Game of Death II (Different Versions)

[shukocarl]

Can someone please outline the different prints of Game of Death II/Tower of Death?

As far as I can tell there are:

1) Original Hong Kong version - no 'Casanova Wong' fight or 'Childhood' movie footage, No end title sequence.

2) International (dubbed) version includes all of the above ( two different end credits in prints).

3) A U.S. edit that replaces all Enter the Dragon footage with Way of the Dragon footage - has anyone ever seen this?

4)The longer Korean version (some footage on Youtube of longer airport scene, longer 'sword' demo and a mini-nunchaku scene) that has more footage of Kim Tai Jong and Hwang Jang Lee.

Are there any more out there - any known reviews of the various versions?

Finally, which is best...the HKL dvd or the U.S. Fox one?

Thanks in advance...Carl:o

[falkor]

I heard a rumour that the Rainbow Audio and Video US version was edited different to other prints. I tried asking about it once to no avail.

[shukocarl]

Thanks Falks, it seems rumours start but no one can ever produce credible evidence..bit like the 'outdoor' footage of Game 1.

[Killer Meteor]

DVDs

HKL gives you the Cantonese version and some great extras, so get that!

Fox Box set gives you the longer English version so get that!

Avoid Foz standalone version as its badly remixed

[Jstn]

I was told not to get any version labeled "Tower of Death" because it has no Casanova Wong fight in it. Make sure the label "Game of Death II" is on the package. At least thats what someone said to me.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Thats not correct... I have the HKL version, titled game of death 2, with the Casanova fight and some other scenes as extras. And a scandinavian version titled Tower of death, with the casanova fight and all the other cut scenes in the movie, the pic. quality is actually better than the HKL on this one.

[chen lung]

Thats not correct... I have the HKL version, titled game of death 2, with the Casanova fight and some other scenes as extras.

Kind-of.

Game Of Death 2 is the export version of the film which consists of the 4 or so scenes, including Casanova's fight. The HK version known as Tower Of Death doesn't include this.

The HKL DVD (despite the 'Game Of Death 2' title) has the HK 'Tower Of Death' version as the main feature with the 'Game Of Death 2' scenes as extras.

[Jstn]

Thanks for the correction guys!

[ben]

Bringing back an old topic here because I was going to make a new post anyway, but did a search and found this.

According to City on Fire, these are all the 'known' versions/edits of this film.

http://www.cityonfire.com/hkfilms/st/towerofdeath.html

* Japanese version - A totally different movie. The beginning has Lee teaching a Jeet Kune Do class while he is challenged by Hwang Jang Lee from phone. After numerous attempts at Lee, he flies to Korea and enters the pagoda. Reportedly, this has numerous outdoor scenes - whether this is the missing footage of the 'real' Bruce Lee or the footage he shot of the others remains unclear.

* South Eastern Asian Version - This premiered in certain parts of the Philippines and Korea. It has the same description as the Japanese version, only there is claimed to be more fight scenes in, and actual Lee footage with the actors in the same frame.

* Korean version - This version of the movie removes the Bruceploitation factor (i.e. the clips of Bruce Lee) and just plays it as a straight-up independent Kung Fu flick. There is a much more longer demonstration of Hwang Jang Lee practising his martial arts skills in the beginning. There is a new scene involving Lee reading a newspaper concerning Hwang's death (this isn't meant to be the same scene which used Enter The Dragon in the regular version). In the finale, as Tang Lung is about to find the elevator, he steals and uses a pair of nunchaku against a guard.

* Hong Kong version - This might not apply to all Hong Kong prints. This version, which may be relegated to a few prints, is almost the same as the UK VHS release except the night club scene where Lee talks to Hwang's illegitimate daughter is extended, using outtakes (possibly more) from Enter The Dragon of Lee talking to the dart lady in Han's guestroom. The flashbacks at the end of Lee practising his Jeet Kune Do are longer and so is the Tang Lung vs. Hwang Jang Lee brawl, with more acrobatics from Yuen Biao and, even, Yuen Wah. The theme music plays throughout the entire final fight. Halfway through the film, there are alternate versions of the fights. Plus, there's more footage of Lee looking in different rooms and his garden, more abbot footage as well as more scenes featuring Hwang Jang Lee's daughter (i.e. the actual woman who played her rather than just the ETD footage).

