Shaw Brothers movies on Master Arts or Saturn??

[shaolinkng7]

I know that Master Arts sold "Killer Constable" under it's British title "Lightning Kung Fu" and "Iron Fingers of Death" under a bootleg title "Death Mask of the Ninja". Back in 1991 I remember Master Arts listing they had "Monkey Kung Fu" but when we ordered it for the store the movie on the tape was a different movie, so we sent it back. Recently I heard that Master Arts did have the "Monkey Kung Fu" released by Shaw Brothers and may have switched it with a different movie after Shaw Brothers found out. ( Or possibly did Master Arts screw up at the factory and copy the wrong movie on the tapes by mistake? )

For the most part I avoided both Master Arts and Saturn with very few exceptions and stuck with Bootlegs of Shaw Brothers and other classics. Does anyone know if there were any other Shaw Brothers movies released through these companies? And does anyone know if the version of "Monkey Kung Fu" sold through Master Arts was the Shaw Brothers movie?

[venoms5]

The Harmony Gold version of MONKEY KUNG FU was an independent feature. That title was a computer generated one and I've only ever seen it under that title on the USA Network when they used to show kung fu movies back in the late 80's on the weekends. The Master Arts version has the original title of MONKEY FIST, FLOATING SNAKE. The Harmony Gold version has an extended final fight scene. The end fight of MONKEY FIST, FLOATING SNAKE is missing some footage.

[Jesse Smooth]

Saturn also released The Duel.

[ching li]

I always thought that Master Arts and Saturn mostly released korean produce martial arts movies, I didn't know they did shaw bros as well.

[kungfusamurai]

Master Arts had two english dubbed full screen shaw films under AKAs. Killer Constable was AKA Lightning Kung Fu, and Shaolin Prince was AKA Death Mask Of The Ninja. Those are the only two I've heard of that were Shaw Bros.

KFS

[ThunderScore]

[shaolinkng7]

The Harmony Gold version of MONKEY KUNG FU was an independent feature. That title was a computer generated one and I've only ever seen it under that title on the USA Network when they used to show kung fu movies back in the late 80's on the weekends. The Master Arts version has the original title of MONKEY FIST, FLOATING SNAKE. The Harmony Gold version has an extended final fight scene. The end fight of MONKEY FIST, FLOATING SNAKE is missing some footage.

I do remember seeing something on the Master Arts release in the first few seconds of the credits that made it obvious that it was not a Shaw Brothers movie. Now here is where things get confusing. When you try to look up "Stroke of Death" which was one of the final movies confirmed to be syndicated by Black Belt Theater it comes up as an alternative name to Shaw Brothers "Monkey Kung Fu" ( 1979 ) [ not to be confused with the classic "Mad Monkey Kung Fu" made the same year ]. "Monkey Kung Fu" was directed by John Law [ Lo Mar ] and had a cast of actors usually identified with independent movies. This was not usual for Shaw Brothers who had contract actors who would work for the studio for about 5 years. Usually when this happens then the movie was either a Shaw Brothers co-production with another producer or was an independent movie that Shaw Brothers bought and distributed. But on further checking "Monkey Fist, Floating Snake" is credited to director "Joe Law" and a different cast which includes Chan Sing. Whenever you look up a review for "Monkey Fist, Floating Snake" it gives the same exact plot as "Stroke of Death" and sometimes the same cast. Even Amazon's description of the DVD released through Master Arts has Lo Mar listed as director. I assumed this must have been laziness by Amazon and yet I have read no review on that site warning that it is not the Shaw Brothers movie.

You say "Monkey Fist, Floating Snake" was on USA Network. Was this during the early 80's when they aired "Kung Fu Theater" on Sunday Afternoons or later around the 90's when they would air Harmony Gold movies in the late night/early morning hours? I'm trying to complete a list of movies that aired either as part of the syndicated Kung Fu Theater package or the later Harmony Gold package, both which USA Network aired.

