Spectrum to Release Korean Classics Collection on DVD!

Posted by X at 10:37am.

Posted in DVD News , Asia.

My hands are literally trembling as I type this, but we might have Korea’s own Shaw Brothers ‘treasure trove’ ready to be unveiled. Ever wondered why you could never find older Im Kwon-Taek films on DVD, why you had to resort to crappy VHS tapes to watch some of the classics of Korean Cinema? Blame laziness on the DVD companies’ part, but also release rights. Now, a big change is on the horizon, at least for some of them.

Korea’s biggest DVD company Spectrum has signed a contract to release 36 films from Taeheung Pictures’ library, and just looking at the titles makes my eyes shine. Folks, these are some of the best Korean films EVER, getting their first release on DVD (some weren’t even on VHs or VCD). The prints will undergo a new Telecine and sound remastering, and released (about 3-4 a month, I suppose) every month, with a few boxsets, including a few for Im Kwon-Taek’s films.

Most of the DVDs will have English, Korean, and Japanese Subtitles.

Here’s a list of the films involved:

임권택 (Im Kwon-Taek)
--
서편제 (Sopyonje, 1993)
장군의 아들 1,2,3 (The Son of The General Trilogy, 1990, 1991, 1992)
창 (노는 계집 창 (Downfall, 1997)
춘향뎐 (Chunhyang, 2000)
축제 (Festival, 1996)
아제아제 바라아제 (Come, Come, Come Upward, 1989)
--

이두용 (Lee Doo-Young)
--
장남 (The Oldest Son, 1984)
업 (Work, 1988)
돌아이 (Fool, 1985)
뽕 (The Mulberry Tree, 1985)
--

장선우 (Jang Sun-Woo)
--
화엄경 (Passage To Buddha, 1993)
경마장 가는 길 (Road To The Racetrack, 1991)
--

배창호 (Bae Chang-Ho)
--
꿈 (Dream, 1990)
기쁜 우리 젊은 날 (Our Sweet Days of Youth, 1987)
--

이장호 (Lee Jang-Ho)
--
어우동 (Eoudong, 1985)
무릎과 무릎 사이 (Between The Knees, 1984)
--

김호선 (Kim Ho-Seon)

--
영자의 전성시대 (Young-Ja’s Heyday, 1975)
--

김수용 (Kim Su-Yong)
--
산불 (Valley of Fire, 1977)
--

이규형 (Lee Gyu-Hyung)
--
미미와 철수의 청춘 스케치 (Springtime of Mimi and Cheolsu, 1987)
어른들은 몰라요 (I don’t Know Adults, 1988)
--

곽지균 (Kwak Ji-Gyun)
--
두 여자의 집 (House of Two Women, 1987)
그후로도 오랫동안 (A longtime After, 1988)
이혼하지 않은 여자 (A Woman Who Won’t Divorce, 1992)
젊은 날의 초상 (The Days of Youth, 1990)
--

이명세 (Lee Myung-Se)
--
개그맨 (Gagman, 1988)
--

박철수 (Park Chul-Soo)
오세암 (Oseam, 1990)
--

김유진 (Kim Yoo-Jin)

금홍아 금홍아 (Geum-Hong, 1995)
참견은 노 사랑은 오 예 (Interference No, Love Oh Yes!, 1993)
--

김홍준 (Kim Hong-Joon)
--
장미빛 인생 (Life in Pink, 1994)
--

김용태 (Kim Yong-Tae)
--
미지왕 (Unknown King, 1996)
--

정병각 (Jung Byung-Gak)
--
세븐틴 (Seventeen, 1998)
--

송능한 (Song Neung-Han)
--
세기말 (Fin De Siecle, 1999)
--

김영남 (Kim Young-Nam)
--
꼭지딴 (Gokkjiddan, 1990)
--

There… I might have written a long commentary about the choices (what is Seventeen doing there?), but now the only two words that come out of my mouth are ‘Holy’ and, well, something you all do everyday (I hope...)

Via DVD Prime

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Reader Comments

jakechong 09/13/2005 @ 11:06am

Wow, great list of films~! Always wanted to watch Jang, Sunwoo’s older films… They better release ‘A Petal’, though!! They just better.. yeah.
nitty 09/13/2005 @ 12:16pm

Great news
crap 09/13/2005 @ 12:33pm

anyone have any recommendations from that list? ive always wanted to watch some older korean flicks yet dont know where to start
Isao K 09/13/2005 @ 1:26pm

DOWNFALL.

YES. FINALLY.
Isao K 09/13/2005 @ 4:43pm

I’ve always had a thing for Shin Eun Gyung, ever since her General Hospital days. Her performance/nudity in Downfall was pretty brave & spectacular, IIRC. I found the slice-of-life moments at the red light district pretty engrossing/hilarious as well.
maledei 09/14/2005 @ 2:03am

i was hoping to see ”three friends” on that list. i try to find that film since i saw it on the actual korean film retrospective in berlin, but it seems to be hopeless.
do you perhaps have a suggestion where to find it?
jakechong 09/14/2005 @ 5:43pm

it’s like rediscovering Korean film all over again…
Christ 09/26/2005 @ 6:56am

I’m rather new to it but my pockets are green so the essential thing:

where would I be able to order these goodies?!
x 09/26/2005 @ 8:57am

your usual R3K outlets. YesAsia, US-based or Korean-based retailers…
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