Hong Kong Cinema

[andyli]

The 4K restoration of King Hu's The Valiant Ones will be released on Blu-ray by HKFA this April.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

This will be for sure an excellent release. Not sure who the rightsholder for this release is, so I’m not going to hesitate getting the HK version as who knows when it will be release in the US or Europe. I posted previously my issues with their release of Ann Hui’s The Secret, but didn’t want to complain too much assuming that they were working on subpar materials to begin with. I looked on HK Bookcity and it’s not available yet. If anyone has recommended vendors other than them, pleasr share a link. Another forum member got their title within weeks (twbb?), but my copy took about four months to arrive and would rather not wait that long again.

[feihong]

The Valiant Ones has been a long time coming, for sure. All the King's Men and Wheel of Life appeared in hi-def before it. Pretty thrilled I'll be able to see this movie in some approximation of what it's supposed to look like, finally.

[yoloswegmaster]

35mm screening of Ringo Lam's 'Full Contact' happening on May 15 at the American Cinemateque in LA.

[mrb404]

This will be for sure an excellent release. Not sure who the rightsholder for this release is, so I’m not going to hesitate getting the HK version as who knows when it will be release in the US or Europe. I posted previously my issues with their release of Ann Hui’s The Secret, but didn’t want to complain too much assuming that they were working on subpar materials to begin with. I looked on HK Bookcity and it’s not available yet. If anyone has recommended vendors other than them, pleasr share a link. Another forum member got their title within weeks (twbb?), but my copy took about four months to arrive and would rather not wait that long again.

The release is available for preorder from Buyoyo (release date: 28 April).
There's currently an error in the listing (the item's name is Ann Hui's The Secret but the contents are clear). I let them know about it and it should be corrected soon.
Shipping takes usually a bit of time (about 4-5 weeks to Canada) but they're very reliable and I never had a problem with them (over 30 orders in the past 4 years).

EDIT: The listing error has been corrected.

[Finch]

I wonder if dddhouse might carry it too.

[beamish14]

35mm screening of Ringo Lam's 'Full Contact' happening on May 15 at the American Cinemateque in LA.

Been dreaming of this happening, although I wish it was screening at the larger Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

The Academy Museum is also doing a tribute to Sammo Hung, with 35mm showings of Eastern Condors and Painted Faces on the docket

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

35mm screening of Ringo Lam's 'Full Contact' happening on May 15 at the American Cinemateque in LA.

Been dreaming of this happening, although I wish it was screening at the larger Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

The Academy Museum is also doing a tribute to Sammo Hung, with 35mm showings of Eastern Condors and Painted Faces on the docket

New Bev is also doing two nights of the full Hong Kong cuts of Rumble in the Bronx and Police Story IV: First Strike. Lots of treats in the Sammo series including rare prints of Pedicab Driver, She Shoots Straight, and License to Steal. Lots of Hong Kong delights in Los Angeles for May.

[andyli]

For those eager to place an order for The Valiant Ones, you might want to know that the subtitles are burnt-in. The picture quality is top notch though.

[ftsoh]

Interesting! The Chinese subtitlers are read from right to left. This is a practice in Hong Kong and Taiwan films until the early 80's. I watched a HKFA showing of this film in 2013 or 2014. It is in bad shape and without burnt-in subtitles. They must have found a print in better condition but with burnt-in subtitles.

[feihong]

For those eager to place an order for The Valiant Ones, you might want to know that the subtitles are burnt-in. The picture quality is top notch though.

Looks gorgeous. The burnt-in subs recall for me watching these movies on VHS and VCD back in the day. Glad I ordered this one.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Maybe because I watch so many HK films on laserdisc and on 35mm, the burnt in subtitles are always attractive to me! The Secret has the same thing, but I’m certain it’s the only print floating around.

[andyli]

The opening text stated that the 4k scan was off the original negative. It also mentioned that Hu donated the subtitle film along with the negatives. So it seems a conscious choice to burn the subs into the video to imitate the style from the initial exhibition of the film.

[pistolwink]

Looking forward to this. Probably the "purest" film in King Hu's filmography (minimum of plot, maximum of stylistic flourishes), though I think it really has to be considered as a fusion of Hu and Sammo Hung's sensibilities and approaches to action. I've never seen it in much better than a VCD copy though!!

[therewillbeblus]

Same, looking forward to seeing this in decent quality - I didn’t find it very memorable on a first watch except for the Go board woods scene, which is patently unforgettable

[feihong]

Fate of Lee Khan and Raining in the Mountain move me a whole lot more, so far, but I think it's still a pretty cool movie––I'm hoping seeing it in high quality for the first time ever will upgrade my already decently high opinion of it.

[Orlac]

For those eager to place an order for The Valiant Ones, you might want to know that the subtitles are burnt-in. The picture quality is top notch though.

Jackie Chan's dubious autobiography from 1998, ghost-written by Jeff Yang, claims a) he was in A TOUCH OF ZEN (if he was, no-one has identified him) and b) that Sammo played a Japanese swordsman in it (he doesn't, and Jackie/Jeff Yang was clearly thinking of THE VALIANT ONES).

[feihong]

The Valiant Ones blu ray looks incredible...the film itself looks incredible. I'm not quite ready to concede the position to Raining in the Mountain, but I think this might be the second-most-beautiful King Hu movie, aided immeasurably by the enormous amount of exquisite location photography and an increased emphasis on interior atmosphere (the court scenes are aided in their lighting by early-Ridley-Scott levels of smoke, giving them pretty unprecedented depth). The visual improvement also made it possible to recognize Cory Yuen as one of the initial bandit raiding party on the inn in the beginning.

Also, I had to re-evaluate the film a bit after seeing it looking quite this beautiful; honestly, it seems a better film to me. I feel like the cat-and-mouse feints set up by both the pirates and the heroes becomes more clearly the dramatic spine of the film, and the kind of bitter attitude the film adopts towards sacrifice seems an early model informing films like Peking Opera Blues (hard to see Tsui Hark movies and think he didn't see pretty much all of the King Hu films, and get particular inspirations from each of them). With facial expressions reading more clearly, there seems to be more character development in the film. In general, the picture seems richer and more robust seeing it in full quality. I was really impressed.

[Finch]

I've never seen The Valiant Ones before but have pretty much loved every other King Hu film so hopefully there's going to be a late summer or early fall announcement from MoC and/or Criterion.

[Orlac]

I've never seen The Valiant Ones before but have pretty much loved every other King Hu film so hopefully there's going to be a late summer or early fall announcement from MoC and/or Criterion.

Yeah, I think that's a safe bet. New optional subtitles would be nice too.

[pistolwink]

I assume the burnt-in subtitles are in the existing print they scanned for the Blu-Ray, so they'd have to use an algorithm to get rid of them, no? (Or else have some chunky black box covering up the old subs, yikes.)

[Elizabeth Corday]

Who else is excited about the In the Line of Duty set?

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Given that I still haven't managed to watch Yes, Madam - very much looking forward to this set!

[feihong]

Definitely looking forward to it.

[feihong]

Cargo Records in Germany is releasing The Valiant Ones in August. Doesn't look like there are details yet about subtitles or anything. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the subtitles.