VCI starts Martial Arts blu ray collection

[Yihetuan]

Not sure if Pearl River is still going to release Duel of the 7 Tigers but MW gave an update that's he's working on supplements for "several great labels" and hashtagged Shaw Bros & Golden Harvest.

[saltysam]

2 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

Not sure if Pearl River is still going to release Duel of the 7 Tigers but MW gave an update that's he's working on supplements for "several great labels" and hashtagged Shaw Bros & Golden Harvest.

Be nice if he could work on the mythical Bruceploitation book some of us paid good money for a long time ago.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

5 hours ago, saltysam said:

Be nice if he could work on the mythical Bruceploitation book some of us paid good money for a long time ago.

Good luck with that. 

[Yihetuan]

7 hours ago, saltysam said:

Be nice if he could work on the mythical Bruceploitation book some of us paid good money for a long time ago.

I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I'm never going to recover the $75 I shelled out for that crowdfunding project but I'll still give MW the benefit of the doubt that he'll come through in the end. The eternal optimist.

[saltysam]

9 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I'm never going to recover the $75 I shelled out for that crowdfunding project but I'll still give MW the benefit of the doubt that he'll come through in the end. The eternal optimist.

It's been so long ago i'm struggling to recall the details but it was just basically a book of Bruceploitation posters from around the world? And we now into our 3rd year of waiting,with no emails sent to backers with apologies,updates etc. It stinks.

[Yihetuan]

1 hour ago, saltysam said:

It's been so long ago i'm struggling to recall the details but it was just basically a book of Bruceploitation posters from around the world? And we now into our 3rd year of waiting,with no emails sent to backers with apologies,updates etc. It stinks.

well to be fair, he did apologize and give updates (long wait in between updates though) on the indiegogo page and Covid struck right when he was going to go into production with the book. But in his last update, he mentioned if you email him, he will refund your money. So I would get in contact with him and ask for your money back.

[saltysam]

Other companies have been publishing books over the last couple of years .Covid affected everyone but I'm not having that If the book is ready then it couldn't be printed up and finished very quickly.wouldve thought the Covid downtime would've given time to get the book finished and ready to be published. I'll email him and see what happens if I can find his address.

 

[Yihetuan]

5 hours ago, saltysam said:

Other companies have been publishing books over the last couple of years .Covid affected everyone but I'm not having that If the book is ready then it couldn't be printed up and finished very quickly.wouldve thought the Covid downtime would've given time to get the book finished and ready to be published. I'll email him and see what happens if I can find his address.

 

I would just send him a direct message via the indiegogo campaign.

 

[Killer Meteor]

On 7/29/2021 at 3:29 AM, 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.

Prodigal Boxer seems maybe a tiny bit squeezed, and it varies from shot to shot due to the photography. Some shots have that weird diagonal slant that used to be present on THE YOUNG MASTER.

Awaken Punch is definitely squeezed in too much...and the error is not present on one of the bonus trailers.

[Yihetuan]

Any updates about his forthcoming documentary, whatever happened to Pearl River/VCI and the crowdfunding book would be nice.

[saltysam]

Michael loves his tweets,giving updates on his promised book,documentary etc not so much 

[Django]

Yeah I was really hoping that they would put out more stuff consistently. He's been hinting from the left to right with releasing movies like Fist of Fury 2, Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger and Duel of the 7 Tigers... Even The Big Boss Part 2..

Can it perhaps be rights issues holding him back?

Edited June 12, 2022 by Django

[saltysam]

1 hour ago, Django said:

Yeah I was really hoping that they would put out more stuff consistently. He's been hinting from the left to right with releasing movies like Fist of Fury 2, Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger and Duel of the 7 Tigers... Even The Big Boss Part 2..

Can it perhaps be rights issues holding him back?

Wouldn't think rights issues would be delaying his doc and the book indefinitely.

[sifu iron perm]

On 3/12/2022 at 2:22 AM, Yihetuan said:

well to be fair, he did apologize and give updates (long wait in between updates though) on the indiegogo page and Covid struck right when he was going to go into production with the book. But in his last update, he mentioned if you email him, he will refund your money. So I would get in contact with him and ask for your money back.

Can you send me his email address please?

[Yihetuan]

6 hours ago, sifu iron perm said:

Can you send me his email address please?

I don't have his personal email. I meant email him through the indiegogo campaign page. You can try to DM via his facebook page and see if he responds.

https://www.facebook.com/bruceploitation/

[sifu iron perm]

2 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

I don't have his personal email. I meant email him through the indiegogo campaign page. You can try to DM via his facebook page and see if he responds.

https://www.facebook.com/bruceploitation/

I got in touch and he replied with a "ill forward your request to the ones in control of the campaign " ..

[Yihetuan]

2 hours ago, sifu iron perm said:

I got in touch and he replied with a "ill forward your request to the ones in control of the campaign " ..

yeah, I read your message on the indiegogo page. The reply sounds sus though because isn't he the one in charge and in control of the campaign? Anyway, I hope you receive your refund in a timely manner.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Yihetuan

[Yihetuan]

On 6/12/2022 at 2:18 AM, saltysam said:

Michael loves his tweets,giving updates on his promised book,documentary etc not so much 

He did give another update re: the long awaited documentary which was supposedly going to be put out by Severin several years ago. I believe it will be going on 5 years since it was announced!

[ChuckXL]

VCI's three martial arts releases (Bruce's Deadly Fingers, The Leg Fighters and The Basher Box) are 50% off currently.

https://www.vcientertainment.com/product-category/memorial-day-sale/

[shukocarl1441996347]

10 minutes ago, ChuckXL said:

VCI's three martial arts releases (Bruce's Deadly Fingers, The Leg Fighters and The Basher Box) are 50% off currently.

https://www.vcientertainment.com/product-category/memorial-day-sale/

Are they region free?

[Yihetuan]

I was fucking shocked that MW mentioned that the Pearl River imprint label from VCI is still in business. He said Duel of the 7 Tigers and another classic kung fu film is due to be released this year. Said VCI is pressuring him to release both films in a double set like The Basher Box but MW wants to release each separately.

[ChillyChong]

On 5/23/2023 at 12:12 AM, shukocarl1441996347 said:

Are they region free?

"Bit' late reply and you likely know answer now but at least leg fighters is region free. And quite solid release it is.

[Django]

6 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

I was fucking shocked that MW mentioned that the Pearl River imprint label from VCI is still in business. He said Duel of the 7 Tigers and another classic kung fu film is due to be released this year. Said VCI is pressuring him to release both films in a double set like The Basher Box but MW wants to release each separately.

I have a good feeling that the other film is The Hot The Cool and Vicious. And both of them classics deserve individual releases. 

[saltysam]

Hot The Cool is an all time favourite of mine. Actually saw it on the big screen at an all night kung fu film show circa 1980. I have KFR's custom blu ray which is currently the best version available.

[Django]

MW is a big fan of that film aswell, and the trailer for it was a bonus on The Leg Fighters Blu-ray.