Does anyone know anything about "The Blade" (1997)? (1 Viewer)

[Steve Hill]

the blade
directed by hark tsui
1997
i can't find any info on it other than this review:http://www.teleport-city.com/movies/...gfu/blade.html
i'd like to get the dvd.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Hark Tsui? Send a Private Message to Jeff Kleist. I bet he's heard of it!

 

[Jason Whyte]

Just to be safe I've edited the thread header to mention the title of the film.
Jason

 

[DaveCheung]

Note to others: The review Steve posted is a good one but it got too many spoilers (all the reviews at the site by Keith Allison are like this so readers beware). Stop reading with the paragraph "While in town one day, On and Iron Head..." and continue reading at the last 2 paragraphs that start with "The film is quite bloody and savage. Hark's...". BTW Tsui is his surname and Hark is his first.
This is a favorite of mine and one Tusi's best. It's an intelligent study of a decaying, immoral society that also examines and questions the rules of the martial arts genre. Not to mention it's also quite intense movie with visceral action scenes that are exhausting to watch; they put the entire audience in awe at a screening I've been to. If your friends are not convinced that HK stuff is not capable of being thoughtful and complex, show them this one...at least the fight scenes will keep them watching. Worthy of many, many viewings.
If you're interested in other Tsui stuff don't forget to check out Time and Tide, which should be easily available on DVD (which has a fine anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer and a killer 5.1 track) from Columbia.
Some more reviews:
http://brns.com/pages/action29.html
And a bunch of info on the Tsui Hark's other films:
http://subwaycinema.com/frames/archi...2001/tsui1.htm
They organzied a Tsui Hark film fest last year and reported that Warner Bros., the source of the film print for the screening, has the rights to this. I wouldn't expect WB to put this out anytime soon.
The only DVD release that I've known of is the UK PAL R2 one and, from what I've heard, the quality isn't very good.
http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/item/7000000055988
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...929159-8985468
The best bet to see this is the cheap VCD. It's not great quality but it's watchable. You can get it from DDDHouse, a reliable merchant based in HK from ~$3US or domestically from YesAsia which cost more at $7 plus shipping.

 

[Steve Hill]

DaveCheung

thanks for the info!

steve