The 88 Films Blu-Ray Thread

[starschwar]

On 5/25/2022 at 12:58 PM, AlexanderFu said:

I guess I need something new to collect. If anyone has a good site where they but the 88's, Arrow's and Eureka's - please leave it for me!  Even though I don't have a Blu-ray player per se, I'd still like to have the nice versions of these classics. (I have an LG MULTI optical drive coming tomorrow.).

Get Eureka direct from the source.  Free shipping, especially valuable if you're outside the UK. 

 

https://eurekavideo.co.uk/

Edited May 27, 2022 by starschwar

[Killer Meteor]

9 hours ago, WaverBoy said:

Well that really sucks!

It's shouldn't be news to people, the damage was done nearly 20 years ago!

 

 

[Graysman]

1 hour ago, Killer Meteor said:

It's shouldn't be news to people, the damage was done nearly 20 years ago!

 

 

That is correct 

[WaverBoy]

5 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

It's shouldn't be news to people, the damage was done nearly 20 years ago!

 

 

It’s news for this particular title though, a late ‘90s one even. And no new restoration without framecuts. So yeah, that really sucks.

[Killer Meteor]

12 minutes ago, WaverBoy said:

It’s news for this particular title though, a late ‘90s one even. And no new restoration without framecuts. So yeah, that really sucks.

It's what it is sadly. Even when Arrow commissioned new restorations for their box, that didn't apply to every title in the set.

[BigDruDogg]

Just a heads up to everyone, Killer Meteors is available to Pre-Order from 88's site now

[AlexanderFu]

14 minutes ago, BigDruDogg said:

Just a heads up to everyone, Killer Meteors is available to Pre-Order from 88's site now

Done! And thank you, it is one of my favorites! 'The Madness...!'

[Killer Meteor]

Ordered! And Mardi Gras Massacre too!

[Killer Meteor]

3 hours ago, WaverBoy said:

It’s news for this particular title though, a late ‘90s one even. And no new restoration without framecuts. So yeah, that really sucks.

But its' unfair for people to attack 88 on this. Any label dealing with Celestial has to deal with this issue

[KUNG FU BOB]

That's annoying news about HERO. As the film had previously been released in several versions that were heavily edited for violence I checked those scenes on the print 88 was given to make sure they were intact for the 88 Films release. Due to time constraints and the fact that I had only recently rewatched the film (so it was already fresh in my mind as far as coming up with the art) I did not review the entire print and therefore never noticed any problems. Where there was brief footage missing they used a different source to replace that material. But who would ever think they were licensing a relatively new title from a company that had simply thrown away part of the film as they "restored" it?! Sigh.

I doubt I'm alone in feeling that I'd much rather see a film with some irreparable damage to the print included than to have those bits excised from it entirely. I'm a purist, and don't want a single second missing from any film release, but in this situation the 88 release is still, without a doubt, the very best way to see/own the film. Irritating as it may be that frames of damage were clipped, thankfully nothing of import is missing, and it's uncensored.

Everything considered, I'm still thankful this cool little gangster flick is on Blu and that I can watch Yuen Biao kick ass in one of his last great appearances.

[WaverBoy]

5 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

It's what it is sadly. Even when Arrow commissioned new restorations for their box, that didn't apply to every title in the set.

Alas, I’m aware of that. And it’s still new news for this particular title, and it still absolutely blows. Goddamned f**king Celestial bastards.

[WaverBoy]

2 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

But its' unfair for people to attack 88 on this. Any label dealing with Celestial has to deal with this issue

Not attacking 88; just lamenting the fact. Celestial sucks for the damage they did to these films. Idiots

[Killer Meteor]

1 hour ago, WaverBoy said:

Not attacking 88; just lamenting the fact. Celestial sucks for the damage they did to these films. Idiots

It's annoying. On the one hand, they remastered lots of these films and not just the obvious ones. But they cut corners like crazy.

[Red Lion]

On 5/27/2022 at 3:44 PM, AlexanderFu said:

Done! And thank you, it is one of my favorites! 'The Madness...!'

Lol. Didnt think id ever see the phrase "one of my favourites" and killer meteors in the same conversation. I bought the scandinavian jackie vintage collection and watched it for the first time in great video quality after avoiding the terrible quality vhs releases for years and i have to say the film sent me to sleep on no less than 4 occasions so i gave up. Lol. I may need to revisit tgis again though cos i do like wang yu.

[AlexanderFu]

2 hours ago, Red Lion said:

Lol. Didnt think id ever see the phrase "one of my favourites" and killer meteors in the same conversation. I bought the scandinavian jackie vintage collection and watched it for the first time in great video quality after avoiding the terrible quality vhs releases for years and i have to say the film sent me to sleep on no less than 4 occasions so i gave up. Lol. I may need to revisit tgis again though cos i do like wang yu.

