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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Fist of Fury (Jing wu men): Special Collectors Edition (1972)

Fist of Fury (Jing wu men): Special Collectors Edition (1972)

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Released 22-Feb-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Martial Arts Menu Animation & Audio
Audio Commentary-Bey Logan (Hong Kong Cinema Expert)
Biographies-Cast-Bruce Lee - Animated Biography
Theatrical Trailer-2
Gallery-Photo-Production Photos, The Making Of Fist Of Fury
Gallery-Photo-The Big Boss
Notes-Tracking The Dragon
Interviews-Cast-Max Lee, Tony Liu
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1972
Running Time 101:22
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (81:08) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Wei Lo
Studio
Distributor
Fortune Star
Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Bruce Lee
Nora Miao
James Tien
Maria Yi
Robert Baker
Fu Ching Chen
San Chin
Yin-Chieh Han
Riki Hashimoto
Jun Arimura
Chung-Hsin Huang
Quin Lee
Feng Tien
Case ?
RPI $29.95 Music Joseph Koo
Fu-ling Wang


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Auto Pan & Scan Encoded English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.45:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Fifth Disciple Chen (Bruce Lee) returns to the Jing Mo school in Shanghai to attend the funeral of his sifu Ho Yuan Chia. Shortly afterwards some Japanese martial artists from the Bushido school insult the Jing Mo school, presenting a sign that says "Sick Man of Asia". Initially restrained by his fellow students, Chen returns the sign and defeats the entire school in a remarkable display of kung fu.

    Chen then learns that the Japanese poisoned Ho through the agency of the housekeeper and cook, the latter of whom is actually Japanese. In a fit of rage he kills both, then sets out to take revenge on the Bushido school.

    Of course, the plot is just an excuse for several set-piece fight scenes, but it would have had significant resonance for Chinese audiences in 1971. The Chinese are portrayed as being at the bottom of the pecking order: the gardens have a famous sign "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed". Chen fights back against this oppression, though reluctantly. He asks one victim "why do you have to push me?". He really wants to settle down with fellow student Yuan Le-erh (Nora Miao), but circumstances conspire against them.

    Well, Bruce Lee did not become famous for his acting skills. He does seem to be a little over the top, though as is pointed out in the audio commentary his performance is in keeping with the style of Hong Kong films of the time. But it is his physical skills that continue to attract audiences, and this film delivers and then some. The early scene where he takes on the entire Bushido school is a masterpiece of choreography, Lee defeating all comers with punches and high kicks, then finishing the job with nunchakus. Later in the film he repeats the dose, this time more permanently. The film concludes with a series of one on one battles, firstly with a Japanese martial artist wielding a katana, then a Russian strongman (played by Bob Baker, Lee's assistant instructor at his Oakland martial arts school), and finally the head of the Bushido school, played by karate expert Riki Hashimoto. Also appearing in this film are several performers who would later become well known in Asian cinema. Performing stunt work are Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, while Yuen Wah also makes an appearance. One of the Bushido school students bloodily dispatched by Chen is the late Lam Ching Ying, best known as the one-eyebrowed priest in the Mr Vampire series.

    The fight scenes are awe-inspiring, with a reality and emotion quite unlike that of the traditional kung fu in countless Shaw Brothers epics, and which has set the standard for all such films ever since. Even so, the film has a few distracting anachronisms. The setting looks like it is supposed to be 1930s Shanghai, with clothes and vehicles of that era. However the sifu whose funeral Chen attends at the beginning of the film, Ho Yuan Chia, died in 1908. At that time Japan was one of the powers in Shanghai, and it was rumoured that Ho was poisoned by them after he defeated some Japanese martial artists. It is also jarring to see the 1970s clothing worn by some of the Europeans in the film at the beginning of the scene where Chen attempts to enter the gardens. And there are a few wristwatches that look a bit too recent to be of the era. Apart from these minor quibbles, the film is well put together, though it is not all the work of one director. Most of the film was directed by Lo Wei, who also appears in the film as a Chinese official. Some of the fight scenes were staged and directed by Lee himself, and look more dynamic and cinematic, reflecting his Hollywood experience. There are a couple of sequences where wires are obviously used, and another which has the cliché of a sword flung in the air landing in a painful way, most recently exploited in the Zatôichi remake.

