Bruce Lee DVD Collection (1 Viewer)

[Harry_L]

Anyone out there have the opportunity to review both the R2 30th Anniversary Commemorative Box Set by Hong Kong Legends vs. the R3 (HK) release of the Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection by Fortune Star.

Pros and Cons, specs?

I have the R1 Fox so-called Master Collection, but it's not anamorphic, it's only mono, no extras and in English only. I'm thinking of getting one of the other sets (might be limited to the R3 set though, because I think the R2 set is PAL.

Any word on a more definitive release in Region 1.

 

[JonZ]

It would be nice if Fox did proper version wouldnt it.

Hopefully ETD will do really well and Fox will consider it.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I moved from movies to software

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I picked up the R1 set for $28 CAN + tax so I'm fine with what I've got for now.

 

[Matthew Brown]

I have the box set. While I didn't go through every DVD, in it, I did compare the Game of Death 2 DVD with the new Fox release.

This is going to be a general comment but I think it's going to cover any new releases that are licensed from Fortune Star whether it be actually put out by Fox or Celestial.

Fortune Star has way better masters than HKL had rights to. This means that in comparison, the HKL versions lack a lot of detail because of digital restoration. The Fortune Star DVD's look amazing in comparison. The HKL versions look good, but these look better. I have compared most of the Fox releases I have using these new masters and they outshine the HKL versions in detail everytime.

Another plus is that Celestial is including original theatrical mixes whereas Fox isn't. GOD2 is one and other Fox titles are the same way. Now it does get a little complicated because some of the Bruce Lee movies had Mandarin as the original soundtrack and the DVD's only have the original Cantonese mono tracks. Celestial does add foley work and sound effects to achieve the 5.1 Dolby and DTS tracks.

Celestial is releasing other box sets that should be the definitive versions of some films on DVD wether they are already released by Fox or HKL. The advantage over Fox is the the including of the original theatrical mixes. The advantages over HKL is the detail of the picture and the original sound mix.

Some upcoming box sets include A BETTER TOMORROW 1-3, John Woo Box Set (The Killer and Bullet in the Head), Police Story 1-3, and more. This will be a rare oppurtunity to see Supercop in it's original language and uncut.

The only downside of these box sets are that they are region 2 and will lack extras that have been seen already.

Matt

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

This is a minor complaint I have about Celestial's Shaw movies, wherin tweeting birds and other sligtly distracting "additions" can be heard in many sequences where they had never been heard before, but considering the history of indifference shown by the Hong Kong film industry to it's films during the 70's and particularly the 80's, with chopped up and/or/expanded prints finding their way all over Asia and the west, leaving future generations of HK film fanatics to wonder if they were ever watching the "original" edition of so many films, I guess anything, even if its slightly bastardized, is better than nothing,rticularly when they look as good as they do in this set.

And the box is really cool, too...