God of Gamblers (1989) (88 Films) - 20th March 2023

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by russweiss1

I was happy to see Wild Search and Seventh Curse get released. Now we get God of Gamblers. It's a start. Germany is releasing some titles as well like City on Fire and Tiger on Beat but I don't know what kind of quality they are.

1. Bad quality (Old masters (CITY ON FIRE is an SD upscale) covered with fake grain.

2. Illegal bootlegs.

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by Jackie Scanlon

I've been saying it for years, but we need a Ringo Lam On Fire set (except Sky On Fire) given the 88 or Eureka treatment.

Tiger On Beat would be awesome as well, maybe with the second one (which has a few moments) as an extra.

It's not gonna happen any time soon. Those are Cinema City licenses and therefore stuck in rights limbo.

And to make it absolutely clear (again): every title from the Cinema City and/or Golden Princess catalogue that is released in Germany at the time is a bootleg. They don't have any rights to those titles although Spannick (who is behind those releases) does not get tired to claim otherwise.

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by The Mole

It's not gonna happen any time soon. Those are Cinema City licenses and therefore stuck in rights limbo.

And to make it absolutely clear (again): every title from the Cinema City and/or Golden Princess catalogue that is released in Germany at the time is a bootleg. They don't have any rights to those titles although Spannick (who is behind those releases) does not get tired to claim otherwise.

And your proof?

[Pochacco]

I picked up the LE of City on Fire (No #032) from Nova Media back in their sale earlier in the year. They tend to be my go-to if I need to fill any gaps.

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by Killer Meteor

And your proof?

The international rights are not available. Not in Germany not anywhere outside of Asia. The rights that Atlas International had, fell back to Golden Princess successor Kowloon Development years ago. So they cannot sell any licences to those titles either.

If you look at the Mediabooks closely you will notice that they don't contain any hint to the label(s) that released them.

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by spannick

it's no use, Dannyboy won't stop his lunacy, he's possessed. He claimed HIGH RISK from Shamrock was a rip of the JP Blu in other forums, and he's after me for some reason. Lunatic stalker.

1. I'm not Dannyboy.

2. I never claimed the German release of HIGH RISK was a blu-ray rip. I assumed (!) it was using a master produced in Japan because blurring private parts is common in Japan and HIGH RISK was first released on Blu-ray in JAPAN. I was wrong in this case and I admitted it after being corrected.

@ chen lung: I won't edit my post. Those German releases of Cinema City / Golden Princess titles are bootlegs. Period.

[Markgway]

I think there's only one man diabolical enough to be behind all these bootlegs!

[Show spoiler]

[Mr. Chaverria]

Originally Posted by Markgway

I think there's only one man diabolical enough to be behind all these bootlegs!

[Show spoiler]

That son of a *****.

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by Markgway

I think there's only one man diabolical enough to be behind all these bootlegs!

[Show spoiler]

James Tien looks like those memes showing Leonardo DiCaprio morphing into Jack Nicholson.

[chen lung]

The funny thing is, James Tien’s character is in pursuit of a film negative.

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by chen lung

The funny thing is, James Tien’s character is in pursuit of a film negative.

Probably looking for that saw-in-the-head scene from THE BIG BOSS...

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by Killer Meteor

Probably looking for that saw-in-the-head scene from THE BIG BOSS...

So he can burn it...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by Markgway

So he can burn it...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Given Tien's known jealousy of Bruce...yeah, I can totally see that happening.

[chen lung]

I wasn’t aware of jealousy between him and Bruce, though they would appear in three films together.

Anyway, ‘God of Gamblers’!

For a long time, I was under the impression (as were others) that the international version on the MIA DVD was shorter, but it’s actually not missing anything in comparison to its Hong Kong counterpart (I can only assume the transfer on Disc 1 was a standards conversion, retaining its NTSC speed). I wonder who specifically administered the rights at the time and provided such masters.

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by chen lung

I wasn’t aware of jealousy between him and Bruce, though they would appear in three films together.

Apparently it is the reason he refused to give career interviews.

[Markgway]

If there was any animosity it must've been one way as Lee cast Tien in Game of Death.

It's possible that Tien became more resentful as time went on and his own career as a leading man fizzled out.

Sammo would know. Someone should ask him on his next interview.

[Pochacco]

Originally Posted by chen lung

I wasn’t aware of jealousy between him and Bruce, though they would appear in three films together.

Anyway, ‘God of Gamblers’!

For a long time, I was under the impression (as were others) that the international version on the MIA DVD was shorter, but it’s actually not missing anything in comparison to its Hong Kong counterpart (I can only assume the transfer on Disc 1 was a standards conversion, retaining its NTSC speed). I wonder who specifically administered the rights at the time and provided such masters.

I wrongly assumed that the International version was shorter on the MIA DVD because of the 5-minute difference, and I never bothered to watch Disc 2 at all

In any case I'm excited to see what this release will bring, not only in superior PQ and sound but extras too. The last 2 years I'd been deliberating over the NOVA release but glad I didn't cave in. I recently sold off the MIA DVD to help fund this 88 release (but it looks like I'll be holding onto my Return of GoG DVD a while longer).

[Shingster]

I'm sure Tien just got sick and tired of his career being largely defined by his working relationship with Bruce Lee, would do the heads in of most performers who had a career as long and varied as his. Whatyagonnado though? It's Bruce frigging Lee. His fans are like Beatles fans in that they seem obsessed with making sure all the focus and credit for everything ever created or done within the artist's respective industry is focussed on that one obsessive megastar.

[chen lung]

Originally Posted by Pochacco

In any case I'm excited to see what this release will bring, not only in superior PQ and sound but extras too. The last 2 years I'd been deliberating over the NOVA release but glad I didn't cave in.

Also the subtitles, which were pretty dreadful.

I recently sold off the MIA DVD to help fund this 88 release (but it looks like I'll be holding onto my Return of GoG DVD a while longer).

At least they remastered them for 'Return'.

I don't recall MIA ever doing optional subtitles; I'm not sure if it was due to costs or technical restraints, but it's a bit of a drag, to say the least.

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by chen lung

I don't recall MIA ever doing optional subtitles; I'm not sure if it was due to costs or technical restraints, but it's a bit of a drag, to say the least.

In some cases they did. Especially for their later anamorphic releases like THE HUNTRESS, WILD SEARCH or THE DUEL. Image quality was awful every time nevertheless. They took the age old non anamorphic masters they had already used for VHS and just blew them up anamorphically.