Review: Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest, Limited Edition 4K UHD
4K UHD: Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest
- The Big Boss
- Fist of Fury
- Way of the Dragon
- Enter the Dragon
- Game of Death
- Game of Death II
What can I say about Bruce Lee that hasn’t already been said? A martial arts master, a cinematic legend and a pop culture icon, Lee is still just as popular now as he was when he tragically died in 1973 aged just 32.
Arrow Films have put together the ultimate package for Lee fans with this limited edition 4K UHD box set which features various versions of the movies, documentaries, interviews, commentaries and much, much more.
The Big Boss was Lee’s first major step to movie stardom, playing the part of Cheng Chao-an; a man sworn to an oath of non-violence and who gets a job at an ice factory with his cousins, only to discover that workers go missing under mysterious circumstances.
Upon finding out the truth to these disappearances, his vow of non-violence is forgotten as he gets revenge on all those involved.
A change of director part way through filming led to Lee changing roles, with the incoming director and Lee disagreeing over the fight choreography, ultimately leading to Lee not really being given free reign to unleash his martial arts skills until the final act.
With a narrative about workers rising up against their bosses, plus the effect on people when power is given to them (Lee becomes the foreman of the ice factory and is virtually ostracised by his fellow workers), The Big Boss may not be full of martial arts action, but the very presence of Lee onscreen keeps the whole thing very entertaining.
Fist of Fury kicks (no pun intended) things up a notch, upping both the revenge factor and the fighting.
Chen Zen (Lee) comes back to Shanghai for the funeral of his master, but members of the local dojo arrive and start a series of attacks that can only have one outcome…and it isn’t good for them.
Playing more of a central part, Lee’s star shines ever brighter, with the fight choreography really beginning to show his mastery of speed and control, with a nunchucks scene becoming iconic not only through the fight itself, but also becoming a poster that adorned many a persons bedroom wall for many years later.
Now a star in his own right, Lee wrote, directed and starred in Way of the Dragon (originally Return of the Dragon), basing it in Italy and adding a good dollop of humour to the proceedings as well as even more martial arts action, complete with an iconic end of movie fight at the Colosseum against Chuck Norris (who then went on to forge his own successful career in movies).
The narrative is a simple one, with Tang Lung (Lee) arriving in Rome to help his Uncle who owns a restaurant that is being harassed by a local businessman and his goons who want to buy the property so that they can use it as part of a redevelopment plan.
Needless to say, anyone who comes up against one of Lee’s movie characters isn’t going to have the most pleasant of experiences if they piss him off.
Despite being the only Blu-ray movie in the set (a 4K release from Warner Brothers is incoming later this year), Enter the Dragon still holds its own as a complete classic of the genre, and the movie which rocketed Lee into international superstardom, despite his death only 6 days before the movie was released.
Bringing a more western approach to movies, including Hollywood backing, crew and distribution, along with actors John Saxon and Jim Kelly, Enter the Dragon enthralled moviegoers worldwide. If for any reason you’ve never watched it, then I shall say no more…except rectify that as soon as possible.
Before Enter the Dragon, Lee had already began production on his latest movie, once again as writer, director and star. With over an hour of footage already ‘in the can’, this was put on hold while he went off to film Enter the Dragon, never of course knowing that he would never be able to complete it.
However, riding on the success of his latest cinema release, the movie studios wanted to cash in as much as they could and over the following years 2 more ‘Bruce Lee’ movies were released, with Game of Death 1 & 2 using old footage, photographs and body doubles to craft movies that were (while still entertaining in their own way) a shadow of what went before them.
The most well known footage is of course the fight between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with Lee wearing the yellow and black jumpsuit (another image that was immortalised in a poster). Other footage isn’t quite as memorable as it consists of close up reaction shots of his face, and even a picture of his face stuck to a mirror as the body double tries to align himself with it to make it as ‘realistic’ as possible.
While not classic Bruce Lee, these 2 movies are more curiosity pieces (as well as attempted cash cows), but are made ever the more enjoyable thanks to the amazing set of special features that accompany them.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, your appetite for all things Bruce Lee will be satiated with a plethora of hugely entertaining and informative special features, accompanied by some very impressive restoration work making the movies look far better than I’ve ever seen them, with The Big Boss and Fist of Fury looking especially sumptuous.
The Lee inserts into both of the Game of Death movies do of course stand out, but for me that added a peculiar enjoyment of those scenes.
With various versions of the movies and a selection of audio tracks to choose from, the scope for watching these in different ways adds up to a hell of a lot of possible movie watching…and that’s before you even start on those special features.
