored version of 7 Commandments of Kung Fu, I'd hate them to quit before releasing that one and Duel of the 7 Tigers.

Couldn't Irongod get Eureka or 88 involved. I'd be all over these two movies

[Super Ninja]

On 11/11/2021 at 11:09 AM, Iron Head Rat said:

Couldn't Irongod get Eureka or 88 involved. I'd be all over these two movies

If I had to guess I'd say 7 Tigers is definitely going to be released, it's been announced. As for 7 Commandments, Worth only teased a release on his insta, saying he owns a heavily damaged print which needs a lot of work restoring. Being that he prefers Bruceploitation and has limited funds, I wouldn't hold my breath. Either way, I'm with you on this, a restored wide version would mean a lot, the old Vengeance release leaves a lot to be desired.

Damn, that all sounds like coming from a hardened realist which I'm most certainly not. More of a dreamer and still, a believer. So just you wait, that release is right around the corner. 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Super Ninja

[saltysam]

I wonder how the book is coming along 

[Yihetuan]

4 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

If I had to guess I'd say 7 Tigers is definitely going to be released, it's been announced. As for 7 Commandments, Worth only teased a release on his insta, saying he owns a heavily damaged print which needs a lot of work restoring. Being that he prefers Bruceploitation and has limited funds, I wouldn't hold my breath. Either way, I'm with you on this, a restored wide version would mean a lot, the old Vengeance release leaves a lot to be desired.

Damn, that all sounds like coming from a hardened realist which I'm most certainly not. More of a dreamer and still, a believer. So just you wait, that release is right around the corner. 

I was thinking he could crowdfund the release of 7 Commandments but he's probably lost a lot of good faith among his potential funders since the Ultimate Art Book debacle.

2 hours ago, saltysam said:

I wonder how the book is coming along 

What's the over/under on whether the poster book, Severin Films Bruceploitation documentary or Duel of the 7 Tigers released first? I say the Pearl River has the best odds atm but it's possible none of the above ever see the light of day & could end up just being vaporware.

[saltysam]

No way I would be looking to contribute anything towards any crowdfunding he was involved in until he puts the farce over the book right.

[Super Ninja]

On 11/13/2021 at 12:45 AM, Yihetuan said:

I was thinking he could crowdfund the release of 7 Commandments but he's probably lost a lot of good faith among his potential funders since the Ultimate Art Book debacle.

I'd be willing to contribute, I wonder if that release could sparkle enough interest amongst the fans.

[Yihetuan]

3 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

I'd be willing to contribute, I wonder if that release could sparkle enough interest amongst the fans.

I wonder? I don't know how well those previous releases sold? It's a title that would probably appeal to an even smaller niche of fans than Dynamo or Leg Fighters. I'd be wary of contributing though because of the last crowdfund full of promises that never materialized.

[De Ming Li]

On 11/13/2021 at 10:45 AM, Yihetuan said:

I was thinking he could crowdfund the release of 7 Commandments but he's probably lost a lot of good faith among his potential funders since the Ultimate Art Book debacle.

What's the over/under on whether the poster book, Severin Films Bruceploitation documentary or Duel of the 7 Tigers released first? I say the Pearl River has the best odds atm but it's possible none of the above ever see the light of day & could end up just being vaporware.

I hope at the very least we get the Bruceploitation documentary, we can get to see Ho Chung Tao as he is today.

[saltysam]

This line appears to have gone the way of the Dodo. A shame if that's the case.

[De Ming Li]

On 12/26/2021 at 12:19 AM, saltysam said:

This line appears to have gone the way of the Dodo. A shame if that's the case.

Is there confirmation from Michael Worth?

[saltysam]

5 hours ago, De Ming Li said:

Is there confirmation from Michael Worth?

Not that i'm aware of. But their last release, The Basher Box was announced on 16th December 2020. So over a year since we last had an announcement of a forthcoming release. Looks ominous,i hope not.

[WaverBoy]

So…still nothing more from Pearl River? Only three releases? I hope not — I just picked up the Basher Box and I love it, and would happily purchase more vintage kung fu films like this. I need to go back and pick up THE LEG FIGHTERS and DYNAMO now.

Edited March 10, 2022 by WaverBoy

[Django]

7 hours ago, WaverBoy said:

So…still nothing more from Pearl River? Only three releases? I hope not — I just picked up the Basher Box and I love it, and would happily purchase more vintage kung fu films like this. I need to go back and pick up THE LEG FIGHTERS and DYNAMO now.

I only have The Leg Fighters but it’s a great release! Very nice extras.