* US Game Of Death 2 version - The disclaimer is the same as the above (i.e. it might not apply to the DVD prints e.g. the 20th Century Fox release). Instead of the above, Lee's face from Way Of The Dragon is shown instead of the ETD scenes in the beginning. The abbot scene is condensed to only the stationary Roy Chiao scenes, with WOTD outtakes (only the ones that specifically reveal Bruce Lee's face) and a redubbed version of a black & white movie featuring a young Bruce. The scenes featuring Lee searching his brother's apartment and crying are deleted in turn of the greenhouse scuffle from the Hong Kong print of Game Of Death. The meeting with Hwang's daughter is condensed to the WOTD indoor facial shots of Lee and one scene not shown in the HK print of Tower Of Death that has Lee sitting down on a couch. The drawback here is that Lee's actual yells are not dubbed in, but the soundtrack is edited in the correct scenes, a problem the HK version has.

* Spanish version "Towel Del Muerte" - This version is much different than the previous two, since all the Lee dialogue scenes are censored, with the footage of the abbot, apartment search, crying scene and Casanova fight removed. Instead, the outdoor fight scenes from WOTD are edited in and the unreleased mirror scenes from ETD are used as flashbacks.

I'd love to find the Japanese / South Eastern Asian Versions.

I suppose it's not as easy as, for instance, trying to track down a DVD/VHS copy which was released from Japan to see if the version of the film is different?..

[The Dragon]

!!

[kungfusamurai]

I just took a quick scan through the US Bruce Lee DVD set on my blu ray player. Other than the fact that it appears to be interlaced (only noticeable when forward scanning), the prints all look amazing even when upconverted.

Regarding that crying scene, does anyone know where that fits into Enter The Dragon? Bruce Lee is sitting and talking to an old man (I don't know the actor's name, but I've seen him in various KF flicks) after finishing crying. Was it sometime after the talk with the Abbott, but before he watches the movie with Bob Wall and Tadashi Yamashita? And was it thinking about his sister (Angela Mao) that made him cry?

KFS

[The Dragon]

I just took a quick scan through the US Bruce Lee DVD set on my blu ray player. Other than the fact that it appears to be interlaced (only noticeable when forward scanning), the prints all look amazing even when upconverted.

Regarding that crying scene, does anyone know where that fits into Enter The Dragon? Bruce Lee is sitting and talking to an old man (I don't know the actor's name, but I've seen him in various KF flicks) after finishing crying. Was it sometime after the talk with the Abbott, but before he watches the movie with Bob Wall and Tadashi Yamashita? And was it thinking about his sister (Angela Mao) that made him cry?

KFS

Yes KFS that is correct. That's a deleted ETD scene. Lee was typing at a typewriter when the old guy came in to speak with him. He then cried during the conversation. It's also been lost that Lee's character in the film ETD was an Author/Monk at The Shaolin Temple, having published a book which Han, had placed in his room on the Island. In a deleted scene, Lee entered the room he saw the book on the table and smiled. This scene was also included in GOD II, when Bobby Lo is staying at the Temple. One last deleted ETD scene has Betty Chung, in a fight scene when freeing the captives in the underground lair.

[Omni Dragon]

4)The longer Korean version (some footage on Youtube of longer airport scene, longer 'sword' demo and a mini-nunchaku scene) that has more footage of Kim Tai Jong and Hwang Jang Lee.

Korean version actually is shorter it plays for 1hour 16mins 51sec but has some additional footage not in the other versions but & a bit different story I dont understand much Korean but by the looks of things the other make a bit more sense as the most of the start is the back of Kim Tai Chung but there Bruce Lee archive footage.

[kungfusamurai]

Yes KFS that is correct. That's a deleted ETD scene. Lee was typing at a typewriter when the old guy came in to speak with him. He then cried during the conversation. It's also been lost that Lee's character in the film ETD was an Author/Monk at The Shaolin Temple, having published a book which Han, had placed in his room on the Island. In a deleted scene, Lee entered the room he saw the book on the table and smiled. This scene was also included in GOD II, when Bobby Lo is staying at the Temple. One last deleted ETD scene has Betty Chung, in a fight scene when freeing the captives in the underground lair.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm still confused as to what Lee's character was supposed to be in Enter The Dragon, even though I've seen it many times. From what I understand, he's a Shaolin Temple member who is sent either by the Abbott or by the police (or both) to go after Han for doing bad things.

So he was an author, was he also a retired or active police or intelligence agent who was living in the Shaolin Temple? And did his character grow up as a shaolin monk, or did he join the temple later in life?

KFS

[Guest Markgway]

Re. ENTER:

The scene with Bruce Lee the old man (Hao Lu-Jen) appears in an abridged version.

It introduces the flashback to when Angela Mao is chased by Bob Wall and co.

Unused parts of the scene are visible in Tower of Death intercut with new shots of Kim Tai-Jung.

[shukocarl]

The Old man is Lee's guardian (some say father) and in the original screenplay Lee asks him to read his latest work before sending it to be published, this leads to the conversation about the day Su-Lin took her life. All of this is in the Enter the Dragon novel by Mike Roote.

[kungfusamurai]

Thank you guys for the info!

KFS