The Gold Ninja Video Blu-ray Thread

[De Ming Li]

@JDecloux   Justin, are the the OOP Asian films on your site going to be permanently out of stock or is there still a chance for them to come back? I want to get them for some of the special features.

[JDecloux]

Unfortunately, there's no plans at the moment to do any re-prints of any of the out of print titles. 

[Yihetuan]

On 9/23/2021 at 7:28 AM, De Ming Li said:

@JDecloux   Justin, are the the OOP Asian films on your site going to be permanently out of stock or is there still a chance for them to come back? I want to get them for some of the special features.

I've seen a few titles pop up on eBay if you're interested in going that route.

@JDecloux, I realize this is just a pipe dream & I'm saying this in jest (as I'm not aware of this movie ever having seen the light of day at least here in the West) but I would gladly pay upwards of $100 if you ever get a hold of Devil Fighter. it's probably the holy grail of Taiwanese wuxia fantasy madness.

[Jan Pospisil]

That looks delightful, and it'd be a great followup to TBS.

[JDecloux]

I do a commentary track with Tars Tarkas on the Blu-ray of THE THRILLING SWORD and we discuss DEVIL FIGHTER at length as the white whale of giant monster cult movies. For all we know, it's gone forever, but then again, it could just randomly pop up on Youtube! Same goes for the MAGIC RING as far as Taiwanese genre fare I wish was available in some form. 

[spannick]

just licence MAGIC RING from Celestial. They have it in HD in unremastered Print, surely with English Subtitles delivered. Ask 88 or Arrow if they can help or co-operate.

Catalog Number is SL177020, a clip of it was once posted in this forum (i downloaded it also years ago from here). It was fantastic fantasy trash to be loved by everyone.

[Jan Pospisil]

Justin, since you're going to have a film scanner, are you looking at movie reels to buy? What would you say is a reasonable price for a film? What condition would you still consider for scanning and restoration?

(I've been watching the appropriate section on eBay, and there's - for instance - a copy of Fearless Fighters. Not a film I've heard of before, looks not super common (though there do seem to be DVDs), but I have no idea if the price is too high for the condition in this case - from the samples it's quite red tinted.)

[JDecloux]

@spannick Sadly, I can't license something from a big company like Celestial. I am literally a one man operation with print runs of a couple hundred. Perhaps one day though! 

 

@Jan Pospisil I'm still figuring the price of stuff myself. A 300-500 for a 35mm print seems to be the norm for something that may be rare, but not super popular - but then the shipping could be the same price as the print! Frustratingly, there's some tantilizing stuff listed on Ebay that is sometimes sold by shady customers that forums have said to avoid. I'm a novice in all this, so I'm learning as I go, but a getting color out of a red print isn't that much of an issue these days - unless there' zero colour left. For now, I'll be sticking to scanning with only minor restorations - and I'll have to judge case by case if it's passable - like something with a splice every few seconds is definitely a no-go. 

[Jan Pospisil]

It's all really interesting, a good idea for a YT video perhaps - how one does this thing at all.  

(rights and licensing are another thing I didn't think about - if you buy a print like that off ebay, do you still need to find out who owns the rights and license it from them?)

[JDecloux]

@Jan Pospisil It all depends on the film and who made it, because a lot of martial arts cinema has fallen deep into a grey area where the rights holders have dissappeared into the vortex of time. Basically, if a film could have been found in the bargain bin and has been released by a million companies and never gotten an official DVD - it's fair game. So something like FEARLESS FIGHTERS wouldn't be fair game because it has been released and remastered by a previous DVD company back in the day, so someone is probably still holding onto the rights of it. It's not an exact science, and it's something that makes me sweat when considering stuff, but I'm usually rather be safe than sorry. 

Edited October 5, 2021 by JDecloux

[sifu iron perm]

@JDecloux Hi, what's going on with Thrilling sword? Any update?.. Cheers

[Yihetuan]

16 hours ago, sifu iron perm said:

@JDecloux Hi, what's going on with Thrilling sword? Any update?.. Cheers

The website says it will be released & start shipping on Nov 22.

https://goldninjavideo.com/29-thrilling-bloody-sword/

[tankaray]

Now the site says Nov. 24. I think this is the fifth date change. Is this normal for Gold Ninja?

