GENERAL DISCLAIMER

All the pics displayed in this blogs are from the author's private collection or just snapshots from his private movie collection. Whenever I use another web's or person's pics, it will be always mentioned.
Feel free to use the information or pics showed but please ask for permission or just remember to add the source wherever you use them. THANKS

Todas las fotos mostradas en este blog pertenecen a la colección privada del autor o son capturas de las películas de la misma colección. En caso de usar material de otra persona o web, siempre será mencionada su procedencia.
La información y/o fotos de este blog están a disposición de cualquiera, pero por favor pidan permiso para usarlas o al menos indiquen su procedencia. GRACIAS

viernes 3 de septiembre de 2010

El escuadron de los ninjas según Churri

Hace unos meses, por puros celos, ya que se había hecho colaborador del blog de mi buen amigo Emilio, http://emisucio.wordpress.com/, le pedi a Churri, un amigote de www.zinemahk.org que para compensarme me tendría que escribir ,al menos, una reseña de alguna peli de ninjas de la IFD o la Filmark. El muy cabrito no se ha mojado del todo y en lugar de elegir una de las gamberradas de corta y pega de Tomas Tang, ha elegido una de Lo Rei que fue distribuida a todo el mundo por la Filmark International.

Churri no es fanático del género ( más bien subgenero) ninja y por lo tanto sus apreciacoiones son mucho más objetivas que las que yo pudiese dar sobre la misma película y esto hace que su aportación a este blog sea algo muy valioso ya que mi pasión por estas cintas a veces me pierden y la subjetividad no me deja ver los errores de mi adorado Godfrey Ho.

Señoras y señores, con ustedes EL ESCUADRÓN DE LOS NINJAS según Churri:




Si el buen comienzo de una película la vende, de ésta ya no quedarían, pues es demoledor. John, un ninja (un pletórico Alexander Lo Rei, el ninja más habitual y completo, con Sho Kosugui), blanco (luego es “bueno”) recorre cauto un bosque que hierve de ninjas armados hasta la capucha, y en menos de un minuto aniquila con desdeñosa facilidad a media docena de ninjas entrenados para matar. Ahora, busca a un gran maestro. Ninja, claro, al que acecha en una efectiva escena. Tras una lucha intensísima, comprendemos que el maestro pudo matarlo de haber querido. Las luchas eran una prueba de iniciación, el paso del ninja a la maestría,..
Ahora vemos que John y Spencer (Eugene Thomas, hábil luchador negro, el célebre “Monje negro de Harlem” en la alucinante Ninja Shaolin duelo final) son polis, violentos y grandes expertos en la lucha. El futuro suegro de John inventa una cura radical contra la drogadicción, y el Jefe de los multicolores Ninjas De Los Cinco Elementos, tan letales como John, la desea. John es encerrado y torturado, y su torturador amenaza a Nancy, novia de John. Éste, colérico, lucha contra docenas de policías, arrasa media comisaría y escapa… John, cual Rambo con arco y todo, es perseguido hasta un bosque que convierte en trampa letal, los ninjas polícromos secuestran al Profesor y su familia. John llega al rescate y los combates contra los ninjas teñidos son fantásticos. Alexander es un luchador extraordinario, su capacidad marcial inmensa y exponerse a una de sus demoledoras patadas es letal. La lucha alcanza un nivel intensísimo, y John es dado erróneamente por muerto...
Un hecho inesperado depara una nueva lucha impactante, John prepara venganza y arsenal y corre hacia el ninjachalet. Hay una lucha generalizada y los vecinos de la tranquila urbanización al ver a los ninjas polícromos intentando masacrar al ninja blanco, fijo que buscan la calma en la zona más belicosa de Harlem… y vemos cuán útiles son las célebres katanas ninjas submarinas...
Al fin, el Señor Ninja lucha con John y Spencer en un combate terrible, prolongado, extraordinario e intensísimo, pródigo en todo tipo de exhibiciones marciales a cargo de tres grandes maestros, donde el pérfido ninja iguala a John. Es demoledor, su técnica de pierna impactante y no lucha con nobleza, y...

