Enter the Dragon 2 disc Special Edition (1 Viewer)

[Gary Nash]

I had a quick skim through last night and this is a nice re-issue.

The new digital transfer looks good and evidently there has been some cleanup (in the previous 25th anniversary edition, there was a huge grease pen mark where they'd restored the Lee/Monk scene in the temple - that's been removed so the splice is now seamless).

I also like the fact that they've restored the original company logo at the head of the film. The prior edition featured the 1990's corporate shield/cloud logo, but this gives us the original 1973 'Warner Communications' logo - a cool black/white double zoom over a blood red background. This recaptures the original experience I had when I first saw it at the movie theatre.


Most of the extras we've seen before, but it's nice to have them bundled together. The new 'Blood and Steel' doc was peaking my interest. Again I've only skimmed through, but it looks quite good. Glad to see they included the super8 footage shot by Ahna Capri - this is extremely rare stuff and gives a great behind the scenes view. There's also some intercut 'behind the scenes' footage from the vintage 1973 featurette - I was hoping they might have located some more, but my understanding is that the production company that compiled the featurette from hours of 16mmm footage shot by the assistant cameraman, destroyed any that they didn't have use for - what a crime!.
The doc does include a couple of outakes which I've not seen before, but it is a pity that they weren't able to find more of these.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to view it all over the weekend - certainly something I'm looking forward to.

Enjoy

 

[LorenzoL]

I sold the previous version in anticipation of this SE DVD. Can't wait until I get this in my hands.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Is the "Warrior's Journey" doc on this set the same one that was released separately a few years back. It it presented here complete?

 

[Jeannette Walsh]

also is the isolated music score from the original included? If not I might keep the old one. You can never have too many Enter the Dragons LOL

I'm glad they've done a clean up job. That's the clincher for me.

 

[Andrew s wells]

Just curious.. keepcase or snapper?

 

[Jim Barg]

Isolated or not, I'm still selling the old one since I was lucky enough to snag the soundtrack CD before Film Score Monthly sold out...

 

[Nick Sievers]

I haven't got mine yet but it looks to be like most of Warner's 2 disc SE's ie: Citizen Kane, Singin' in the Rain, Casablanca etc.

 

[Ravi K]

Are all the extras on the first disc included in this release?

They should just put the 30 minute b/w Bruce Lee interview instead of that chopped up thing they did on the first release.

 

[Herb Kane]

OK - I need your help.

I never owned the original DVD version of this film and it has been many years since I've seen the movie. I just finished screening the new SE last night for the review and I have some audio synch issues. For those who are familiar with the film, were there similar issues on the original disc and or, is it safe to assume much of this was dubbed later...?

I haven't yet had a chance to watch the special features.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[JonZ]

Herb, Can u give examples?

If your talking about Hans - his dialogue always looked a bit "off" as he didnt speak english well and was dubbed in later.


This is my least favorite Bruce Lee film, but Ill pick this up and give the previous disc to my brother.

 

[Herb Kane]

Jon... in particular what stood out most was Lee's initial meeting with Braithwaite, but for the most part much of the entire film seems out of synch, at least in various places.

So much so, it would seem that much of the dialogue was dubbed later. Admittedly, I'm not overly familiar with the history of the film.

 

[Carlo_M]

I believe (though I'm no authority) that a lot (if not all) of the dialogue was dubbed later. I certainly remember many instances in the original DVD of Enter the Dragon where sync didn't match up - not because the DVD was out of sync, but because the dialogue recording was out. I'm willing to bet it's that way on the original film print, and not something that should detract from the score of the audio on your DVD review. (kind of like Leone's westerns)

 

[Herb Kane]

Exactly. Just want to make sure thats the case before I get lynched...

Thanks guys...

 

[Carlo_M]

No prob, Herb. And unless it's an "I'm not as thrilled w/ (Insert Fantasy Saga Trilogy Here)" review you won't get lynched.

 

[JonZ]

"Braithwaite"

Bruce couldnt pronounce this name. He struggled with it. The writer hated Bruce and intentially created a hard to pronounce name for the character.

 

[Herb Kane]

C'mon Carlo you should know me better than that by now...

 

[IanD]

Several years on, it's a damn shame that Warners has yet to release the original theatrical version of Enter The Dragon on DVD.

The 25th Anniversary Edition has been the only version to be seen on DVD and it suffers (at least) from the following problems

1. The bonus scene where Bruce confers with the Shaolin abbot. Although interesting from a philiosophical point of view, having it back in reveals why it was taken out in the first place: it slows down the pre-titles sequence unecessarily. To make matters worse, Bruce is awfully dubbed in this scene by John Little

2. Two music cues are missing from this version of the film: the scene where Han takes Roper on a tour of the museum and the introduction to the Edification sequence (right after Braithwaite's frantic call to the Army). On the other hand, Jim Kelly's flashback scene now has music NOT in the theatrical version. I have read that these anomolies come from the music track being that for the HK theatrical version (which did feature the monk scene) but don't know how true that is

3. Common complaint about many DVDs but here goes. 5.1 remix of mono film with no mono option.

Now Warners COULD have put this on the second disc of the 2004 set but instead stuck on the already avaliable Bruce Lee: Warrior's Journey. I don't know if a 3-disc set is necessary at this stage but perhaps a budget DVD of the theatrical cut wouldn't be too much. It could perhaps go on a double bill with Showdown In Little Tokyo. Now that is a wretched film, and I have the decent Australian DVD, but it has yet to be released on R1 uncut and in widescreen, so a Bruce-And-Brandon double bill would be a good idea

What do you guys think? I might suggest it next time there's a Warner chat on HTF

 

[AlexCosmo]

I agree, the theatrical version really should be available.