A ‘must buy’ not only for Bruce Lee fans, but all fans of cinema too.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
LIMITED TEN-DISC UHD/BLU-RAY COLLECTION CONTENTS
- Limited edition packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Tom Ralston
- 200-page hardbound book featuring new writing by Walter Chaw, Henry Blyth, Andrew Staton, Dylan Cheung, David West and James Flower
- Twenty-four lobby card reproductions
- Ten glossy photos of Lee in action
- Reversible poster with vintage quad poster artwork
DISC ONE – THE BIG BOSS (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the 99-minute 1983 version of The Big Boss, newly restored by Arrow Films from the original negative
- Original newly restored lossless Mandarin, English and Cantonese mono audio
- Two English mono options, the standard mix and a Japanese mix with alternate score
- Newly translated English subtitles, plus optional subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing for the English dubs
- Two brand new feature commentaries, one by David Desser and one by Brandon Bentley
- Return to Thailand, a new documentary produced and presented by Matt Routledge exploring the original filming locations
- Newly uncovered deleted and extended scenes, with optional commentary by Bentley
- The Not-Quite-Biggest Boss, a video essay by Bentley investigating the scenes still lost, such as the ‘saw-in-the-head’ scene
- Archive interviews with co-star Lau Wing and stuntman Tung Wai
- Bruce Lee Vs. Peter Thomas, a short video essay about the music for the English version
- Alternate credits sequences
- Trailer gallery, including a ‘Before The Big Boss’ reel and the trailer for lost sequel The Big Boss Part II
- Image gallery
DISC TWO – THE BIG BOSS: THE MANDARIN CUT (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of three alternate versions of The Big Boss with lossless mono audio, newly restored by Arrow Films: the 110-min Mandarin Cut, with restored Mandarin mono; the 100-min English Export Cut, featuring a rare alternate English dub track (some scenes in Mandarin); and the 100-min US Theatrical Cut
- Newly restored English subtitles for the Mandarin Cut
- Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing on both English cuts
- Axis of English, a brand new video essay by Will Offutt profiling the English dubbing actors for The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and The Way of the Dragon
- Unrestored raw scan of the Mandarin Cut (1080p only)
DISC THREE – FIST OF FURY (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible), newly restored by Arrow Films from the original negative
- Alternate ‘English Export Cut’ viewing option with different opening and closing credits via seamless branching
- Original newly restored Mandarin, English and Cantonese mono audio
- Two English mono options, the standard mix and a Japanese mix with alternate music
- Newly translated English subtitles, plus optional subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing on the English dubs
- Two brand new feature commentaries, one by Jonathan Clements and one by Brandon Bentley
- Legend of the Dragon, a newly filmed 80-minute overview of Lee’s life and career by film critic and historian Tony Rayns
- Visions of Fury, a new featurette on Bruce Lee’s collaboration with Golden Harvest and Lo Wei, featuring interviews with co-producer Andre Morgan and martial arts experts Michael Worth, Frank Djeng, John Kreng, Andy Cheng and Bruce Willow
- Archive interviews with co-stars Nora Miao, Riki Hashimoto, Jun Katsumura and Yuen Wah
- Alternate credits sequence
- Trailer gallery, including a Chen Zhen trailer reel
- Image gallery
DISC FOUR – THE WAY OF THE DRAGON (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentations in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible), newly restored by Arrow Films from original film elements, of the Hong Kong Theatrical Cut and the Japanese Cut via seamless branching
- Original newly restored lossless Mandarin, English and Cantonese mono audio on the Hong Kong Theatrical Cut
- Alternate lossless English mono audio on the Japanese Cut
- Optional newly translated English subtitles
- Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing on both English audio options
- Two brand new feature commentaries, one by Frank Djeng & Michael Worth and one by Brandon Bentley
- The Way of the Camera, a new documentary looking at Lee’s filmmaking and fighting method in his directorial debut, featuring interviews with Golden Harvest producer Andre Morgan, martial arts experts Michael Worth, Jon Kreng, Andy Cheng, Frank Djeng, David Yeung, film historian Courtney Joyner and actors Piet (Peter) Schweer, Jon Benn and John Saxon
- Meet the Italian Beauty, a newly filmed interview with star Malisa Longo
- The Scottish Soldier Meets the Dragon, a newly filmed interview with on-set observer John Young
- Newly recorded select scene commentary by ‘thug’ actor Piet Schweer
- Archive interviews with co-stars Jon Benn, Bob Wall and Hwang In-shik and production managers Chaplin Chang and Louis Sit
- Trailer gallery, including a Bruceploitation trailer reel
- Image gallery
DISC FIVE – ENTER THE DRAGON (BLU-RAY)
- 40th Anniversary Special Edition Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Home Video
