You know, you'd almost think we're coming up on a major shopping season with the sudden flurry of quality DVD titles releasing in the next few weeks, following a fairly lengthy dry spell ...
Up first is the new Hong Kong edition of the Alexi Tan directed, John Woo produced Blood Brothers with Daniel Wu, Shu Qi and Chang Chen. Yes, there have been a couple English friendly releases of this already from Taiwan and Singapore but this one is superior in that it's cheaper and it is region free, meaning it can be played anywhere on any DVD player.
Also coming is the next wave of Shaw Brothers reissues. We haven't been covering these nearly as well as we should and for this I hang my head in shame. The entire Shaw Brothers catalog is in the process of being remastered and reissued on DVD in Hong Kong and the quality on every one of these releases that I've seen so far has been sterling. The current wave includes: Murder Plot, The Tigress of Shaolin, The Winged Tiger, The Young Vagabond and The Eunuch.
Rhythm-X, do you work for Dragon Dynasty?
I am not being sarcastic but, seriously, the re-issue of these 700 films on DVD is a miracle.
There are minor problems, yes, but on the whole this is one of the most important re-issue projects ever undertaken.
I don't care about English dubs. Who cares about an English dub?
The English subtitles on these films are fine -- I don't speak Cantonese or Mandarin -- but the subtitles do not have the kind of typos and stuff you see on run-of-the-mill HK releases.
And, again, who cares about the VCDs anyway? Who buys them anymore?
BUT there are a handful of films that Celestial/IVL only reissued on VCDs, not DVDs.
Again, I think, most of the re-issue waves now are on both VCD and DVD.
Here's another reason they are always better than Dragon Dynasty:
I don't have to wait for them to come out and they are only $15.99 in most places.
Dragon Dynasty are only releasing 50 or so of these titles, primarily action/martial arts films.
And they list for $20 or more in most cases.
For those of us who are interested in other genres, the Dragon Dynasty DVDs are a non-issue.
Have they even put out Come Drink With Me yet? Let's see I've had that DVD for 4+ years so far.
What kenixfan said.
I'm interested in this Blood Brothers disc, but I saw somewhere that Painted Faces is coming very soon in a remastered DVD and I am interested to see that.
Well I was not trying to be a jerk.
You are one of the first fans of this kind of film I've ever heard of who was actually interested in a 1) still buying VCDs and 2) wanted an English dub.
That's your choice.
I have Behind the Yellow Line and it looks and sounds great.
I have yet to find a IVL/Celestial DVD that had film artifacts or noticeable glitches in the print.
Sure, what you say may be true but they look PRISTINE.
I do not want anything to be tampered with BUT I think the pluses far outweigh the cons when considering these discs.
Again, I buy a LOT of non-martial arts stuff from the Shaw studios and I doubt that Dragon Dynasty will be putting these soap operas and musicals out.
And, quite simply, I am still hesitant about buying Weinstein-associated HK product.
Maybe these discs are fine but they have a history of tampering with things and I'm just a little nervous, still.
So, even if I agree with all of your points, and I purchased the 50 or so Dragon Dynasty Shaw DVDs, that leaves another 650 IVL/Celestial to buy.
No matter how good the DD DVDs are or will be, they are not covering the breadth of the Shaws output like IVL/Celestial.
That seals the deal for me.
P.S. I think the biggest mistake the IVL/Celestial have made so far is releasing that one batch of titles in VCD-only. And the sound fx tampering.
And the Chinatown Kid DVD is not the complete version -- even though what is there looks fantastic.
I'm not interested in buying VCDs. I'm simply even less interested in buying screwed up DVDs. You find that the flaws of the VCD are more annoying than the flaws of the DVD. I find the opposite. As both are available, no one loses.
Dragon Dynasty will indeed not be putting those musicals out, barring some very strange decisions over in that camp. For those it's IVL or nothing, and of course IVL wins there. Some of the dramas I think we will see Dragon Dynasty putting out - I think you can count on PAINTED FACES turning up, and perhaps BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE.
