Dragon Lord (1982)

[kaleyboy]

some fans did that all years ago... or could easily do it with a finger snap

True. Also, fans don't have to worry about purchasing rights to soundtracks, etc. Which makes it much easier .

[Gaijin84]

I might be confusing things here, my apologies. The scene with the actual cannon is not included in this version as it ends with the rugby match. I'll try and do a more thorough comparison between the US Dimension, the Universe release and the FS one. I don't own the HKL version.

Here is the comparison of the major differences between US Dimension (Miramax) release and the Taiwanese Fortune Star cut:

US cuts (compared to Taiwanese)

-Starts with the rugby scene, cuts the walk up the the field by nearly a minute, most of which is the song that the four sing on the way

-Rugby scene is cut by ~4 min

-Initial warehouse scene with Whang In-Shik is cut by ~1:20

-Jackie's poetry scene is cut by ~2:10

-Chasing the pheasant in the grass is cut by ~0:15

-Shuttlecock game is cut by ~5:10

-Scene with Jackie, his dad and the matchmaker is cut out, ~0:45

-Jackie on the roof of the warehouse is cut by ~0:20

-Jackie returning to the warehouse with medicine is cut by ~0:20, most of which is Jackie initially sneaking through the house

-Original credits with behind-the-scenes footage and accident outtakes are cut

Taiwanese cuts (compared to US)

-starts with Jackie training in his courtyard, rugby game is shifted to the end of the film

-entire Michael Chan fight scene is cut up to the part when Whang In-Shik and Kwan Yung-Moon are walking toward the warehouse entrance with their spears. This walk is a extended a bit (~0:20), but the overall ~3:45 fight scene is gone

-entire scene with Tai Bo and Cheng Kang-Yeh flirting with Suet Lee and her friends is cut, this is the one where they get eggs smashed on their heads, ~2:05

-entire Jackie & Mars with the canon scene is cut, ~2:50

I'm really confused why the Michael Chan fight scene was eliminated, it is very fast and well executed. Perhaps they were looking to show more of the athleticism from the shuttlecock and rugby games?

I'll compare the Universe DVD when I review it, hope this helps.

[Killer Meteor]

I used to have the HKL - dreadful remix on that one, you can barely hear the fight sound FX.

[spannick]

German DVD has excellent Cantonese Mono for the HKL Edit.

[Son Of A Gun]

Excellent info, thanks Gaijin! Very useful.

[Guest Markgway]

German DVD has excellent Cantonese Mono for the HKL Edit.

Really? English Subs?

[spannick]

of course no English-friendly Options.

[Killer Meteor]

Non anamorphic too, I think

[spannick]

yep. it was ONLY good for the Audio track

[Gaijin84]

Here is the comparison of the major differences between US Dimension (Miramax) release and the Taiwanese Fortune Star cut:

US cuts (compared to Taiwanese)

-Starts with the rugby scene, cuts the walk up the the field by nearly a minute, most of which is the song that the four sing on the way

-Rugby scene is cut by ~4 min

-Initial warehouse scene with Whang In-Shik is cut by ~1:20

-Jackie's poetry scene is cut by ~2:10

-Chasing the pheasant in the grass is cut by ~0:15

-Shuttlecock game is cut by ~5:10

-Scene with Jackie, his dad and the matchmaker is cut out, ~0:45

-Jackie on the roof of the warehouse is cut by ~0:20

-Jackie returning to the warehouse with medicine is cut by ~0:20, most of which is Jackie initially sneaking through the house

-Original credits with behind-the-scenes footage and accident outtakes are cut

Taiwanese cuts (compared to US)

-starts with Jackie training in his courtyard, rugby game is shifted to the end of the film

-entire Michael Chan fight scene is cut up to the part when Whang In-Shik and Kwan Yung-Moon are walking toward the warehouse entrance with their spears. This walk is a extended a bit (~0:20), but the overall ~3:45 fight scene is gone

-entire scene with Tai Bo and Cheng Kang-Yeh flirting with Suet Lee and her friends is cut, this is the one where they get eggs smashed on their heads, ~2:05

-entire Jackie & Mars with the canon scene is cut, ~2:50

I'm really confused why the Michael Chan fight scene was eliminated, it is very fast and well executed. Perhaps they were looking to show more of the athleticism from the shuttlecock and rugby games?

I'll compare the Universe DVD when I review it, hope this helps.

Here is the Universe DVD breakdown:

Cut is same as Dimension except for following changes:

-starts with walkup to rugby match (same length as Dimension release) but extends the rugby match by about 1:15. This is still ~3min less than the Fortune Star version though.

-Michael Chan fight is cut completely (even more than Fortune Star)

-Tai Bo and Cheng Kang-Yeh eggs scene is cut as well

-shuttlecock game is extended by ~1:20 compared to Dimension, but is still ~3:40 shorter compared to the Fortune Star

-canon scene is cut, but strangely enough the end includes a 1 second freeze of Jackie with the bench on his head (the end of the canon scene) before going to the outtakes and behind-the-scenes shots from the Fortune Star release.

-although the DVD back states a running time of 97 minutes, actual run time is ~87:30.