I don't know why I like that movie so much, but I do! I love the dubs (until the infamous 'House of Traps' 1980's team!). But then again, I like movies where I can't even read all of the subs and have to guess the last words of a scene. It just never gets old to the point where I think the films made in this genre beat the entire catalogue of Hollywood and then some!

[AlexanderFu]

On 5/26/2022 at 7:16 PM, ShawAngela said:

Did you try Zavvi.com ? Or terracota site, or Zoom.uk ?

Thanks for the tip, ShawAngela! I'll definitely give a look into them. I'd like to buy from close to me,

but if something really nice comes out, I'll do what needs to be done! Much appreciated. 

[De Ming Li]

On 5/28/2022 at 12:04 AM, Killer Meteor said:

It's what it is sadly. Even when Arrow commissioned new restorations for their box, that didn't apply to every title in the set.

I'm just very glad that King Boxer did get fully repaired by Arrow

[FightingFool]

On 5/27/2022 at 8:20 PM, Killer Meteor said:

But its' unfair for people to attack 88 on this. Any label dealing with Celestial has to deal with this issue

It is in gray area.88 did not do restaurations but they appoved what was given so they are not 100%"innocent"...fundraising project for gathring money for proper scans would be welcome..

[saltysam]

3 minutes ago, FightingFool said:

It is in gray area.88 did not do restaurations but they appoved what was given so they are not 100%"innocent"...fundraising project for gathring money for proper scans would be welcome..

That applies to any company that have released Shaw titles on dvd or blu ray since celestial restored them then.

[FightingFool]

13 minutes ago, saltysam said:

That applies to any company that have released Shaw titles on dvd or blu ray since celestial restored them then.

Of course except arrow remasters. So they are not ideal but best we have for now..

In general have to trust label honchos know what it`s worth spending money for and what not worth it...Rather see some not ideal restaurations of Shaws on br than none at all

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by FightingFool

[WaverBoy]

2 hours ago, De Ming Li said:

I'm just very glad that King Boxer did get fully repaired by Arrow

And THE CHINATOWN KID!

[Red Lion]

Iv been aware of people commenting on the frame cuts of shaw bros films for a while and i have to say i havent noticed this when watching these films and iv never seen anyone provide specific details. I originally saw alot of these films on vhs back in the day and having seen the same films on dvd and now the 88 films, german blu rays and arrow set and i have to show my ignorance and say i havent noticed anything out of the ordinary so am i right in saying most of these frame cuts were at the splice lines in the films and has only been a few frames at a time or whole scenes gone? Who can give a good example of a scene or film badly impacted by the cuts?

[kuenfist]

6 minutes ago, Red Lion said:

Iv been aware of people commenting on the frame cuts of shaw bros films for a while and i have to say i havent noticed this when watching these films and iv never seen anyone provide specific details. I originally saw alot of these films on vhs back in the day and having seen the same films on dvd and now the 88 films, german blu rays and arrow set and i have to show my ignorance and say i havent noticed anything out of the ordinary so am i right in saying most of these frame cuts were at the splice lines in the films and has only been a few frames at a time or whole scenes gone? Who can give a good example of a scene or film badly impacted by the cuts?

For example ' The Avenging Eagle ' one Minute is lost in the endfight on the IVL DVD. Or 'Four Riders' a dialog scene 25 seconds are missing on the IVL DVD. And there are much more movies with missing scenes. It is not only framecuts what celestial did.

[Red Lion]

41 minutes ago, kuenfist said:

For example ' The Avenging Eagle ' one Minute is lost in the endfight on the IVL DVD. Or 'Four Riders' a dialog scene 25 seconds are missing on the IVL DVD. And there are much more movies with missing scenes. It is not only framecuts what celestial did.

Thats great thanks for the info. I thought avenging eagle was a slightly censored version and not cut due to damage. I have the koch four riders and cant say i noticed that cut so wonder if koch is the same as ivl dvd or if its a new remaster. 

[KenHashibe]

9 hours ago, Red Lion said:

Thats great thanks for the info. I thought avenging eagle was a slightly censored version and not cut due to damage. I have the koch four riders and cant say i noticed that cut so wonder if koch is the same as ivl dvd or if its a new remaster. 

Here's a link to the extended fight scene from The Avenging Eagle that @kuenfist was referring to. Nothing that I'd consider censorable, so it's more likely that the negative could have been damaged which is why it was truncated. This fight does run at the very end of the reel, which is typically where damage is on a film print. (It's worth noting that the 35mm print I saw at the New Beverly Cinema a few years ago was uncut, so there is still a chance that the scene can be restored if the negative is damaged).

As someone who's unaware of the process of film restoration, we can only speculate why these frames/scenes are missing, depending on the film. I do hope we will see more complete restorations in the future, but I'm still grateful that Celestial remastered these films in the first place.