Drunken Master (1 Viewer)

I see on the release list that Columbia Tr Star will be releasing a new version of this in April. How badly is this going to be mangled? I understand that it's to be rated PG-13 and that does'nt bode well. Anyone have any info?

I am suspicious as well, but there is nothing from the original Drunken Master film that would make it receive a harsher rating than PG-13.

Regards,

IMDB lists this movie as PG-13. Amazon lists the DVD at 110 minutes, which seems like nothing is being cut. I've been happy with the other recent Columbia TriStar Jackie Chan discs, so I'm assuming this one will handled just as well.

While we're on the subject... anyone have thoughts on the 3 new Columbia Jackie Chan releases? New Fist of Fury, Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin, and To Kill With Intrigue? How are the transfers, and how are the movies themselves?

I wish they'd do good transfers of Young Master, Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, and Spiritual Kung Fu. The P&S on Spiritual Kung Fu is especially painful to watch!!

Ron -

I hope you let Columbia know that there was a problem. They will be facing a big dilema when this gets released if they don't correct it now. This is the second review where I heard that this happened.

If Columbia doesn't fix this now, they eventually will and it will probably be one of those silent recalls where they leave all the defective ones in the stores until they sell.

Matt

The Destination films line is supposed to be a premium label for Asian cinema. So far, and as far as I know they are supposed to be presenting the films properly.

If this disc has that problem, they should repress it NOW before the problem magnifies exponentially

Columbia can lose a lot of sales if this DVD isn't corrected. It has just been announced that Hong Kong Legends will do a Platinum Edition of DRUNKEN MASTER.
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/index.cgi?page=News&id=2905
Matt

Ron, I've never seen the first film, and of course "Legend" is an americanization of the Sequel Film, what turned you off exactly on this film vs. The Sequel?

Dave,
I'm not Ron, but I can sorta guess
Basically this is more of an old school kung fu movie, and much different from the sequel. The best comparison I can think of would be to try and compare a Bruce Lee movie with a more recent kung fu movie.
Personally, I like it, since I'm into that kind of stuff, and think it's pretty neat watching Jackie learn the different drunken genii. However, I think someone who is not a fan of the genre (like Ron mentions he isn't) may have a hard time with. Take into consideration that this movie was made in the late 70's.

I love this flick and would love to get rid of my crappy disc. I hope they fix the problem with the sound before releasing it.

Ron, thanks for the heads up, butan you please call it by it's real name, Drunken Master 2?

We're trying to fight the uncut OSL battle with Miramax/Dimension right now, and it's a good way to differentiate

Ron -

Thanks for letting Columbia know. Perhaps they can avoid the problems Anchor Bay had with A BETTER TOMORROW.

Matt

Hong Kong Legend has just today announced a Platinum version of Drunken Master. And also Snake in the eagles shadow.

"

The two disc editions will showcase brand new video and audio transfers to accomodate the original 2:35:1 aspect ratios and Cantonese Soundtracks.

There will also be brand new animated menus, cast interviews, feature-length audio commentaries, and retrospective documentaries.

"

Their first release was 1:1.78, but the picture quality was still great.

Im looking forward to this one, and Im sure the HKL version will be the one to get.

Regards Michael

I'm not so sure that the cantonese track can be fixed properly. It is in such a bad state that i'm guessing there is some damage to the soundtrack and it was replaced in certain sections with english dialogue.

Sorry to bump this older thread, but is there any news on this? Was there a defective audio track?

I still haven't heard anything about the track being corrected. I'll post something as soon as I have information.

Matt

I just wanted to confirm that I have gotten the same results as Ron with this DVD. I selected the Cantonese track and I get English about 1/3 of the time. I have only tried it on my Panasonic RP-91 also. On the plus side, this is the first time I have seen it in 2.35:1 and it looks great, considering its age and origin. Having only seen it on VHS (bought on the street) and VCD, this is a marked improvement. Also, the sound effects and music are original...hints of the Wong Fei-Hung theme music that I am more familiar with from the Once Upon a Time In China series. I was afraid that someone was going to insert the requisite rap music into the wrong century. It was interesting to see Jackie (spelled J-A-C-K-Y here) before he got his Epicanthic "Unfolding" eye surgery.

I sure hope they recall this version and rectify their mistake though. This is a classic that deserves better.

I've played the disc in 3 different DVD players -- a Toshiba SD-3109, an Audiovox DVD-1500, and my DVD-ROM -- and the English portions appear in the same places in the Cantonese track as well. They're definitely embedded in the track. In fact, if you listen to the commentary, which has the Cantonese track low in the background, the English portions are present in the same areas there as well.

It's much more prevalent in the first half of the movie than in the second. I didn't jot down timecodes when the dialogue would switch, but I believe it stopped doing that somewhere around the 60/65 minute mark. It would generally be in English for 2 minutes, Cantonese for...oh, 10 minutes, then switch back. Those are just very rough estimations, but there's definitely a lot more Cantonese audio than English.