There has been a Region 1 release of this film. In comparison to the Region 1, the Region 4 misses out on: - Cantonese and English language Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack with subtitles
- Lee-thal Weapon, an hour long documentary looking at Jet Li's career and the production of Once Upon A Time In China
The Region 1 misses out only on an English dubbed soundtrack. The reviews I have located of this release suggest that the subtitles are burned in on the print used for the transfer and the film is not framed with the subtitles in mind, so that any significant amount of overscan on the display device partially obscures them. The subtitles are also supposed to contain spelling mistakes, though that is not unusual in Hong Kong films. The Cantonese/English soundtrack is also dubbed, and apparently the English dubbing is atrocious. The Region 1 release was available separately at one time, but it has been withdrawn from sale and is only available as part of a three-disc set with two other Li films. Even then the price is under US$10. Unfortunately this film is only available on VCD in Region 3 at this time. The documentary is enough for me to declare the Region 1 the winner. However, there is another release of this film due in Region 1 in May 2004 from Buena Vista, and according to several vendor sites this will be in widescreen format, so that may be more desirable than the earlier Region 1 release.
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