Guest Shaolin Patriot Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 Courtesy of Asian DVD Guide: Kid With The Golden Arm, The (1979) Director: Chang Cheh Cast: Sun Chien, Lo Meng, Pan Ping-chang Genre: Martial Arts Synopsis As directors jumped on the kung-fu comedy bandwagon acclaimed director Chang Cheh adhered to traditional brotherhood and moral code films. Chang reunites the Five Venoms in his second biggest cult hit in the West, The Kid With The Golden Arm. It's one Lo Meng's most memorable performances portraying the righteous villain Golden Arms whose eventual showdown with the drunkard Hai Tao (Kuo Chue) is graphically violent while being artistically decorous. Letterboxed and 16x9 enhanced (2.35:1) Mandarin (Mono) Chinese (Traditional) and English subtitles Extras: Trailers, picture gallery, poster art, biographies/filmographies, and production notes. Region 3 Running Time: 81 minutes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gfanikf Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 Hmm, well I know 78 NTSC is the cut version (no frame cuts). So 81 minutes celestial should be 85 normally (without speedups). 89 without any frame cuts). I suspect this will be uncut. Magicpoe would know the exact uncut running time since he created a hybrid version of KWTGA using the cut GZ and uncut ??? (I cant remember the source. I think we should be fine. I hope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member magicpoe Posted August 7, 2007 Member Share Posted August 7, 2007 1hour 22min and 27secs. I used the Ground Zero version and the Beverly Whilshire Pictures version. Just for reference: Ground Zero version is widescreen and English dubbed. It's actually a German print of the film with the English dub replacing the German dub. In short, this version cuts scenes of dialog that, in my opinion, makes the film a little more cohesive. Violence, guts, and gore all there. It's a shame those scenes are cut because the print was quite good and I wouldn't have needed to take the time to make a DVD. Beverly Whilshire Pictures version is "widescreen" and English dubbed and the source is a TV edit of the film. I say "widescreen" but the makers of the DVD just placed black bars on the top and bottom of the picture for some widescreen effect. Not fooling anyone though. This version has all of the dialog cut out of the Ground Zero version but missing are the more extreme scenes of violence and gore. So my version is the Ground Zero version with the extra dialog scenes present in the Beverly Whilshire version add to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member magicpoe Posted August 7, 2007 Member Share Posted August 7, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ching li Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 I really like the dvd cover for this movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shaolin Patriot Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 I timed out my old NTSC VHS (the street vendor, oversized clam-shall case one that we've seen everywhere). This one was longer than GZ and BW versions. It came to 1 hour 26 minutes. With the PAL difference, 1 hour 22 minutes seems right. I only hope we get it as complete as possible through IVL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member magicpoe Posted August 13, 2007 Member Share Posted August 13, 2007 Curious about quality, missing or altered footage, original trailer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest venomchamber Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 1 problem with this release: Celestial remastered a scene out of sequence... When Copper Head arrives through the tunnel dug by the 7 Deadly Hooks member played by Wu Han-Sheng, Iron Armour makes off with with the gold leaving him to battle Long Axe, Short Axe and Hu Wei, while Hai Tao stowes away beneath the cart and causes the back wheel to break off. Iron Armour Wang Lung-Wei then shoots off a flare as a signal while Hai Tao instigates a duel. At this point the 7 Deadly Hooks member played by Lu Chian-Ming rushes in during the fight and announces #3 just sent a signal. On the DVD it is reversed and the Deadly Valley gang are alerted before the cart is damaged or the signal is even sent! Only after Copper Head's demise and Golden Arm Kid's arrival does the film revert back to the broken cart sequence. The scenes should switch back and forth between the battle and the cart of gold, but the battle is kept lengthy and the Kuo Chui/Wang Lung-Wei sequences are shown together (ending with a clear view of blood spurting from Wang Lung-Wei's groin after being impaled by Kuo). Hopefully if DD or MB obtains this film in the future this oversight will be corrected. No original trailer, just a nicely edited Celestial home video promotional trailer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oldeschool17 Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 oh jesus christ what the hell? what moron decided to edit that out of sequence? just out of curiosity, had you not seen this movie back in the day, would that scene make any sense or do you think yer bias cause you know how its suppose to be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member magicpoe Posted August 13, 2007 Member Share Posted August 13, 2007 Thanks for the word on the trailer. If I remember correctly, the Beverly Wilshire Pictures DVD is mixed up like venomchamber described. I wish I still had that DVD to verify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drunkenmantis13 Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 I remember reading at the time that one of the 2 releases (GZ or BeverlyWilshire) had some scenes in the wrong order. I remember watching both and they really had scenes not in the same order. Maybe it's because you had seen this version only? Meaning you were used to the wrong edit and seeing the good one now doesn't seems to fit with you? Of course don't think i doubt you friend. You know more than i plus your description sounds like it really doesn't fit...or maybe Chang Cheh made it like that? :lol Guess i'm just trying to confort myself. That truly sucks, i mean how could they release a title with scenes out