I would say this is by far the worst cut of the three I've seen. No Michael Chan fight, no egg scene (which Tai Bo actually references later but you wouldn't know what he was talking about) and somewhat abbreviated rugby and shuttlecock games. So far, the Dimension release is the best bet. Now if it just wasn't fullscreen and comparatively crappy picture quality, we'd be in business.

Is the HKL version the Dimension release but widescreen, remastered and original language option?

[Guest Markgway]

No, the HKL release is the original cinema version. Dimension made their own cuts. The Universe DVD is also cut (as outlined). The Fortune Star DVD an alternate cut released in Taiwan. The HKL is the best version by a mile - apart from the remixed soundrack.

[John]

What a bother! Here I was thinking the FS was win-win, and yet its version is not without caveats. At least it's a technical improvement:

http://caps-a-holic.com/vergleich.php?vergleichID=632

If you compare the HKL to the FS, the former exhibits HKL's notorious cropping and aspect ratio flubbery. The FS is devoid of these issues and in fact exhibits some more resolution despite the NTSC video (I also found this was true with Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars and Yes, Madam!; it looks like they used new HD telecines).

[Gaijin84]

The HKL is the best version by a mile - apart from the remixed soundrack.

Good to know, thanks. Haven't seen it yet, will have to pick it up.

[Gaijin84]

Funny - the HKL trailer for Dragon Lord might be one of the most misleading I've ever seen in terms of tone and plot.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Lord...

Is there a difference in content (in terms of the film itself - cuts, quality, etc) between these two versions?

Or just different cover art?

[John]

That's a good question. There can be little differences in Cineasia releases (Fist of Legend subtitles come to mind, but that's Region 1 vs. Region 2...).

[Guest Markgway]

To the best of my knowledge the Cine Asia HKLs are just repackagings.

[Killer Meteor]

To the best of my knowledge the Cine Asia HKLs are just repackagings.

I'm hoping if they re-release Duel To The Death, that they'll put the layer change in a better place!

[andy338]

I'm hoping if they re-release Duel To The Death, that they'll put the layer change in a better place!

Duel to the Death was one of the few hkl titles I missed first time around so i'm hoping it comes out too. Markgway is right, I saw on another forum Cineasia stated that they aren't allowed to change the disc content only the covers so all titles will be identical to the original releases. What was wrong with the layer change in DttD? I did notice on some titles that layer changes seemed more obvious but on some titles it's as if there wasn't one.

[Killer Meteor]

Duel to the Death was one of the few hkl titles I missed first time around so i'm hoping it comes out too. Markgway is right, I saw on another forum Cineasia stated that they aren't allowed to change the disc content only the covers so all titles will be identical to the original releases. What was wrong with the layer change in DttD? I did notice on some titles that layer changes seemed more obvious but on some titles it's as if there wasn't one.

It's right in the middle of a shot transition between an explosions and a character running.

[John]

You could probably just use ImgBurn to make a seamless layer switch on a new disc. Unless your DVD player is ancient or super cheap, it probably won't have a problem.

[Killer Meteor]

You could probably just use ImgBurn to make a seamless layer switch on a new disc. Unless your DVD player is ancient or super cheap, it probably won't have a problem.

My DVD player is a Sony from 2005. It's better on layer changes then my previous player, but I don't know why the crummy no-name DVD player my sister has doesn't show layer changes, but my big name one does.

[andy338]

Do some players deal with layer changes better than others then? I have a PS3 and approx. half my dvds have quite noticeable freezes that last about 1 second but the other half don't (or at least I can't spot it) so I thought it was down to the disc.

[Son Of A Gun]

I rarely notice a layer change. The fact that I sometimes see them and most of the time don't, makes me think that it's down to the disc authoring/burning. But what do I know?

[Son Of A Gun]

Actually, I think the discs I don't notice any layer change on are ones I burned myself with "TMPGEnc authorer/writer" software. And when I notice layer changes, it's usually with commercial dvds.

[JCLegend86]

Just compared the HKL to the Joy Sales Taiwan version. Had nothing better to do so I had them both playing on each TV side by side.

HKL cuts

-JC and Mars fighting over the girl in town (20secs)

-The chase in the grass that interrupts JC and Mars hunting (5secs)

-Gearing up for rugby and sings "team" song (55secs)

-Rugby part (2min50secs)

-Shuttlecock game (3min50secs)

-Shorter intro and different music pre- courtyard training scene (5secs)

-Poetry scene (3min30secs)

-Jackie sneaking back with medicine (5secs)

-Villain argument in warehouse (20secs)

-Shorter end fight (5-10secs)

-Early dark scene with one villain disagreeing on what to do with the stolen antiques (1min30secs)

-A scene when the lead villain is sending people after the "disagreeing" villain later on (30secs)

-Jackie sneaks on rooftop to get letter back (30secs) A few seconds where he is trying to get rope down from roof and the rest are around the awkward moments when he is leaving the place and the escaped villain is stealing antiques in the background

-A scene with Jackie, his dad and the matchmaker (45secs)

Taiwan version cuts

-A scene where the "disagreeing" villain gets framed, fights and escapes (2min30secs)

-The scene outside of the "pretty" girl's home (2min)

-The cannon scene in the end (2min50secs)

-A shot of a hole in the roof after JC and Mars fires of the gun (1sec)

I have not accounted for the PAL/NTSC speed differences. And im sorry for the poor explanations of the characters, I always have a hard time remembering names like that.