Bullets 'n' Babes

Is this Shaw Bros film a Mandarin or Cantonese film?

I just rented it from CD-WOW to see what it was like

Mandarin, I would say.

The HKFA lists Cantonese as original release language, but then by 1982 most films were released that way as standard regardless of how they were shot.

The IVL disc contains only Mandarin and that language fits the lip-sync.

Even though it came out in 1982? Wierd.
The Momentum discs only seem to have 1 language option them (in the case of the trailers on the discs its Mandarin).

That's the same for all Celestial Shaw releases. The new trailers are always in Mandarin, the non-Chinese DVD companies - Siren, MIB, Momentum - always get Mandarin and it seems that on the IVLs the subs are always synced for the Mandarin track, even if a Cantonese track is present. It should also be remembered that some titles that have a Cantonese track on the DVD are actually Mandarin films - 36th Chamber, Death Duel, Invincible Shaolin

grim_tales wrote:Even though it came out in 1982? Wierd.

Not really. Although most companies shot their films in Cantonese by this point, Shaw Bros still made many Mandarin movies, so for them a 1982 date doesn't necessarily dictate a specific language. By and large modern-day Shaw movies were Cantonese, but a lot of the traditional stuff was still Mandarin. Directors Chu Yuan and Chang Cheh for example preferred it. But comedies and dramas of the early-mid 80's would probably be Cantonese. It can be tricky...

I would still say that HUMAN LANTERNS is a Mandarin film. Celestial have yet to NOT include the INTENDED language track that I know of...

Maybe we should do a sticky of what the more authentic language is. I for one would be interested to know what languages The Master and Shaolin Prince are considered to be in.

On an entertainment level, I find that the Shaws work well in both Mandarin and Cantonese - unlike say, Drunken Master, which just looks and sounds odd in Mandarin

we should do a sticky of what the more authentic language is

Not necessarily a sticky, but an ordinary thread about authentic language would be nice.

FYI:
"36th chamber of shaolin" was shot in Mandarin.
"Return to the 36th chamber" and "Disciples of the 36th chamber" were shot in Cantonese.

I remember Markgway saying that all Lau Kar-leung films prior to Shadow Boxing are Mandarin and all Chang Cheh films are Mandarin

I thought he said the "switch" from Mandarin to Cantonese ocurred after "Heroes of The East" in 1978.

The Cantonese dub of 36th Chamber (the first one) is fine to listen to, and didnt bother me at all. (In fact if I hadnt been told it was supposed to be Mandarin I'd probably think Cantonese was the intended dub).

grim_tales wrote:I thought he said the "switch" from Mandarin to Cantonese ocurred after "Heroes of The East" in 1978.

I did. This was the film prior to "Shadow Boxing" (Spiritual Boxer Part II) as Ivan says. Pay attention at the back...

Ivan Drago wrote:I for one would be interested to know what languages The Master and Shaolin Prince are considered to be in.

Cantonese, I think, for both.

Cheers for that one.

Is Eight Diagram Pole Fighter a Mandarin film?
That came out in 1983, but as you say most of the period stuff was done in Mandarin

I'm pretty sure that 8DPF was shot in cantonese.

grim_tales wrote:Is Eight Diagram Pole Fighter a Mandarin film?
That came out in 1983, but as you say most of the period stuff was done in Mandarin

Cantonese, it was a Liu Chia Liang film.

OK.