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of the extended 1998 Special Edition of the film
- 5.1 DTS-HD Surround English audio, plus additional audio options in Russian, Castilian, French, German, Italian, Polish and Latin Spanish
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, plus subtitles for other languages
- Feature commentary by writer Michael Allin and producer Paul Heller
- Featurettes: No Way As Way, Wing Chun: The Art that Introduced Kung Fu to Bruce Lee, Return to Han’s Island, Blood and Steel: The Making of ‘Enter the Dragon’, Bruce Lee: In His Own Words, Backyard Workout with Bruce
- The Curse of the Dragon documentary
- Interviews with Linda Lee Cadwell
- 1973 archive featurette Hong Kong with ‘Enter the Dragon’
- Theatrical trailers and TV spots
DISC SIX – GAME OF DEATH (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentations in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible), newly restored by Arrow Films from original film elements, of the international cut and the Japanese cut via seamless branching
- Original newly restored English mono audio on both cuts
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Brand new feature commentary by Brandon Bentley & Mike Leeder
- The Song I’m Singing Tomorrow, a newly filmed interview with star Colleen Camp
- Deleted and extended scenes from the Chinese-language versions of the film, including two alternate endings (contains some standard-definition material)
- Archive interviews with co-stars Dan Inosanto and Bob Wall
- Behind-the-scenes footage as featured in Bruce Lee: The Legend
- Rare pre-production sales featurette from 1976 with new commentary by Michael Worth and producer Andre Morgan
- Fight scene dailies directed by Sammo Hung
- Locations featurette from 2013
- Trailer gallery, including Bruceploitation and ‘Robert Clouse at Golden Harvest’ trailer reels
- Image gallery
DISC SEVEN – GAME OF DEATH: ALTERNATE VERSIONS (BLU-RAY)
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of the Chinese version of the film
- Original lossless Mandarin and Cantonese mono audio
- Newly translated optional English subtitles
- Archive interview with Casanova Wong from 2001 on his relationship with Sammo Hung, and Lee’s influence on him
- Two alternate Cantonese and Mandarin versions of the film in High Definition via seamless branching, with different credits, ending and reinstated Ji Han-jae fight (contains some standard-definition material)
- Archive featurettes on Lee’s life and impact: The Hong Kong Connection, Bruce Lee Remembered, Legacy of the Dragon, Dragon Rising and The Grandmaster & The Dragon, featuring interviews with Hung, Donnie Yen, William Cheung and many others
- Archive interviews with Robert Lee, Phoebe Lee, Pat Johnson, George Lee, Gene LeBell, Van Williams, Joe Torrenueva, Jeff Imada, Linda Palmer, Fred Weintraub, Tom Kuhn, Paul Heller and James Lew
DISC EIGHT – GAME OF DEATH: BONUS DISC (BLU-RAY)
- The Final Game of Death, a brand new three-hour video essay by Arrow Films that incorporates a new 2K restoration of all two hours of Lee’s original dailies from a recently-discovered interpositive
- Game of Death: Revisited, an earlier attempt to reconstruct Lee’s original vision from 2001
- Super 8 footage from 1974 of Dan Inosanto demonstrating the nunchaku
- Brief archival interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from 1976
- Image gallery
DISC NINE – GAME OF DEATH II (BLU-RAY)
- Brand new 2K restoration of the International Cut of the film titled Game of Death II by Arrow Films from original film elements
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of Game of Death II as well as the Hong Kong Theatrical Cut titled Tower of Death (contains some standard-definition material)
- Original lossless English mono audio on Game of Death II
- Original lossless Cantonese, Mandarin and English mono audio on Tower of Death
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing on Game of Death II, and optional newly translated English subtitles on Tower of Death
- Brand new feature commentary by Frank Djeng & Michael Worth, co-producers of Enter the Clones of Bruce
- Archive interview with co-star Roy Horan
- Alternate Korean version with unique footage, presented in High Definition with original lossless mono audio and newly translated English subtitles
- Alternate US video version in High Definition with lossless English mono audio, via seamless branching
- Alternate end credits sequence for Game of Death II
- Trailer gallery
- Image gallery
DISC TEN – DOCUMENTARIES (BLU-RAY)
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend (1973) and Bruce Lee: The Legend (1984)
- Original lossless Mandarin mono audio for The Man & The Legend, and lossless English mono audio for both films
- Newly translated optional English subtitles for The Man & The Legend, and subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing for both films
- Alternate video version of The Legend, featuring different editing and credits (standard definition only)
- Archive video of a tour of Golden Harvest Studios conducted in the mid-1990s by Russell Cawthorne, writer of Bruce Lee: The Legend
- Alternate animated Hong Kong credits for Enter the Dragon
- Trailers and image gallery for both films
Review by Dave from discs kindly supplied by Arrow Films via Fetch Publicity.