Blood Bond blog

Late reply here, but thanks for the info, even if I'd already gleaned pretty much the same thing from Biehn's interview with the A. V. Club site, which I posted a link to in another thread here.

I've never been a huge fan of Logan's, despite considering his book on Hong Kong cinema to be a still-decent introductory guide to the form. His British action movie magazine back in the day, IMPACT, was little better than a fanzine that fooled some publisher into printing it on glossy stock and distributing it globally (albeit in small quantities). Much of the content came DIRECTLY from movie press kits (which I also received in my job as a newspaper writer), and the Hong Kong section was of interest only because there were so few ways to get such information back then (pre-internet). In retrospect, it's easy to see how Logan could've conned his way into the Hong Kong film industry and work his way up to some rather enviable positions before being largely cast into the B-movie boonies.

From everything I've read about him or by him, and every commentary I've listened to, Bey Logan primary goal is the promotion of Bey Logan -- NOT Hong Kong films -- and making sure his self-generated "brand" as a "Hong Kong Cinema Expert" stays afloat as long as he can milk it, sometimes at the expense of the cinema he claims to love so much. When I think of all the REAL scholars of Hong Kong cinema and culture that could've been conscripted into recording audio commentaries for DVDs, and how much truly valuable information they could've imparted had Logan not foisted himself onto every possible DVD release that he could, I get sad.

Bey Logan always was for the most part a fringe-dweller in the Hong Kong industry. A well-meaning one sometimes, and certainly unique among caucasians, but a fringe-dweller nonetheless. And there's no greater evidence of that than the kinds of movies he's made since his glory days as Hong Kong Cinema's No. 1 Gwailo dried up. Movies like THE BLOOD BOND (which appears to have been the final nail in his cinematic career), his chronically "in production" SNOWBLADE, and the well-intentioned but beyond-embarrassing children's animated film LITTLE GOBIE. These films probably should never have been made. You want to play the big filmmaker? Why not start out with some short films and see if the talent's really there?

Logan has a long-standing history of thinking beyond his financial and creative capabilities. His book will forever be his bright spot (though the lack of a followup should tell you how deeply he really cared about HONG KONG cinema as opposed to just martial arts cinema). Everything else, including his use of Hong Kong cinema to further his own goals and career (rather than to keep on celebrating and writing about it), just smacks of opportunism, end results and burned bridges be damned.