With "Rarescope" no more, what happens to "Showdown at the Cottonmill"?

[Fang Shih-yu]

It's quite a piece of movie-making; I was lucky to get a copy while it was still readily available!... With BCI out of business, is there a chance another company (even Funimation) might try to remaster and reissue "Showdown..." so that it's [at least] anamorphic widescreen and the subtitles are readable? It deserves better than the DVD release that exists now! If it's such an important martial arts movie, where's the interested parties [who'd like this classic to be around for many years to come] who'll put up serious money towards restoration? ...Um, should we start passing around the collection plate?

[WaverBoy]

Funny you should mention this film...I was just thinking that the BCI/Rarescope DVD of this title is about the worst DVD I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few. It looks like a VCD that was encoded by blind apes. It may very well be a good film, but I couldn't make it through more than five minutes. I'm curious as to know why the encoding on this is so indescribably horrible.

Are there any Rarescope DVDs that are watchable? After getting this one, I was scared to buy any more.

[prinnysquad]

Is this the dvd that skips a frame every few seconds?

[HAZ]

I'll try & ask Toby what he thinks about a potential re-release, but my guess is we won't really be seeing anything given that the masses don't seem to be terribly interested in obscure kf movies....

[Killer Meteor]

Funny you should mention this film...I was just thinking that the BCI/Rarescope DVD of this title is about the worst DVD I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few. It looks like a VCD that was encoded by blind apes. It may very well be a good film, but I couldn't make it through more than five minutes. I'm curious as to know why the encoding on this is so indescribably horrible.

Are there any Rarescope DVDs that are watchable? After getting this one, I was scared to buy any more.

The UK dvd is bad too. The whole telecine is screwed up.

[HAZ]

Are there any Rarescope DVDs that are watchable? After getting this one, I was scared to buy any more.

Many of them have been collected in the Flicks With Kicks boxset. They are an incredible value.

[Fang Shih-yu]

Oh, yes, those jumping parts! Of course, they're THE thing that makes it hard for me to take in repeat views as often as I'd like! All that's missing with those is commentary by the MST3K guys!...One would think with the reputation "Showdown..." has, somebody would put up the moolah and attempt some sort of "frame-by-frame" work with computers that might get more of the film into digital form for remastering (like that which was done for the James Bond movies). Considering the current version is the only surviving print, that ALONE should catch the attention of film preservationists, or are they all off looking for the lost reels of Erich von Stroheim's "Greed"? With those jumps being attributed to broken sprockets in the film, any idea of what the TRUE running time is?

[GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG]

Funny I purchised CM at Suncoast Video palyed it. The problem on whatever and whose version this was is that the voice-over was FUP. It was a milliesecond off,,, all the sounds of the action were in slight delay,,, was I ever PSST. I mentioned this on this forum but no one seemed to notice.

Funny. Then I took a chance and rented CM at my local video store, the copy they had was perfect ,as the sound goes. Just why the copy I baught was FUP is anyones guess.

So much for Rarescope>

GD Y-Y

[Killer Meteor]

Are there any Rarescope DVDs that are watchable? After getting this one, I was scared to buy any more.

The UK DVD of Ninja And Dragons is good, even the subs are OK.

Elimination Pursuit is non anmorphic and has poor subs but the transfer itself is ok.

Go for the UK ones whereever you can.

[HAZ]

The only Rarescope release that I had any issue with was Cottonmill & at the price it was hard to complain. These things sold for less than 10 bucks a copy in Canada, and they didn't have a huge publicity campaign behind them. The flicks with Kicks set is around 10 dollars and you get 8 films with subs, many in widescreen. They don't look like DD's releases, but it's a question of scale.The only one I didn't pick up is Choi Lee Fut and that's because I've been lazy. These movies were great fun for me & made me really appreciate Roc Tien's films! Don't pass them up!