[saltysam]

9 hours ago, tankaray said:

Now the site says Nov. 24. I think this is the fifth date change. Is this normal for Gold Ninja?

My understanding of Gold Ninja Video is that it's a pretty much a one man band operation. Also even the giants (Arrow,88) are delaying releases due to manufacturing plant bottlenecks. I'm sure it will be released soon.

[Yihetuan]

10 hours ago, tankaray said:

Now the site says Nov. 24. I think this is the fifth date change. Is this normal for Gold Ninja?

Not really in my experience but I think this is a pretty big project with @JDecloux first foray into scanning a film and preparing it for an HD release. His past titles have been public domain stuff, so I imagine this is a more complex undertaking than his previous releases. I'm sure he wants to get all the extras like the easter egg, commentary stuff with Tars Tarkus right with quality control checks.

[tankaray]

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't heard of Gold Ninja before this thread and was curious about past pre-orders.

[Yihetuan]

So TBS as started shipping as of an hour ago according to @JDecloux twitter. here are pics of the final case, artwork, booklet and bonus features. So the bonus feature film in SD only will be Incredible Kung Fu Mission, Tars Tarkas will be doing the joint commentary track, bonus interview with comic historian Jessica Tseang too. I am curious as to the "easter egg" film.

[Yihetuan]

The red bubble mailers are a nice touch!

Edited November 28, 2021 by Yihetuan

[Yihetuan]

Received my copy of TBS and so happy to be able to see this in its proper OAR and in a clear print with rich saturated colors and solid contrast as compared to washed out, blurry & faded version that's been available up to this point. I also enjoyed the extras especially the well informed and entertaining commentary with Taiwanese psychotronic film enthusiast, Nick Adelman (aka Tars Tarkas).

The easter egg bonus film is Lee Tso Nam's...

Spoiler

A LIFE OF NINJA <-- you can access this by using the right arrow on your remote to highlight the poster on the home menu screen

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Yihetuan

[De Ming Li]

How many easter egg bonuses have been on Gold Ninja releases to date? 

[Yihetuan]

3 hours ago, De Ming Li said:

How many easter egg bonuses have been on Gold Ninja releases to date? 

Every release has had at least one and sometimes two as far as I know.

[KenHashibe]

I received my copy of Thrilling Bloody Sword a few days ago (along with Unlucky Stars). Haven't even been able to finish watching TBS because I've been busy going through the special features. There's so much to get through and I love how much enthusiasm and information there is on this disc.

The same goes for Unlucky Stars, which is a movie I really love. Dennis Ruel gives a ton of insight into the making of the movie and the distribution hell that it went through too. I really hope this movie gets more people to see it. It really deserves the attention.

[JDecloux]

Glad you enjoyed the release of UNLUCKY! Dennis Ruel rocks and the movie deserves to be seen by waaaay more people - especially with the pedigree of performers that have already gone to massive things. We even comissioned a Jackie Chan style homage poster for it! 

 

On the subject of easter eggs, every GNV disc has one, but there aren't any secret features on the majority of Director' Cult releases except for LOCAL LEGENDS (Sadly now out of print) and A SWEET AND VICIOUS BEAUTY. 

If you like no-budget martial arts A SWEET AND VICIOUS BEAUTY has a really fun one as a bonus feature and another wild one as a secret feature - and both films are only available on the disc. The director never had any good offers after making them, so he just hung on to them until I asked and he was like "Sure! You can toss them on there!" 

Here's a clip from the 'bonus feature' FIFTH CITY from the Blu-ray of A SWEET AND VICIOUS BEAUTY:  

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by JDecloux

[Stewart]

I received my Thrilling Bloody Sword last week. The little bit I’ve had a chance to watch was an absolutely unbelievable upgrade over the copy I’d had for years.
 

Amazing work, and I wish I had picked up prior releases!

[WaverBoy]

I just found out about your release of THE THRILLING BLOODY SWORD! Ordered! Can’t wait!!!