Guest Lei Kung Posted April 3, 2007 Share Posted April 3, 2007 I just bought Legendary Weapons the other day, about the only movie I've ever upgraded as this is a long time favorite and there's always been enough other movies to buy before worrying about upgrading the ones I have. It was amazing seeing it in this form... liked it as much as the first time I saw it. Anyway, this made me wonder... Before the Celestials started coming out, was there a legitimate way to see LWoC (or most of the classic kung fu Shaws) on home video in existence? *posted this in the wrong forum* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spannick Posted April 3, 2007 Share Posted April 3, 2007 sure there was. UK (cut) and Dutch (uncut) VHS at least. ("INVINCIBLE POLE FIGHTERS"). both from Warner Home Video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted April 3, 2007 Share Posted April 3, 2007 The Invincible Pole Fighters was Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. Legendary Weapons of China was Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spannick Posted April 3, 2007 Share Posted April 3, 2007 you're right of course. my brain is boiling over today. well, it was at least issued by Warner in the Netherlands. no idea if it was issued in the UK, but IF it would have been severely cut most liikely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Linn1 Posted April 3, 2007 Member Share Posted April 3, 2007 it was released in the UK, cut and with a different dub track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted April 3, 2007 Share Posted April 3, 2007 The UK video of 'Legendary Weapons' was very badly cut (5:16 by the BBFC) IIRC, all sight of shurikens and a duel with a three-section staff(?) were cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lei Kung Posted April 3, 2007 Share Posted April 3, 2007 I see, so there was never a US release until now? Also how long ago were the Warner Video releases available. I've been a fan since around 2001. At the time, when seeking out movies like 36th Chamber, Legendary Weapons, etc, all I could find were the Ground Zeros. *sarcastically thanks George Tan* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Linn1 Posted April 3, 2007 Member Share Posted April 3, 2007 in the US were in the mid 80s. You can still find a few floating around in old mom and pop video stores. I actually bought an original large box Seven Blows of the Dragon in Media Play about five years ago. Collectors will know how strange that is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest venomchamber Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Here in the U.S. there were several short-lived attempts. Aside from the infamous Dragon Video tapes which were pirated edited for television prints from World Northal and duplicated onto Scotch T-120 videocassettes and those nasty Ground Zero EP/SLP overdubs, there were several legitimate releases, most notably these respectable high profile companies... SOUTHGATE HOME VIDEO 1- TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN 2- CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS 3- DUEL OF FISTS 4- THE BELLS OF DEATH 5- KING BOXER VISTA HOME VIDEO 1- SUPER NINJAS 2- SHAOLIN EXECUTIONER 3- SHAOLIN CHALLENGES NINJA 4- FISTS OF THE WHITE LOTUS 5- TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG WARNER BROTHERS (USA) 1- SEVEN BLOWS OF THE DRAGON 2- THE SEVEN BROTHERS MEET DRACULA 3- CLEOPATRA JONES AND THE CASINO OF GOLD 4- THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN (Quentin Tarentino's Rolling Thunder label.) Sadly, the Image releases have been nothing but a major disappointment to me thus far. Their Black Magic English audio was nothing but incoherent noise. Their Super Inframan merely borrowed the audio track from the Goodtimes LP videotape release of Joseph Brenner's version. The Legendary Weapons Of Kung-Fu was good, but had some audio drop-outs such as the cat & mouse noises they were making while fighting in the attic! All of the others were the same as the IVL releases which I already have. The only outstanding film would have to be The Boxer's Omen, only because this is only available on VCD! Siren Visual Entertainment has released a dozen films with English dubbed audio well worth checking out! Oddly, they have stopped releasing dubbed tracks on their films, and now they have stopped releasing any new titles period. SVE (AU) 1- INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN 2- TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN 3- HEROES TWO 4- THE HEROIC ONES 5- DUEL OF FISTS 6- SHAOLIN HANDLOCK 7- THE LIZARD* 8- THE MAGIC BLADE* 9- THE WEB OF DEATH* 10- THE TRAIL OF THE BROKEN BLADE* 11-TWELVE GOLDEN MEDALLIONS* 12-THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN *These are all worth getting as they have never been shown in English (officially) here in North America! Hope this info was useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FiveSwords Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 Thanks for the info, venom. Good stuff. In general, how is the image quality of the SVE releases when compared to the IVL R3 NTSC versions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest killer meteor Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 Sirens all have the advantage of being genuine PAL, rather than the PAL-NTSC transfers the IVLs suffer from. Subs can be naff at times though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Robert Ian Teller Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 "Their Super Inframan merely borrowed the audio track from the Goodtimes LP videotape release of Joseph Brenner's version." Also released by Prism in normal SP mode. Did Embassy release any other Shaws besides Master Killer? Did Fox Lorber release any other Shaws besides Chinatown Kid? Street Gangs of Hong Kong was also released. Not sure of the company or if they had the legit rights though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Atomic Mystery Monster Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 WARNER BROTHERS (USA) 4- THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN (Quentin Tarentino's Rolling Thunder label.) I thought Rolling Thunder was owned by Miramax/Dimension. Weird... Their Super Inframan merely borrowed the audio track from the Goodtimes LP videotape release of Joseph Brenner's version. Someone once told me that they used an alternate English dub since Joseph Brenner still owned the rights to his version of the English soundtrack and felt that Image or Celestial didn't offer him enough money to justify his licensing it to them. He also mentioned that Brenner wasn't afraid of suing (He apparently went after a magazine that wanted to do an Infra-Man tribute), so it would seem pretty foolish to rip him off if he really did own the rights to the English dub. I've never heard the "classic" INFRAMAN dub, so I have no clue if this is true or not. Can anyone fill me in on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest venomchamber Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 nothing "weird". It was a typo. Everyone on Earth knows Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder is (was) owned by Miramax. Close enough. I was tired of typing and didn't want to start a whole new category for just 1 film, so I just decided to tack it on there at the end. (picky-picky) Anyhoo... Yep! The Image disc DOES INDEED USE THE BRENNER DUB! With tape hiss and all! Is Joseph Brenner even still around? I'm sure all the Inframan copyrights reverted back to the Shaws after 30 years. If not, he'll have some lawsuit with them and Image! There is a "but still" version. Has to be. That was how the film was sold in the first place! All Shaw films were made available in English. That was how they were sold to international markets. I'm sure Brenner had it redone with the "Speed Racer" type voices to market it similar to the Japanese Godzilla films it so resembled at the time. (Ironically, Godzilla Vs Megalon is loaded with all of the infamous "but still" voices heard throughtout Shaw films of the 70s!