[niro]

Too bad Flicks with kicks 2 is hard to find (for UK anyway), theres couple films I really wanna see in there

[HAZ]

Too bad Flicks with kicks 2 is hard to find (for UK anyway), theres couple films I really wanna see in there

I don't think this ever came out. The company folded before any discs were sold

[HAZ]

Regarding Cottonmill, I just got an email from Toby saying that he would be into doing a re-release of Cottonmill, but the restoration work would cost a considerable bit of cash, something in the area of 5000 - 7000 UK pounds. He writes that the source print is so faded that it's hard to even see anything on the film & that work had to be done to get it to the point it was at for the Rarescope dvd. If there is a real demand for this movie in better condition, maybe we could do a Cottonmill fundrasier?

The rarescope trailers showed some nice films that were never released. Who knows, maybe Massacre Survivor will help lead to a Rarescope revival! I would love to see Black Eagle's Blades in proper widescreen & subbed...

[WaverBoy]

The only Rarescope release that I had any issue with was Cottonmill & at the price it was hard to complain. These things sold for less than 10 bucks a copy in Canada, and they didn't have a huge publicity campaign behind them. The flicks with Kicks set is around 10 dollars and you get 8 films with subs, many in widescreen. They don't look like DD's releases, but it's a question of scale.The only one I didn't pick up is Choi Lee Fut and that's because I've been lazy. These movies were great fun for me & made me really appreciate Roc Tien's films! Don't pass them up!

I totally understand that the Rarescope releases weren't going to look like DD's releases, but there is no excuse for that encoding job. I really want to know why the hell it looked like that. I don't think I could encode something that badly if I tried to. There's no way that should have gone out the door. It looks like fiberglass, and that's no exaggeration.

[HAZ]

I totally understand that the Rarescope releases weren't going to look like DD's releases, but there is no excuse for that encoding job. I really want to know why the hell it looked like that. I don't think I could encode something that badly if I tried to. There's no way that should have gone out the door. It looks like fiberglass, and that's no exaggeration.

It seems like the source was really worn out. It did go though some restorative work just to get it to look as rough as it did. Rarescope wasn't working from original negatives, but theatrical 35mm prints. I'm sure that this is the only surviving print of the film. I bet it's on Eastman stock, so that's why the color-fading is so bad. There are more things that can be done for Cottonmill, but only at a great cost. The possibility for another release is there, as mentioned in my last post, if the interest/$$$ from collectors is there. The other Rarescope DVD's look MUCH better. I enjoyed them all.

[Fang Shih-yu]

Remarkable "Cottonmill" update, if all goes to plan! It seems like we might be back to my beginning of this thread: passing around the collection plate! Get the word out....

[Piranhamae]

Funny you should mention this film...I was just thinking that the BCI/Rarescope DVD of this title is about the worst DVD I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few. It looks like a VCD that was encoded by blind apes. It may very well be a good film, but I couldn't make it through more than five minutes. I'm curious as to know why the encoding on this is so indescribably horrible.

Are there any Rarescope DVDs that are watchable? After getting this one, I was scared to buy any more.

I'm a big fan of "along come a tiger" LOL!! I think Don Wong is terrific in this movie. Shows his acting chops! he doesn't speak the whole film and I think his performance has great layers. And I love the kid! I love the story line too, it feels like an old western.

Be sure to check out new Kung Fu Fansite http://www.kungfu-movie-madness.com it's just getting going and I like the direction its headed so give it a click and support it so the guy has motivation to keep filling it up with Fan content!!

[The Silver Fox]

So far I've picked up:

Face Behind the Mask

Ninjas and Dragons

The Lost Swordship

Love and Sword

Showdown at the Cottonmill

The Elimination Pursuit

Along Comes the Tiger

Choi Lee Fut Kung Fu

Duel at the Supreme Gate

For the price and overall quality of the films, these are a steal. Showdown,Elimination Pursuit and Choi Lee Fut are in pretty bad shape and can only be recommended for hardcore collectors, but the rest a pretty good as far as transfers. All are widescreen in original language with burned in subs for the most part.

