Once Upon a Time In China Series - The Jet Li Era

[GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG]

i find it interesting that yen shi-kwan was probably the old school actor who benefitted *most* from the 90s wire-fu revival. Just look at the guy's filmography in the 1990s compared to another old school actors:

Ouatic

kick boxer

swordsman 2

new dragon inn

heroic trio

13 cold-blooded eagles

royal tramp 2

iron monkey

invincible constable

Yes.

GD Y-Y

[gwailosforever]

I find it interesting that Yen Shi-Kwan was probably the old school actor who benefitted *most* from the 90s wire-fu revival. Just look at the guy's filmography in the 1990s compared to another old school actors:

OUATIC

Kick Boxer

Swordsman 2

New Dragon Inn

Heroic Trio

13 Cold-Blooded Eagles

Royal Tramp 2

Iron Monkey

Invincible Constable

He's also briefly in OUATIC2 playing the totally different role of Governor Chung (Donnie's superior)

[DrNgor]

I revisited the original OUATIC the other evening. Sadly, the Brazilian Continental DVD release appears to have been ripped from the 113-minute VCD version, instead of the American 134-minute version that released about the same time. It's still a great movie, and both Jet Li and Xion Xin-Xin (his stunt double) bust out some great moves.

I don't know if anyone else has discussed the different versions yet, but I'm aware of three. The first would be the complete version, running 134 minutes, which I *think* I saw on Youtube years ago.

The 113-minute version, which I owned on VCD back in the day and now on Brazilian DVD. Missing from it are:

- Leung Foon's introduction and hijinks with Ah Soh, followed by his hijinks at the Peking Opera with Aunt Yee, although strangely enough, we meet him as he's trying to give an umbrella to Aunt Yee (the tail-end of the latter scene);

- Wong Fei-Hung's argument with Aunt Yee over her letting the fan get damaged;

- The touching scene after the big Peking Opera set piece, where Wong loses one of his patients because Ah Soh can't identify the medicine in time;

- At the climax, the English officer arguing with the American soldiers ("Damn your Yankee laws!")

 

The 95-minute International dub, which I got from Advantage Video back in the late 90s. That version is missing:

- The entire opening lion dance sequence;

- Leung Foon's introduction and early scenes -- we meet him when he's running from the Sha Ho Gang and seeks protection from Porky Leng;

- We don't meet Iron Robe Yim until his duel with Yuen Cheung-Yan;

- The aforementioned scenes of Wong Fei-Hung fighting with Aunt Yee about the fan, and the British officer arguing with the American soldiers;

[ShawAngela]

I didn't even know that there were a long and a short version of Once upon a time in China ! I think tath you're talking about the 1 ? I need to check my VHS and dvd in order to see if I have the long version !!

[DrNgor]

10 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

I think tath you're talking about the 1 ?

Yeah, the 1st. 

I had the Tai Seng VHS of the third, and that was complete. The international dub of the second one also seemed to be complete. I'll check out the Brazilian DVDs in the near future.

[Killer Meteor]

The HKL DVDs has the original dub for part 2 only, I think.

 

One thing that jars in the Cantonese version of Part 1 is how awful the dubbing of the English-speaking characters is! No wonder Mark King was pissed off on the audio commentary!

[DrNgor]

Once Upon a Time in China III (1993) - Thankfully, the transfer on this Continental DVD (Brazilian distributor) is a lot better than that of the first film. The film also seems to be complete, with a slightly-long 111-minute running time. It was in 1993 that director Tsui Hark struck up a partnership with former Jackie Chan classmate Yuen Bun to be his main action director, which relationship has lasted more than two decades (the two have worked together 15 times, 16 if you count Once Upon a Time in China IV). Unfortunately, Yuen Bun isn't as talented as Yuen Woo-Ping and his brothers, who did the first two films. The action here is generally fine, but devoid of any all-time classics like the film's predecessors.

[Killer Meteor]

I love the romantic scenes in Part III - very moving. Pity the main villian isn't as good as the first two though.

 

I always felt the whole presentation of Yen Shi-Kwan's character in Once Upon A Time in China was inspired by Lu Ti's character in Chang Cheh's Iron Bodyguard.