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Linn1 Posted April 7, 2007 Member Share Posted April 7, 2007 Image did approach his people to do the disc and it's exactly as mentioned above.It was because Brenner has always thought of the film as his, he did sell it throughout the world. He's been fighting bootleggars for years over the film (one tape was pulled BTW) and he wasn't happy that someone else got the rights to the movie. He honestly thinks it's his film, and went so far as to tell Image he would take them to court if they tried to use the stereo English dub track he had or the trailers. Image could have used the trailers, as they are not copywrited, but they didn't want to go through all the trouble involved. But Image could use the non-stereo track via the same loop hole that allowed the old VHS tape to make it out without Brenner's people pulling it. As for rights, you're correct that they would revert back. But the problem is Brenner did the soundtrack himself, so that would not be owned by Celestial. So it was a choice between having what we got or no dub at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sevenhooks Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 There is a "but still" version. Has to be. That was how the film was sold in the first place! All Shaw films were made available in English. That was how they were sold to international markets. Agreed. I'm sure Brenner had it redone with the "Speed Racer" type voices to market it similar to the Japanese Godzilla films it so resembled at the time. (Ironically, Godzilla Vs Megalon is loaded with all of the infamous "but still" voices heard throughtout Shaw films of the 70s!) Funny you mention that because I always noticed that about the Godzilla vs. Megalon dub. Perhaps that's why I always (maybe even subconsiously) dug that one even though it's almost universally panned as just about the worst Godzilla film ever. ((((SIDE NOTE: When I was about 6 or 7, I desperately wanted one of those insane "dolphin" riders that little kid was boating around on in the lake before he almost bit the dust! :eek )))) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sevenhooks Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 So it was a choice between having what we got or no dub at all. So I take it that the original "but still" dub could not / would not be found? Has anyone actually ever HEARD the damn thing before?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gfanikf Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 Funny you mention that because I always noticed that about the Godzilla vs. Megalon dub. Dude that movie is awesome, long time fav of mine. I had the art for the US poster (which Jess got me a rep of ) which had them fighting on the WORLD TRADE CENTER (no BS) on my cake at my 6th B-Day party. Those movies from the 70s helped me fall in love with the art of Hong Kong dubbing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest venomchamber Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 Regrettably, I have several different copies of this movie, but have not yet turned up with the "international" dubbed version as of yet. Prism VHS, Sinister Cinema VHS, Goodtimes VHS, a German VHS copy, French DVD, Celestial R3 DVD (+VCD with kubricks), Japanese DVD, and now Image's DVD. If its out there, it'll turn up like everything else...eventually. Anyone ever see a European copy with Dutch subtitles floating around? I suspect that would be the one to look for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spannick Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 i don't think this was released in the Netherlands sadly. but as i said before somewhere, the German VHS has Original English Credits with no Chinese, so a Dub naturally would have existed. (the Brenner Dub has completely new Credits that have nothing to do with the Original ones; also it has replaced the Original Music) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sevenhooks Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 which had them fighting on the WORLD TRADE CENTER (no BS) I remember that poster very well actually. It was a not-so-subtle rip off of the Dino DeLaurentis King Kong poster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Linn1 Posted April 7, 2007 Member Share Posted April 7, 2007 and they were told they did not have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spannick Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 you know that we can't trust Celestial on anything, right? see their TV Dubs on UK TV for Stuff they denied having - and then they will say to you "well, we found it yesterday, sorry". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sevenhooks Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 you know that we can't trust Celestial on anything, right? see their TV Dubs on UK TV for Stuff they denied having - and then they will say to you "well, we found it yesterday, sorry". Bad situation. Because a company like Image is only going to believe what they're being told by Celestial. And Celestial is obviously too lazy to look for the damn dubs that we all know exist. Either that or worse, they're intentionally "not finding" them in order to double dip sales down the road. Or perhaps that's just me being paranoid, right? :eek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Atomic Mystery Monster Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 And Celestial is obviously too lazy to look for the damn dubs that we all know exist. Either that or worse, they're intentionally "not finding" them in order to double dip sales down the road. Or perhaps that's just me being paranoid, right? I dunno, both of those theories sound quite possible (although I'd like to pimp my "Celestial's trying to force licensors to find/restore the dubs so they don't have to spend any money on them" theory again). Then again, why would they intentionally not find dubs for Image but provide them to a British channel? It doesn't make any sense to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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