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The Water Margin / 水滸傳 (1972)


Guest kow pad moo

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Guest kow pad moo

Seven Blows of the Dragon vs The Water Margin

Since I don't have a copy of the chopped-up U.S. 1973 release handy -- can anyone give a quick rundown of which segments (other than the Corman-commissioned skin scene included on the Image version) were cut from the original? Thanks a gazillion!

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Guest The Running Man

While the DVD is decent and better than the IVL release, Image still dropped the ball on that release.

It could have easily been a two disc set with Water Margin on one disc and 7 Blows on the other.

Ah well...

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Guest The Running Man
Although, Running Man doesnt wanna hear it, it coulda included the english dub as well

That's what 7 Blows of the Dragon is.

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Guest stormybman

The music soundtrack for 7 BOTD is awesome. I was really disappointed when I saw TWM, and the music was the typically canned fare. I have a red sun disc where they attempted to put the 7 blows music over the new remastered film, and it sucks... >:

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Guest chen lung

Was there a dub ever made by Shaws themselves?

I've got a 35mm trailer for '7 Blows', and I've never seen it or the film:b .

Aside from the love scene, does it drop things that were in the Mandarin version?

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Guest killer meteor
I was really disappointed when I saw TWM, and the music was the typically canned fare

Actually, the majority of the score for The Water Margin is cuts from Uriah Heep's fantastic song Sailsbury, from the album of the same name

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Guest The Running Man
Aside from the love scene, does it drop things that were in the Mandarin version?

Oh yeah. Plenty.

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Mark Pollard

Great film with a killer ensemble cast, though Ti Lung and Chen Kuan-tai are underused. David Chiang's wrestling scenes are loads of fun and it's awesome seeing chambara film star Tetsuro Tamba here.

While looking for trailers (unsuccessfully) I found that someone posted New World Pictures' entire English dub version (SEVEN BLOWS OF THE DRAGON) on Youtube. Here's the first part:

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Celestial's remaster is available on DVD from Image Entertainment. It's worth getting. The theme music Shaw Brothers lifted from Uriah Heep that wound up on the original Mandarin release elevates the film to another level. I think more Chang Cheh films should have been paired with classic rock.

Here's Uriah Heep's original song "Salisbury" from which the original theme music was made:

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Mark Pollard
Didn't this have like 3 different directors at 1 point? It sure shows.

Po Hsueh-li and Wu Ma are credited as directors along with Chang Cheh. However, I imagine they worked well together given that both Po and/or Wu co-directed a number of Chang's other films around the same time including THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG. Chang was putting out a new movie every few months. There's no way he would have had time to personally direct every scene.

David Chiang was highly miscasted(not sure if thats a word) as a wrestler? Tiny little David Chiang?

In that regard, Chiang was miscast is most of his action roles. He never had the looks or power to effectively convey the near-superhuman fighter he was typically cast as. But for whatever reason, Chiang saw him as his ideal action hero at the time. I simply grew accustomed to suspending my disbelief while watching a David Chiang movie.

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i noticed that no one really answered the question about an original dub. i myself have always wondered about that---i had heard(read) that a full length english dub existed with the voice crew of that time but corman found it to be long winded and a tad boring so he commissioned his own cut down version--can anyone confirm or deny this ? if a full length dub does exist i sure would like to see it. also, i'm a bit surprised that with all the recent rereleases of roger corman movies that they haven't done 7 BLOWS OF THE DRAGON yet:xd:

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Despite its huge cast and a good amount of sloppyness in some of the end fight scenes I always thought of THE WATER MARGIN as an unqualified success. Fan Mei Sheng just owned this film, a career-defining performance, no less. It’s the type of epic that just cries out for a Blu Ray presentation! The Image DVD had a murky, indistinct picture, the garish colors of the film appeared dull, almost all their Shaws looked as poor as this.

Originally Posted by Mark Pollard

In that regard, Chiang was miscast is most of his action roles. He never had the looks or power to effectively convey the near-superhuman fighter he was typically cast as. But for whatever reason, Chiang saw him as his ideal action hero at the time.

I think understandably so. Chiang was all about skills, wits and high IQ and just set a perfect counterbalance to the bare-chested physicality of a Ti Lung in all those blazing yang gang flicks.

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Mark Pollard
Chiang was all about skills, wits and high IQ and just set a perfect counterbalance to the bare-chested physicality of a Ti Lung in all those blazing yang gang flicks.

Good point. I'm just finishing up watching YOUNG PEOPLE (1972) and noticed that once again, Chiang is portrayed as the wiser, more skilled and balanced martial artist than Ti Lung or Chen Kuan-tai despite their superior physicality.

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Iron_Leopard

I wanted to watch "Tiger Killer" tonight but it's not on Prime.

But "The Water Margin" is. Is this movie worth watching if I fear i won't be able to keep up with all these characters and the plot line?

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TibetanWhiteCrane

I love it, but it can be a bit overwhelming and maybe take a few watches to fully appreciate... it did for me. All Men are Brothers works better for me, but I dig them both and consider them "one piece" which in the literary sense they are, together with the other offshoot movies. Pursuit is HIGHLY underrated and my fave of that universe.

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