MovieChat Forums > The Man from Hong Kong Discussion > Hong Kong DVD release

Hong Kong DVD release

posted 17 years ago by rjobrien_1943
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Joy Sales/Fortune Star have recently released this film on DVD in Hong Kong (NTSC format/region 3 coded).

Good news: It's a strong widescreen transfer - not quite the original 2.35:1 Panavision ratio but close enough. The original English language track is included, along with a couple of remixes. There's also the original theatrical trailer plus a new trailer.

Not so good news: This is the edited US version of the film, which drops two scenes (around 3 minutes total running time). While the deleted scenes are included as an extra, it's a shame they couldn't have been reincorporated into the film, as the cuts do affect the pacing. I don't know why they couldn't use the transfer made for the Australian DVD release, which was fully letterboxed but cropped for the DVD on wholesalers' advice. The excellent director's commentary and short promotional films found on the Australian DVD have not been included on the Hong Kong release. One other small snag: the scenes with Cantonese dialogue are not automatically subtitled in English. You have to manually switch on the English subtitles. Also, Sammo Hung's memorable Cantonese insult to Roger Ward after the opening fight is mistranslated as profanity-free dialogue.

For all these minor drawbacks, this is still an essential purchase for fans of the film. The Australian DVD seems to be OOP - though pirate copies are in circulation - and I'd be surprised if any US or UK distributors bother to pick it up.

[–] modano1973 17 years ago

Do you know which scenes were dropped on this release? I agree with you on the Australian ScreenSound DVD release. There are some good special features on it. I had only wished they used the original, unaltered, 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The theatrical trailer on the DVD, which appears to have been filmed in Panavision, looks great. I have seen the pirated copies show up on EBAY. The DVDs are region 0 and include all the special features that were on the ScreenSound DVD, including the cropped DVD aspect ratio. The ScreenSound website do have the DVD listed, but not for purchase so it does appear to be out of print.

[–] rjobrien_1943 17 years ago

The first cut scene is where Jimmy Wang Yu argues with the Australian cops at a gas (petrol) station. Offhand, I can't recall if it comes after the scene where Wang Yu pursues the assassin or the scene where he tangles with George Lazenby at the chic garden party. The gas station scene has the memorable '55 Days at Peking' exchange, which was partly rewritten at Wang Yu's request.

The second cut scene has cop Hugh Keays-Byrne visiting Wang Yu's hang-gliding girlfriend (Ros Spiers?) after the fight at the martial arts school.

According to Brian Trenchard Smith, the US distributor (Fox?) thought these scenes were "too Australian" to work with American audiences. As I said, they are included on the Hong Kong disc as extras but this is a puzzling compromise - if the material was available, why not assemble a complete version of the film?

Maybe ScreenSound will reissue the Australian DVD with the correct aspect ratio. Maybe sales weren't good enough to justify a corrected release. Of course, the existence of pirate copies doesn't help matters.

[–] modano1973 17 years ago

Ahh yes, i know the two scenes you are referring to. Jimmy Wang Yu delivers the one amusing line at the gas station, 'look, don't give me that s***!'. I think the line went something like that. It sounded funny because of the dubbed voice. That wasn't Wang Yu's voice, was it? I haven't seen any of his other work. Yes, 20th Century Fox were the North American distributors of the film. When i saw the film late one night on a Canadian TV station, the 20th Century Fox logo appeared before the film started. Their logo also appears on the U.S. posters under it's original title, and it's U.S. title, The Dragon Flies. Hopefully, the film will be re-released on DVD in its correct aspect ratio.

[–] rjobrien_1943 17 years ago

As I recall, Jimmy Wang Yu was dubbed by Roy Chiao, his regular voice double (and a successful actor in his own right). I believe Wang Yu speaks good English, but felt his voice wasn't right for the character (remember, this is from an era when many Hong Kong stars had voice doubles). Wang Yu seems to be speaking English in the film - I wonder if the recordings of his voice were kept. Probably not. The dubbing seems poor to me in the early scenes, but later not so bad. Maybe I just get used to it. Brian Trenchard Smith claims he intended the film as a parody of action movies, so perhaps the stilted dubbing was deliberate.

I don't know if Fox still own the US/Canadian rights to MAN FROM HONG KONG. To be honest, an ideal DVD release - combining all the best elements from the Australian and Hong Kong discs - seems unlikely.

[–] modano1973 17 years ago

Interesting. I didnt know that was Roy Chiao's voice dubbing for Wang Yu. I doubt Fox would release this film on DVD. They have never released the film in any video format. Maybe, Anchor Bay will come to the rescue. As you may already know, Anchor Bay Entertainment have been known to release major studio films on DVD. They have released some of Fox's films on DVD.

[–] modano1973 17 years ago

I just picked up the Fortune Star DVD release. This release does contain better picture and sound than the ScreenSound Australia DVD release. From watching the film, it does appear the film was shown in its correct Panavision 2.35:1 ratio. You had mentioned the aspect ratio was not quite 2.35:1. I didn't notice any difference. It looked like it was shown in its correct aspect ratio when comparing it with other 2.35:1 Panavision films on DVD. It is unfortunate they removed scenes from the film. Guess i'll hold on to both DVD releases.