Well Go USA to release 3 Shaw Bros Classics on April 6, 2010

[xradman]

I've never heard of these guys, but they are scheduled to release 3 Shaw Bros films on April 6, 2010. They are

Brothers Five
The Delightful Forest
Heroic Ones

Anyone have any inside info on what they may be like? With recent 36th Chamber and Killer debacles, I am somewhat hesitant to blind buy these to find out that they are either DVD upconverts, interlaced transfers, or cut US versions, or heaven forbid, all of the above. Apparently their DVD version of Brothers Five was an interlaced transfer and both Heroic Ones and Brothers Five DVDs suffered from poor audio remixes. That doesn't give me much confidence in how these may turn out...

DVD Review of Brothers Five from Kung Fu Cinema

Well Go USA’s DVD release of writer-director Lo Wei’s wuxia actioner BROTHERS FIVE provides a bittersweet viewing experience. The film itself is entertaining and worth picking up for Shaw Brothers and wuxia fans. Disc features a fully-restored anamorphic picture that looks good but is matched with a horribly engineered surround remix of the original Mandarin-language soundtrack.

BROTHERS FIVE originally had a mono soundtrack. In their poor judgment, Celestial Pictures thought it would be a good idea to remix the audio in surround sound and drop new synthesizer music over the old music. The result is some of the worst sound engineering I have ever heard. It makes this movie unwatchable at times without the volume turned down. (I may be more annoyed by this than the average viewer.) The new and old soundtrack sometimes intermingle and clash. The new music is poorly arranged, plays too much and occasionally drowns out the dialogue, especially on non-surround audio systems. The best way I can describe it is if they had looped a recording of an orchestra warming up before a concert, except that all the instruments are digital samples. This is the audio equivalent of colorizing black and white movies. It only serves to cheapen the original product.

In Well Go USA’s poor judgment, they didn’t bother to ask Celestial for the original mono soundtrack. So now we have two DVD versions of this movie, one from Hong Kong distributor IVL and the other from Well Go USA and I cannot recommend either one.

The DVD transfer of the print could have been much better. It suffers from being interlaced instead of progressive scan which means the picture looks worse on digital monitors. Picture resolution isn’t great either for a re-mastered film.

I cannot speak for the translation but the English subtitle text is presented in a large and easy-to-read font.

The one bonus feature on the disc is the original Hong Kong trailer to BROTHERS FIVE.

[DetroitSportsFan]

I don't have these on DVD, so I have them preordered on BD. I'm not expecting much....

[Kevtronn]

I also had all 3 pre-ordered, but went ahead and cancelled 2 of them since I could not find any info on Well Go USA that way I could test one.

[Clark Kent]

With a few exceptions, Blu-ray is proving to be a format that most independent distributors just do not have the resources to release a high quality disc for these cult movies. I expect something like the ruinous 36th Chamber of Shaolin BD.

[Biznob]

I'm delighted to see so many Shaw Brother films coming out, but I will have to wait to see what people think of the transfers.

I'm sure I'll pick them up either way, but if they are not that great I will wait for the prices to drop.

Lets hope they don't mess up the sound.

I'd be satisfied with a 36th Chamber quality transfer... I'm just happy to own these great films!

From what I know "Delightful Forest" is the sequel to "Tiger Killer." Would prefer to see "Tiger Killer" first, but all is well, I suppose.

I also noticed that they are going to release "Brave Archer and his Mate," which is the fourth of a series of Cheh Chang films. I hate seeing them release so many sequels before the originals... I won't be picking that one up.

[DetroitSportsFan]

A little birdie told me that these are delayed to April 27th....

[rich_adamson]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

A little birdie told me that these are delayed to April 27th....

I sure hope not. And if so, why can't they give us more than 0 days notice before the "official" release date?

[Kevtronn]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

A little birdie told me that these are delayed to April 27th....

Was wondering why my Amazon Prime had not kicked in yet...

[DrAndonuts]

Cool, my copies of these 3 just shipped out from Amazon.

[rich_adamson]

Originally Posted by DrAndonuts

Cool, my copies of these 3 just shipped out from Amazon.

Mine too. I am very excited for these, and hope that they are at least better quality than the Dragon Dynasty travesties so far. I locked all 3 of these in back at $11.99 though, so I can't complain all that much.

[Kevtronn]

My copy shipped, I cancelled 2 of them to test one

[Blu Titan]

My copies of Delightful Forest and Heroic Ones shipped. However, Brother's Five has not shipped. We would all love excellent / costly transfers for these great movies, but with all of the variables involved, I don't think it will happen. I have seen hundreds of terrible quality kung fu movies in both DVD and VHS. Funny how people complain about the transfer for The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. I'll take every Kung Fu Shaw Brothers movie if they look like the 36th Chamber.

[DrAndonuts]

So, good and bad news. Good news is that the movies look surprisingly good, considering their age. Bad news is, the Blus are 1080i. Heroic Ones has an English dub and the original Mandarin, Brothers Five has just Mandarin, and Delightful Forest has English and Manadarin.

Overall, I'm pretty happy. This is the best these movies are going to look, and I got them for 12 bucks a pop. I know some people get pissy over 1080i, but the movies look and sound good to me.

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by xradman

With recent 36th Chamber and Killer debacles, I am somewhat hesitant to blind buy these...

What was the 36th Chamber debacle? Is it in 1080i or something?

I thought it looked great and was a fun movie...

[Aristide Massaccesi]

1080i...

I don't understand. I mean, BCI Eclipse managed to release a pretty satisfying 1080p Opium and the Kung-Fu Master. Why can't these companies follow this example?

DrAndonuts, just to be sure, please confirm for me that Delightful Forest also has the mandarin audio + english subs? The DVD afficionado entry for this title says its DUBBED only.

[babaloo]

Originally Posted by SDon1969

I thought it looked great

From who? Dragon Dynasty?

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Funny how people complain about the transfer for The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. I'll take every Kung Fu Shaw Brothers movie if they look like the 36th Chamber.

Agreed. It looks better than I've ever seen it. We can't expect too much with these films. The studios just aren't going to put much effort into them.

[xradman]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Agreed. It looks better than I've ever seen it. We can't expect too much with these films. The studios just aren't going to put much effort into them.

It takes no more effort to encode 1080p24 content than 1080i60. It's just plain incompetence.

[DrAndonuts]

Originally Posted by Aristide Massaccesi

1080i...

I don't understand. I mean, BCI Eclipse managed to release a pretty satisfying 1080p Opium and the Kung-Fu Master. Why can't these companies follow this example?

DrAndonuts, just to be sure, please confirm for me that Delightful Forest also has the mandarin audio + english subs? The DVD afficionado entry for this title says its DUBBED only.

Yep, just popped it in my PS3. It has both tracks.

EDIT: I'm watching Delightful Forest now, and it has a weird pixelization issue in the opening scene and then a minute and half into the movie, but only for a second or two. These discs might be poor if it happens any more.

[DrAndonuts]

OK, Delightful Forest's disc sucks. Weird pixelization issues and it skips/freezes in my PS3 slim. I'd avoid. I'll try and watch the other two this weekend to see if they have the same problems.