8mm Forum: WHy ther are more 8mm Martial Arts in Germany but not in other Europe?

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Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on April 12, 2009, 12:02 PM:

I happened to visit Ebay.de and found ther are abundant source of Kung Fu movies in 8mm. Not only the well known artist like Bruce Lee, but also Chen Lung (then converted to be Jackie Chan nowadays)and some other B-artists.

How can German companies released that many, while other European countries did not? I found that UK only have BRuce Lee (and that's also very few).

Was it because a different taste between the people? what baout now?

thanks for enlightening me,

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 12, 2009, 01:34 PM:

Winbert,

I think your right on target. Blackhawk's originators, for instance, had a great fondness for trains, so they released a seemingly endless slew of great train films.

I wouldn't be surprised if many of those martial arts films were released by the same film company.

Of course, in Asian circles, I'm sure there are many a rare martial arts films.

Which reminds me, wasn't "Enter the Dragon" released either as a 4X400ft scope or full feature in Super 8 scope? I seem to remember that being so.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on April 12, 2009, 01:59 PM:

Kung Fu and sex movies were big in germany in the 70's so they were obviously well represented on super 8mm there,here in the UK we were pretty poorly served with only a handfull of releases such as BRUCE LEE-THE MAN THE MYTH which starred Bruce Li,KUNG FU KILLERS from Mountan and a trailer for THE BIG BOSS in flat/scope versions from Derann.

Yes ENTER THE DRAGON was released as a 4 x 400ft version by Columbia and also in a scope bootleg f/l version in Germany.

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on April 12, 2009, 03:26 PM:

Enter the Dragon and also Way of the Dragon were both available in bootlegged versions. I was offered them once and I declined. Andreas once told me that the copies of both were very bad.

Posted by Eberhard Nuffer (Member # 410) on April 13, 2009, 08:57 AM:

I have wondered many times about the choice and length of Super 8 movies that were released here in Germany.
Indeed, there were a lot of Kung Fu- and sex films in 2x400' and 3x400' editions, whereas many more repeatable movie classics were just offered as 400'-digests. Presumably, in many cases the main reason for the length of an edition may have been contractual issues.
A longer running time could have been very helpful for the original "Casino Royale" (1966) or for epics like "Lawrence of Arabia" (of which Piccolo made their own 400'-cut down) and "The Bridge on the River Kwai", that have a sophisticated story to tell.
Compared to this, two or three 400ft-reels seem a lot for films that contain nothing but a couple of fights or nude girls. I can't even imagine who was willing to pay between 300 and 450 D-Marks - which was quite a lot of money in the 1970's! - for these two- or three reel cutdowns of mostly cheap and bad movies.

By the way - all of the big releasing companies in Germany - Piccolo, UFA and Marketing - and also the smaller ones such as CMV had quite a number of these martial arts and soft sex films in their catalogues.

P.S.: Alan:
The original Bruce Lee classics "Enter the Dragon" and "Way of the Dragon" were as well officially available from UFA in 4x400ft editions as were "Fist of Fury", "Big Boss" and the posthumously finished "Game of Death".

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on April 14, 2009, 02:16 PM:

The reason why there were so many Kung Fu/Softcore Sex movies released in Germany is simple-the cheap cost in buying the rights from homegrown distributors for these type of movies was far cheaper than obtaining the rights for the latest hollywood blockbuster,simple economics really.

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on April 14, 2009, 02:26 PM:

I own the "Game of Death", "Fist of Fury", and "Way of the Dragon" german titles. But strangely enough the "Game of Death" copy has held up well colorwise but my "Way of the Dragon" is turning pinkish!

Posted by Dave Cragg (Member # 401) on April 14, 2009, 04:29 PM:

I have the 4 x 400ft 'Enter the Dragon' in English, as well as the 4 x 400ft 'Fist of Fury' which had been dubbed into English, as well as the other Bruce Lee films in German.
i'd love to get these in English and, if possible, full length.

Dave

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on April 14, 2009, 05:50 PM:

I had a little go at collecting Bruce Lee, but fear they were all abridged, i was going to try and pulse sync an English soundtrack on, but found out that there was a limit to my patients, about 10 seconds. [Frown]

Chris.

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on April 14, 2009, 10:55 PM:

Not only are they abridged but many of the scenes are cut strangely. I tried to do the English versions as well and every 10 seconds as you said Chris, the scene would change. Now I just listen to Bruce in German. At least the yells are in English! (i think!)

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 549) on April 15, 2009, 01:15 AM:

They were popular in Australia, not unusual given the large Asian influence here.

Jackie Chan in particular, did you know he grew up here in Canberra?!

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on April 15, 2009, 06:40 AM:

I have the 4 x 400 foot Bruce Lee film "The Chinese Connection", from UFA. Yes, it was VERY TOUGH editing this one. At one point, I had wished that I would have left it German language, but I was "in too deep" at that point, so I finished it. Its a good mini-feature, with all the classic scenes included.

I also have "The Drunken Master", starring Jackie Chan (UFA). That one was easier to dub.

James.

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on April 15, 2009, 08:37 AM:

Guys,

I am happy to know that some of you have succeeded to dub it to english.

For a purpose of others can we share the edited english sound by placing them in free storage website?

And also if this idea can be more developed to have our common library for re-dubbing soundtrack of many movies, not only Foreign languages to English (vv) but also English to English for those want to have stereo soundtrack for their diggests

www.4shared.com can be used for this maater.

What do you think?
cheers

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on April 15, 2009, 08:12 PM:

Winbert,
A great idea, but could it work?
Once you have copied your dub to say MP3 or even a hard copy, then you surley have no pulse to sync to, do you??? [Confused]

This could go well above my head. [Frown]

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