Saturn also released The Duel.

I have never seen any proof that Saturn has released "The Duel". The closest they ever came to that was the movies "Double Dragon in Last Duel", "Fighting Duel of Death" and "Forest Duel". It was the company Videoline who released "Duel of the Iron Fist" along with at leas one other Martial Arts movie "Revolt of the Dragon". If Saturn released "Duel of the Iron Fist" then it must have been under a different name and credited to different actors.

I always thought that Master Arts and Saturn mostly released korean produce martial arts movies, I didn't know they did shaw bros as well.

Neither did Master Arts. For a company that exclusively released Martial Arts movies they were clueless about the industry. In 1992 they decided to investigate why their movies were not selling in New York City and were told that what everyone wanted was Bruce Lee and movies produced by Shaw Brothers studios. Master Arts knew about Bruce Lee but knew nothing about the Hong Kong studios. They went to the VSDA convention where they arranged a meeting with someone from Shaw Brothers. From what I understand Master Arts wanted to pay Shaw Brothers the same money that they did for the other movies in their catalog. In other words Master Arts pitched Shaw Brothers the same price they had paid for the crap they got from Harmony Gold. Shaw Brothers had their own price which would have given them 25 movies all remastered, the original trailers, and the original publicity stills that Master Arts would use to design the box. Master Arts turned the offer down. They were convinced that there could not possibly be any difference between what Shaw Brothers was offering and any other random Martial Arts movie. Instead of buying from Shaw Brothers they bought out the catalog of a Puerto Rican company called Max Video who had forgettable ( and unwatchable ) movies like "Bruce Lee's Ways of Kung Fu". A few months later those movies were pulled from the stores and the word is that Unicorn Video owned the rights and that Max Video had ripped off Master Arts. Nice going Master Arts.

So no, Master Arts had no idea that some of the movies they bought were actually bootlegs of Shaw Brothers movies.It was not until some adventurous Shaw Brothers fan decided to go slumming rent a few Master Arts videos and then suddenly realized he was watching a lost Shaw Brothers classic that word got out about "Death Mask of the Ninja" being Shaw Brothers "Iron Fingers of Death". Shortly after word broke that "Lightning Kung Fu" was actually "Killer Constable".

Master Arts had two english dubbed full screen shaw films under AKAs. Killer Constable was AKA Lightning Kung Fu, and Shaolin Prince was AKA Death Mask Of The Ninja. Those are the only two I've heard of that were Shaw Bros.

KFS

Point of clarification

"Lightning Kung Fu" was the legal release name for "Killer Constable" in the U.K. from where it appears Master Arts received it's print. ( "Killer Constable" was released in North America as "Karate Executioners" ) "Death Mask of the Ninja" appears to be a movie title from a completely different movie that was edited on to a poor quality bootleg print of "Iron Fingers of Death"( Hong Kong title "Shaolin Prince" ), possibly off of the television broadcast itself. You got two different things going on here. "Lightning Kung Fu" is an example of someone converting a PAL master to NTSC then selling it to Master Arts. The scam there would have been that they would have copyrighted the title "Lightning Kung Fu" which did not have a North American copyright so that if Master Arts checked would have registered that the company selling them the movie would have seemed like they did own the distribution rights. For "Death Mask of the Ninja" the scam artist who sold them the movie simply changed the name in the opening credits so that there would be no way for it to be traced back to the Shaw Brothers movie. Either way Master Arts had no legal rights to any of the Shaw Brothers movies

[KUNG FU BOB]

Shaolinkng7- That's a lot of interesting info. Thanks for sharing.

I remember renting both of those films with their cheesy titles and misleading cover art and being shocked to have stumbled on what I guessed (but wasn't sure) were Shaw Brothers classics starring Chen Kuan Tai and Ti Lung. I was thrilled with both films, even in their shoddy state, but even though LIGHTNING KUNG FU sounded reasonable, I remember thinking "DEATH MASK OF THE NINJA? Yeah right!" I knew that wasn't the original title- that's for sure.