    This film belongs to that category of groundbreaking martial arts cinema which defined and revitalised the genre, like Come Drink With Me, King Boxer, 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, each of which spawned countless imitations. A sequel, New Fist of Fury, starred Jackie Chan, while there was a mid-1990s remake. And then there was Fist of Legend, which tells basically the same story and starred Jet Li. None of these quite capture the magic of this film, one of the best kung fu films ever made. Note that Lee's previous film The Big Boss was renamed Fists of Fury when released in the US, while Fist of Fury was renamed The Chinese Connection.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.45:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. The original aspect ratio was 2.35:1.

    I have never seen this film look as good as this. There is a considerable amount of detail visible, even in shadows. The film is not perfectly sharp, but it is quite close to it.

    Colour is vivid, looking not unlike the recent Shaw Brothers remasters. However, it is too saturated, with a reddish hue to the film that makes flesh tones look too pink. Lee's hair looks red in some shots. Black levels are not quite solid either.

    Apart from some vertical shake at times, there are no film to video artefacts. There are some white flecks, but these are so infrequent as to be negligible. There are also some very faint vertical lines at times.

    Optional English subtitles are provided. I found these to be clear and easy to read, with no spelling or grammatical errors. They are in a good-sized white font. One minor quibble is that they are not quite timed perfectly. I am used to subtitles that appear when the character begins to speak the words that are translated, but in this case there is a slight time lag before the subtitles appear, sort of like the subtitle equivalent of an audio sync problem. The lag is only of a fraction of a second, and most of the time I did not notice it.

    The disc is RSDL-formatted, with the layer change placed at 81:08. While it occurs in the middle of a scene, it is placed at a point where there is no movement or sound, so it is not overly disruptive.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The default audio track is surprisingly the English dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 track, while there is an alternative Cantonese surround mix. I listened to the latter.

    The original sound mix was mono, but the surround remix has been done quite well. Sound effects and music are spread across the front and rear channels, but there are no genuine directional effects. Some low frequency information is available, but I did not notice any subwoofer activity. Dialogue seems to be clear, though it sounds flat due to the mono recording.

    The film of course was shot without synchronised sound, and has been dubbed. The dubbing is very good, with only rare occasions when the audio sync is clearly out.

    One might open one's ears open wide in astonishment at the score by Ku Chia Hui, if one was coming cold to the wonderful world of Hong Kong cinema. One might think one was watching a western judging by the opening credits music, and in fact it seems to have been 'inspired' by Ennio Morricone's score for Once Upon a Time in the West according to Bey Logan. In any case it seems to work for the film rather than against, but it does take a bit of getting used to.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menu Animation & Audio

    The main menu has some scenes from the film in the background, with some generic music that does not come from the film.

Audio Commentary-Bey Logan (Hong Kong Cinema Expert)

    Another commentary by Bey Logan, an Englishman who works in Hong Kong cinema. Like his commentary on Police Story, this one is enthusiastic and informative. He seems to have spoken with a lot of people who worked on the film, and has a lot of stories to tell about the production and about the cast and crew. He also points out the anti-Japanese sentiment of the film, contrasting this not only with the success the film had in Japan, but also with the visual style of the work, heavily influenced by Japanese chambara films.

    Perhaps he might not have made the comments about Nora Miao's hairstyle or the white-haired actor in the final scenes, but this is an excellent commentary nonetheless. Note that the commentary emanates from a Region 3 release, and features Logan speaking over the English dub of the film.

Biographies-Cast-Bruce Lee - Animated Biography (21:13)

    This is a very long scrolling text biography that is simultaneously read aloud by an American-accented voice. The biography itself is informative, though watching text scrolling for twenty minutes is not something I want to do often. The otherwise static background has several tiny photos of Lee that change on a regular basis.

