Jet Li's Legend Of Kung Fu Hero - which film is this? (1 Viewer)

[Johnny G]

The DVD came out yesterday but all online retailers have poor details, all I can see is it's one of Jet Li's first films but which one? ie what is the original title or what is it also known as?

No other actors or director are listed so I can't do a complex search at imdb, can anybody help?

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

This site has a picture of the artwork, which looks like typical Xenon-inspired crap. My somewhat educated guess is that this is one of the SHAOLIN TEMPLE movies. There are three of them (1979, 1983, and 1986), but the first was also Li's first movie, unless you count the made-ealier but released-later THIS IS KUNG-FU.

http://800-Buy-Movies.com/GeneralDVD/gr305868D1.htm

SHAOLIN TEMPLE DVD from Mei Ah is probably a better bet, with widescreen and DTS track.

http://www.dddhouse.com/dddhouse/en/...productID=3196

 

[Johnny G]

The write ups say this is on DVD forthe first time & all those 3 have been on DVD. His earliest film not on DVD is Long zai tian ya (1988) aka Dragon Fight aka Dragon Kickboxer but this looks like a modern film. This is Kung Fu is a documentary & it looks like so is Shao Lin Hai Deng da shi (1988) aka Abbot Hai Teng of Shaolin but it looks like that could be the one.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

The write-ups could be referring to the fact that this is the first time SHAOLIN TEMPLE has been released in the US. I'm sure I've seen the Mei Ah version in stores via Tai Seng, but that still doesn't really count as a domestic release. Judging from the cruddy packaging on LEGEND OF KUNG FU HERO (way to tap into several Li titles with the words "Legend" and Hero" by the way), I'd bet two bits to a dollar that this isn't a million miles removed from those earlier bargain bin "public domain" Jet Li discs (at least the ones they had up here in Canada), including BODYGUARD FROM BEIJING and a retitled KUNG FU CULT MASTER among others, that featured horrid VHS or VCD transfers and ridiculous photoshopped screen-grabs on the sleeves. You really had to see these things...

I suspect that a company like this would not be above lying to make people think they've unearthed some long-unseen Li movie just to sucker a few people into buying it.

Both ABBOTT HAI TENG and THIS IS KUNG-FU are possibilities. I suppose there's nothing but conscience to stop a company from marketing documentaries like they're action films and claim they're public domain retitles to swindle a few uneducated buyers.

I'm just not convinced this is legit. I'll bet the distributor probably figures the copyright holder won't come after them from China or the copyright law is so murky and not worth the cost of prosecuting that tonnes of questionably "public domain" titles get released and re-released ad nauseum. Perhaps Damin Toell will notice this thread and chime in with his legal expertise.

 

[Matthew Brown]

The artwork looks like it's from SHAOLIN TEMPLE. A remastered version was released a couple of months ago from Mei Ah. It's a great movie if you like old school kung fu movies.