One-Armed-Boxer Megastar Reg.0 Vs. Fortune Star Reg.2

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 06 Nov 2007, 12:14

both japanese releases

Mega

Fortune

Mega

Fortune

Mega

Fortune

Mega

Fortune

Mega

Fortune

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 06 Nov 2007, 17:31

FS wins, though they haven't fixed the print damage.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 06 Nov 2007, 19:35

FS appears to be almost 3 minutes longer.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 07 Nov 2007, 03:12

What's extra?

The HK cinema version was cut for censorship due to a crackdown on violence.

Is there more blood per chance?

chenlung · Post by **chenlung** » 07 Nov 2007, 14:10

Thanks for comparison. King released this, not Fortune Star (the latter only provided the materials).

Longer running time is probably because Megastar used an improperly converted PAL>NTSC master, but yes, good point. I believe some of the deleted footage is in the trailer. One report said it was cut prior to being released (jumps in soundtrack too), as opposed to editing the original masters.

Is the English dub by Golden Harvest (export international)? Megastar was it, but in 5.1 only (infact, is the mono in King a downmix?).

I'm pissed off about the print damage too. However, some shots where freeze frames happen are unlikely to be fixable directly (due to the fact that the original frame these repeated frames were taken from, wasn't pristine in the first place - come to think of it, this theory probably applies all the time when making a duplicate print). At least the image looks better overall.

Second comparison down - the black-coated gentleman looks like Dracula (King cap)

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Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 08 Nov 2007, 16:42

Mega Star is probably PAL-NTSC, explaining the running time differeance

Don't recall any extra footage in the trailer

The German DVD is proper PAL. However, there are no English subs, the English dub has some replaced audio in places and the picture, though anamorphic, suffers from the excessive noice reduction employed by Star TV back in the 90's when they did the master - the scenes in the smokey valley look like vaseline was coated to every frame

The black coated dude is Lung Fei. Indeed, on the English dub he makes the most alarming growls! Like a chimp with throat cancer trying to imitate a police siren

The Mandarin version has the Shaft theme whilst the English version substitutes some funky organ acid music!

Can live with print dammage. WOuld rather have that than excessive video reduction. To be honest, I prefer the colour and contrast on the Megastar pics but video wise the FS is much better

And look fast for Jackie Chan!

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 08 Nov 2007, 19:15

The Shaft music plays over the main menu on this new japanese release.watched it last night,no new extra scenes. the remastering is not on a par with some of the shaw titles i've seen but it's the best i've seen this look. i saw no extra footage in the trailer either.the english dub on this is really rough in places.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 08 Nov 2007, 20:33

Is the English dub the original and is it genuine mono? On the German DVD, new sound effects were layered over the fight in the factory, especially the shots of people falling into the vats

Has anyone seen the Japanese DVDs for Wang Yu's Furious Slaughter and Ma Su Chen, that were released by King Records? Would like to here some opinions and see some caps from those!

Old Pang Yau · Post by **Old Pang Yau** » 13 Nov 2007, 01:43

I take it this is what the eventual Dragon Dynasty release will also look like. As for that print damage, I think chenlung's theory sounds about right. It's probably "frozen damage" when the shot was originally freeze framed. If HKL restored it, it probably would've used one frame and restored it, then looped it, instead of Fortune Star using the "purist method" by only restoring any damage on their print and letting the footage run normally.

If anything, this is similar to when Warner Brothers had the Looney Tunes shorts restored. Despite the restoration, there were still the occasional "moving hair", bits of dirt, etc. These were part of the original filming process and weren't actually distortions in the actual tangible film print. Same probably goes for that one shot in OAB, in which dirt/hair/etc got trapped in the frame when originally freeze framed. Too damn confusing. Either way, also notice that the FS transfer has a bit more visual information on the top, left, and bottom of the screen. Here's hoping Dragon Dynasty gets this out soon, with a giant tagline exclaiming "The prequel to the Quentin Tarantino favorite MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE!"

chenlung · Post by **chenlung** » 13 Nov 2007, 02:01

Techically, it's not a prequel, as it came out in order (both theatrically, and story-wise).

But yeah

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Old Pang Yau · Post by **Old Pang Yau** » 13 Nov 2007, 02:34

Eh, it's one of those "loose technical terms" when discussing a previous film. I've seen people use "prequel" in that same way, although most people say "predecessor"... sounds fancier that way