Theatrical Trailer-2 (6:29)

    Two trailers for the film are included, one of which was made by Hong Kong Legends as a DVD trailer. The other is a lengthy (4:38) 16x9 enhanced original Hong Kong trailer, in very good condition. This shows excerpts from virtually every scene, so it would be best viewed after the feature. It seems to be slightly squashed vertically.

Gallery-Photo-Production Photos, The Making Of Fist Of Fury

    The first gallery has 34 production stills and posters for the film. The second is a 4:53 featurette with production stills and some behind the scenes shots.

Gallery-Photo-The Big Boss

    A bonus gallery of photographs from the production of Lee's first Hong Kong kung fu film.

Gallery-Photo-Tracking The Dragon

    28 unpublished photographs from the collection of George Tan, complete with detailed notes.

Interviews-Cast-Max Lee, Tony Liu (31:53)

    Two substantial interviews with actors from the film, recorded on video in 1.33:1 and with English subtitles. They both discuss their relationship with Bruce Lee as well as aspects of the production.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This transfer seems to be the same as that on Hong Kong Legends UK Region 2 release, and overall seems to differ only by the inclusion of different trailers for other releases. It is also available in a box set with The Big Boss, Way of the Dragon and Game of Death. This set also has a bonus extras disc and a hardback book

    There has been a previous Region 4 release from Avenue One. While in the original aspect ratio, this release was not 16x9 enhanced and had an English-dubbed soundtrack only. One to avoid I think.

    A release from Mega Star in Region 3 is the source of the audio commentary by Bey Logan included on this release. This release also includes footage shot for Game of Death which was not included in the eventual film. This transfer is also in 2.35:1 but not 16x9 enhanced. A Mandarin surround track is also included.

    Mega Star also released a slightly different package which appears to be no longer available. This had a DTS Cantonese soundtrack, a second audio commentary by Donnie Yen (but in Cantonese without English subtitles), a set of miniature nunchakus, and a bonus VCD with music videos and clips from other Bruce Lee films. Again this release was not 16x9 enhanced.

    Saerom Entertainment in Korea have released an All Region disc with a DTS Cantonese soundtrack but again no 16x9 enhancement and merely a trailer as an extra.

    The US Region 1 comes from Fox, with the original 2.35:1 presented with 16x9 enhancement. The soundtrack is the English Dolby Digital 2.0 dubbed version. This release is also available in a box set with three other Lee films.

    The definitive Hong Kong Region 3 release comes from IVL but is only available in a seven-disc box set with all of Lee's kung fu films, including the two put together after his death (Game of Death and Game of Death 2). The seventh disc in this set contains a number of extras. The film itself has five audio tracks: DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 in both Cantonese and Mandarin, and Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. There are two drawbacks to this release when compared with the Region 2. Firstly, the opening titles in Chinese and English that set up the story are missing, and secondly some new sound effects have been added to the surround mixes. This Foley tampering has also blighted some of the Shaw Brothers remasters coming out of Region 3.

    The Region 3 has one major advantage over the Region 2, and that is the picture quality. Compared to the Region 3, the Region 2 has a slightly less detailed image as well as a less realistic colour transfer, as evidenced by screen caps I have seen. The Region 4 appears to have the same reddish transfer as the Region 2, so it would have the same issues.

    On the other hand, the Region 4 has much the better extras, so one's choice here will be governed by whether picture quality or overall package quality is more important. Also price, as the IVL release is only available in a seven disc set. I doubt whether too many people will be disappointed in the picture quality on the Region 4.

Summary

    A superb kung fu film, well worth owning on DVD.

    The video quality is very good, but the Region 3 IVL release is reportedly better.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    An excellent extras package.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Philip Sawyer (Bio available.)
Monday, February 21, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-S733A, using Component output
DisplaySony 86CM Trinitron Wega KVHR36M31. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player, Dolby Digital, dts and DVD-Audio. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationSony TA-DA9000ES
SpeakersMain: Tannoy Revolution R3; Centre: Tannoy Sensys DCC; Rear: Richter Harlequin; Subwoofer: JBL SUB175

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