Many of us said that if the Weinsteins stopped destroying or hiding forever every Asian movie they laid eyes on, we'd start actually buying their discs. They stopped. I'd be a dishonest douchebag if I wasn't willing to put my money where my mouth is. I'm not buying them all - but I'm definitely buying some of them, the ones that aren't screwed up - mostly. There's no better release of several titles they've got, and their Shaw titles are seriously much, much better than anyone elses**. They do have a history of tampering with things, but they'll never learn from that history if we turn our backs when they try and do it right, for reasons having nothing to do with the merits of the DVDs and everything to do with bitterness and suspicion.
But To say that Dragon Dynasty is releasing higher quality releases of the Shaw films** does not contradict saying that IVL releases MORE of them. Both statements are entirely true. If you're seriously buying them all, then you're serious enough a collector to opt for the far better version when you can. And that's Dragon Dynasty, at least for the Shaw films they've got**
A DVD sourced from a PAL-to-NTSC conversion can never be pristine. It can be good, but never pristine. It's at the wrong speed, and there's ghosting due to the conversion from 25fps to 30fps. Even so, most of the IVL discs look good, if not pristine. The Dragon Dynasty discs are closer to pristine because they're frame-for-frame from the HD masters. If IVL didn't release PAL-sourced NTSC discs, they could have pristine releases as well.
The size of the audience for the English dubs and their cultural significance in the United States is not to be underestimated. The RZA was asked to do the commentary on 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN based upon his success recontextualizing those English dubs in his music with Wu-Tang Clan. Those Wu-Tang Clan albums did more to renew interest in Shaw Brothers martial arts films than Celestial Pictures could ever dream of doing - at least among American audiences. RZA and the Wu helped build and develop a level of interest that paved the way for there being Dragon Dynasty releases of Shaw films at all. No American release of the films should exclude the original language track, but at the same time the releases can't be considered complete without those English dubs that so many fans memorized backwards and forwards. Sometimes you just need to hear "Gordon Liu" say:
"This sword... is a classic one.
Its history goes back centuries.
There are many styles of using it.
All good."
**Except MY YOUNG AUNTIE.
Well, the big question then is why are the Celestial Region 3 DVDs being made from PAL to Region 3 NTSC?
I don't really understand why they would do this.
And I was under the impression that the Dragon Dynasty DVDs are simply the same masters/ports of the prints with new extras and packaging?
I got the Image version of Inframan and it looked great but looked like any of the normal region 3 Celestial discs with newer extras.
I got into the Wu-Tang Clan because of the Shaw references and not the other way around; I realize most people are different.
But even I have no desire to hear a RZA commentary track on any film.
I wouldn't want to hear a Morrissey commentary track on A Taste of Honey either (he was as influenced by that film as RZA was by the Shaolin flicks) so I'm not being anti-rap.
Just not necessary for my enjoyment of the film -- I only care about commentaries from the actual film makers or actors in the film, usually.
But don't you think that even if someone got into the Shaws because of the Wu-Tang that that same person will get bored with this kind of flick?
I mean, a kid who grew up on 1990s Jet Li flicks is not going to have the same patience with these 1960s and 1970s Shaw flicks even with dubbing and RZA associations.
These are cinema classics and should be marketed as such, not marketed by throwing Tarantino's name on the box and some rapper chiming in on them.
Yes, I've read that indeed the Weinsteins are doing a much better job now but I am still hesitant about supporting their products. Sorry, it's silly, I know but that's the way I feel.
Besides if I order two of the $15.99 from YesAsia and use Free Shipping it's still cheaper than buying 2 of the DD list price DVDs at Border's or Best Buy.
The big, big problem with the IVL/Celestial releases is the fact that the ones that go out of print do so without a second pressing.
I find it hard to believe that some of the titles I just bought a year ago are already out of print.
For a reissue project of this magnitude, I think that is a major failing on their part.
But, it makes people like me buy more of the reissues when they are released in waves because now I'm afraid to wait.
I guess I wish that they were getting the equivalent of the Criterion treatment in the United States.