of order when they have the right thing from the start? Seems they don't care anymore with these titles, like they just release titles working the least possible on them...just feeding us quick and cheap because we badly want them. Damn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kungfusamurai Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 The cover kind of gives away the ending (sorry to those of you who haven't seen it yet). LOL! Like the '68 version of Planet of The Apes release on VHS and DVD from a few years that gave away the twist ending right on the cover. KFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shaolin Patriot Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 On the DVD it is reversed and the Deadly Valley gang are alerted before the cart is damaged or the signal is even sent! Only after Copper Head's demise and Golden Arm Kid's arrival does the film revert back to the broken cart sequence. I double-checked my old VHS and can confirm what venomchamber says is true. Once again Celestial carries on their poor reputation! Their "quality control" department (if such a department exists) wasn't even good enough to physically watch the film to notice the difference. Seems they are too concerned with releasing the rest of their catalog by the end of the year and discontinuing SB releases! In the wake of this, do we know if KWGA will definitely be released by either DD or MB and the approximate release date? Linn, could you advise? I think fans should receive some hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Linn1 Posted August 14, 2007 Member Share Posted August 14, 2007 Celestial doesn't have people that know these films checking them out, just techs doing the remastering, so it's actually surprising something like this didn't happen more often. As for who has the film in the US, all I know is this, I saw a list of a available films with this film on it prior to DD getting their deal, the list I saw afterward did not have the film listed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest venomchamber Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 I wonder if this was the way it was originally released and maybe Larry Bensky corrected it while editing it for US release? hmmm...Does anyone have a Mandarin bootleg to confirm? I'm sure the Wiensteins would fix this out-of-sequence pacing if they secure the US release rights. Looking forward to HOUSE OF TRAPS, LIFE GAMBLE and MAGNIFICENT RUFFIANS next! hooo-boy, whatta month this is gonna be! :b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest killer meteor Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Could well be a mistake in editing the original prints - perhaps a rush job? I recall the US release version of House By The Cemetary had two reels out of order! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shaolin Patriot Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Well, maybe they remastered one reel out of order. If only the technicians watched each sequence, then the mistake would have been caught. Let's hope DD would correct it for their upcoming release. That is, if DD has acquired the title for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tigerstyles Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 i never even noticed this out of sequence part, seems like its just another edit of this classic.. realy enjoyed watching this remastered Celestial title crisp clean picture and sound (mono) decent subs too. i fforgot the ending so it was nice surprise for me. still a bit confused over the double buisiness!! some sharp choreography in there. lacking extras but still theres the still gallery .. maximising the film space on these single layered releases Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tigerstyles Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 been lookin for the eng dub version, what version is this looks mint GOLDEN ARM cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member magicpoe Posted August 15, 2007 Member Share Posted August 15, 2007 The Ground Zero DVD/VHS version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oldeschool17 Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 Venomchamber, Im going to cut and paste your reply to asiandvdforum's shaw bros bad mixes thread, if you dont mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ko Fei Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 Just finished watching my celestial of Golden Arms and I have to say I had no problems with this version at all. i love this movie and it was nice to see it remastered. I ve been waiting for this one for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shaolin Patriot Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 For those who did not see this oversight as a problem - Even with the difference, would you say that the story still flows relatively well and is the editing smooth enough so as not to notice the difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Austin Jones Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 Yeah, it flows okay - more of a "wtf?" kind of reaction. It didn't upset me or ruin the movie. But, I did know it was coming, so maybe that's why it just went by me with little fanfare. It's nothing to get worked up over in my opinion; we'll probably be getting an English dub version soon enough anyway... Austin Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oldeschool17 Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Just got done watching it. Although, not even remotely perfect, the vid transfer looks as good as IVL can get. I agree, some of the characters names takes a moment to get use to, considering some of us may be use to the english dubs, but it was good to watch. the out of sequence did envoke a wtf moment, but it didnt take away from the movie overall. Bring on the rest of the venoms films this year! I have a question for those proficient in cantonese/mandarin. When they translated the name of Lo Meng's Gang and Sun Chien's Gang/Name, are those correct? For instance, does Death Valley Gang=Chia Sah? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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