[ThunderScore]

If Saturn released "Duel of the Iron Fist" then it must have been under a different name and credited to different actors.

[chen lung]

:biggrin:Hilarious artwork.

Reversed names from IMDB and a shot of someone that's most likely a femme fatale instead.

[shaolinkng7]

That is a Sarurn DVD? I do not see their logo.

BTW I am pretty sure that both Saturn and Master Arts jumped in on the unauthorized movie bandwagon and have released some Shaw Brother movies. I do recall Master Arts having "Five Fingers of Death" and "Five Deadly Venoms" more recently when they distributed DVDs. I am more interested in the classic era of VHS between 1980 and 1999 before DVDs came along and began blatantly releasing bootleg Shaw movies in major retail stores AND GOT AWAY WITH IT! I am also not so sure that what is now being sold as Saturn and Master Arts videos are the original company and not bootleggers. Anyway, here is a list of all the videos that I know of which were released by Master Arts and Saturn on VHS

Master Arts

The Amsterdam Connection

Black and White Swordsman

Blind Fist of Bruce

The Bloody Fight

Bloody Fist

Bloody Hero

Bolo

Cantonen Iron Kung Fu

Cobra Against Ninja

Consummate Power ( shao-lin Tongzigong )

Crack Shadow Boxers

Death Mask of the Ninja

Dragon Lee vs Five Brothers

Dreadnaught Rivals

Duel of the Ultimate Weapons

Fighting Ace

Fighting Life

Firefist of the Incredible Dragon

Fist of Vengeance

Fury in Shaolin Temple

Heroes Blood

Hurricane Sword

Invincible Obsessed Fighter

Kung Fu For Sale

Leopard Fist Ninja

Lightining Kung Fu

Machoman

Magnificent Kick

Militant Eagle

Moonlight Sword & Jade Lion

Monkey Kung Fu

Ninja Champion

Notherk Kicks, Southern fist

Secret Executioners

Secret of Snake and Crane

Seven Star Grand Mantis

The Shaolin Incredible 10

Shaolin v.s. Manchu

Story in Temple Red Lily

Strike of Thunderkick Tiger

Struggle Through Death

Swordsman With An Umbrella

Thousand Mile Escort

Tigers Claw

Tough Guy

True Game of Death

Vengence of Snow Maid

Saturn

Assault of the Final Rival

The Blazing Ninja

Blood of the Dragon Peril

Buddhist Shaolin Avengers

The Chinese Tiger

Deadly Buddhist Raiders

Deadly Shaolin Longfist

Death Rivals of Shaolin

The Devil's Assignment

Dragon Against Vampire

Dragon Connection

Dragon Force Operation

Dragon Master

Dragon's Claws

Dragon's Showdown

Double Dragon in Last Duel

Equals Against Devils

Fighting Duel of Death

Forest Duel

Grand Master of Shaolin Kung Fu

The Greatest Fights of Martial Arts

The Greatest Fights of Martial Arts II

Karate Killer

Lone Shaolin Avenger

Master of Tiger Crane

The Master With Cracked Fingers

Rivals of the Dragon

Shaolin Fist Fighter

Shaolin Raiders of Death

Shaolin The Blood Mission

Silver Hermit from Shaolin Temple

Super Dragons Dynamo

The Super Gang with Bruce Le

Taichi Devil Dragons

Tiger At the Top

[ThunderScore]

I am ... not so sure that what is now being sold as Saturn ... are the original company and not bootleggers.

You're quite right about it not being the original company, but the Saturn titles (and I don't recall ever seeing DUEL OF THE IRON FIST on VHS from Saturn) on DVD from "Passion Productions" / "Miracle Pictures" were supposedly licensed from Saturn and used the same masters. They also licensed a group of titles from Best Film & Video...