I've really grown to like Taiwanese swordplay films, Roc Tien is the man.

[HAZ]

Remarkable "Cottonmill" update, if all goes to plan! It seems like we might be back to my beginning of this thread: passing around the collection plate! Get the word out....

Yup, it might be a good idea to start a new thread about this project. Also, if you've watched the rarescope trailers, then you know that there were some gems that went unreleased. Show some support in this thread & maybe we can get Toby to unlock the vault! You know he has some gems! Black Eagle's Blades, Demi-Gods & Semi Devils, Monk's Fight...

[inframan]

I have it in the Flicks with Kicks set, I'll have to check it again but I don't recall having any problems with the encoding. Most of the glitches I noticed were from the source print.

Maybe I missed it but was there a cottonmill anywhere in that movie?

[niro]

I don't think this ever came out. The company folded before any discs were sold

Ah i see that would explain it, thanks for saving me time looking for it

The possibility for another release is there, as mentioned in my last post, if the interest/$$$ from collectors is there. The other Rarescope DVD's look MUCH better. I enjoyed them all.

It's a shame the big retail stores (well in UK anyway) are not interested in older martial art films as they're not worth the shelf space otherwise probably see more titles released from him

[Fang Shih-yu]

Okay.... What would it cost to restore/remaster "Cottonmill"? All I can guess is that it would take [obviously] MORE money than what it took to get it out on DVD in the first place! If somebody could crunch numbers and come up with an exact figure for upgrading it (to the allowable limits the source material can be worked on), then we'd have a goal to reach in potentially raising funds for it. And the more word could be spread about it (via other forums catering to martial arts movies), the quicker and easier it will be to reach that goal. Whatever amount anybody can contribute may work, especially if we have enough people donating. Further, if anybody here knows any CELEBRITY fan of "old school" kung fu pictures, please get word to them, too. It's an IDEA, now; let's start toward making it become an ACTUALITY! Save this LAST copy of "Cottonmill", starting today....

[spannick]

MIG Germany restored DEATH DUEL OF KUNG FU and it did cost under 1000E for the whole movie. (16x9 of course too).

i have the remastered copy here and it's way better than the old UK DVD, which is from the exact same source. (which was horribly cropped for reasons i have to find out yet).

and no, there's no DVD Edition planned, it was done for sales to a TV Station.

[Daigoro]

I restored Showdown with cotton mill. I also added removable subtitles. When i first saw that print, i thought they had released

the film in black and white. It was seriously washed of color. If they worked on it, then i would not like to have seen what they

had to work with in the beginning. I'll post comparative sceencaps soon. Might start a new thread as i would like people to see

my work without it being de-railed. I noticed that print released (by rarescope), was interlaced, which made it worse. Even more

it was letter-boxed. I deinterlaced it, and i also made a true 16x9 (1:85.1) aspect. Im not sure who they hired to fix the print,

if i know you i apologize in advance.., but it seemed like this person had hardly any knowledge of correcting or restoring prints.

In my opinion, there is no use paying a tremendous sum of money to restore the print. It's done.Some of the damage on that

print is beyond repair, even if they did try to restore it professionally (which i have done), it would be no use fixing those scenes.

I am thinking of giving this back to the community free, where it belongs.. to people who love kung-fu flicks. I never bought one

rarescope title. I think this is the only one i own, and that's probably why. I saw a trailer for Witty hand, witty sword on the

disc. I would really like to see that in widescreen. It was shown WIDE in the trailers. That Tien Peng, Pearl flick is the kicks.

[Fang Shih-yu]

All righty, then!!... We look forward to those screencaps; if possible, include "before" screencaps of the "Rarescope" DVD for comparison to your new reworking! How long before anybody can get DVDs of the NEW "Cottonmill?... :