Las películas de la Filmark no pasarán a la historia del cine. Carecen de la grandeza de Operación Dragón, la épica de Érase una vez en China o la belleza y poesía de Tigre y dragón, por ejemplo. Sus actores no ganarían un premio de interpretación y jamás las nominarían al Oscar al mejor guión, ni lo pretendían. ¿Qué provoca entonces su tremenda adicción?. Es sencillo: Son tan perdurables, recordadas y disfrutables por lo infernalmente divertidas que son, pues lo tienen todo para pasar un buen rato.
El Escuadrón ninja cumple todas las premisas de la Filmark: Guión absurdo, hilo común para enlazar frenéticas escenas de acción, situaciones hilarantes (el ninja de la Tierra se hunde en ésta y surge ¡en pañales!, bueno, con un ninjacalzoncillo, elemento risible del que ignoro su razón), ninjas con poderes sobrehumanos, colores que marcan la catadura de los actores, subtramas que se inician y abandonan, mujeres florero, y a los adoradores de las bandas sonoras les enloquecerá… ¡No hay ni un minuto original, todo robos!...
Pero también supera a la media: Sus actores son grandes luchadores, en especial Alexander, que cada vez nos sorprende con una técnica más depurada, y, sobre todo, sus luchas, el plato fuerte de la película, sin insertos de luchas de otras, algo usual en Filmark. Aquí sólo luchan John, Spencer, los ninjas teñidos y su pérfido Jefe, y son combates extraordinarios, de un nivel técnico impactante, que roza la excelencia en las tremendas luchas realizadas por Alex, un guerrero realmente memorable. Tenía clase para llegar muy alto éste desaprovechado campeón de Taekwondo, y protagonizar algo más que sus sempiternos papeles ninja, pues su técnica es enorme, su estilo de lucha espectacular y efectivo, demoledor sin duda en combate real, y aunque sus muchas películas como ninja le hicieron muy popular, la mediocridad de muchas de éstas, a la larga, le perjudicó grandemente. ¿Y qué?, ésta película es, a su modo, memorable, logra cotas de diversión inigualables, la seguimos con una gran sonrisa en los labios... y cuando acaba, somos conscientes de que hemos disfrutado como niños… ¿No es eso lo que buscábamos?. En efecto, no íbamos a ver Muerte en Venecia…



A ver si se anima y dentro de poco podemos disfrutar de otra reseña similar!

Caratulas españolas de peliculas de Ninjas/ Spanish art covers from Ninja movies

A juzgar por la cantidad de peliculas editadas en España, la IFD y la Filmark debieron hacer su Agosto en los mercados videográficos de nuestro pais. Dejamos aqui algunas de las caratulas de video que podiamos encontrar en nuestros videoclubs hace unos 25 años.

IFD & Filmark may have done very profitable bussiness in Spain during the Golden Age of VHS format. Hundreds of different art covers, some holding the same titles conquered our video rental shops 25 years ago.

Ninja Knight Thunderfox es uno de mis titulos favoritos a pesar de que los ninjas hacen poco acto de presencia, pero Mike Abbott tiene como villano un carisma especial que reparte en todas sus escenas.

Ninja Knight Thunderfox is one of my favourite titles from IFD. There is only a short scene with ninjas but Mike Abbott's screen presence & his villain role steals the show in every shot he is on screen.


Ninja commandments es un plato algo durillo de digerir si uno no esta acostumbrado a lo que entienden en la IFD por diversion. Las escenas ninjas son tan entretenidas como las de cualquier titulo de la casa, pero la peli de relleno es un dramón insufrible de la Elsa Yeung que parece que fuese escrito por David Bustamante durante su estancia en OT.

Ninja commandments is a hard to digest course if you are not aware about IFD ways. I mean, the ninja scenes are superb as always but the taiwanese drama starring Elsa Yeung is tooo emotive & dramatic for someone who is just looking for some ninja fun.

Ninja Destroyer es el primero de los dos titulos que rodó Godfrey Ho con Bruce Baron tras la retirada de Richard Harrison. En este film como en otros de la misma etapa se nota que Ho ya estaba cansado de Lai y la peli a pesar de estar entretenida no tiene el gancho de las que por ejemplo hizo Harrison ni la gracia de las que protagonizó Mike Abbott.

Ninja Destroyer is one of the two titles Godfrey Ho directed starring Bruce Baron after Richard Harrison left IFD. In this film we can notice Ho was already tired of Lai's impositions. It is a funny movie, indeed but it lacks something that was present on the ones starred by Harrison & it is not so funny as the ones starred by Mike Abbott.

Destructor Ninja...uuufff, a ver , a ver como explicamos esto: la caratula tiene la ficha técnica y la sinopsis de Clash of the ninjas que supuestamente no se editó en España, pero al meter la cinta en el reproductor nos encontramos con El Campo de la muerte, es decir, otra peli de ninjas de la Filmark pero con distinto equipo técnico-artistico. Lo que sigo preguntandome a dia de hoy es si Clash of the ninjas llegó a editarse en nuestro pais. Si alguien la tiene en español que avise, por fa!

Destructor Ninja...let's see how to explain this case. The art cover includes the credits & synopsis from Clash of the ninjas but when we played it we found Ninja in the killing fields, another ninja movie from Filmark. The question is: Was clash of the ninjas ever edited in Spain on tape??? After years looking for it, I haven't got any clue. If someone has a spanish dubbed tape of it, please contact me!

martes 31 de agosto de 2010

Other movies shot on or around Signal Hill Garden

Signall Hill was undoubtely a nice place to shoot. It didn't matter it was in one of the most crowded areas of Kowloon, its location was not too aware for the tourists who wander in Tsim Tsa Tsui. It wasn't only used by IFD & Filmark filming crews, bigger productions from more powerful & stronger companies also went to this place to shoot many of their movies there.

Lau Kar Leung & his brother Lau Kar Ying must have thought the same & few time later the shoot in Signal Hill Garden an action comedy titled THE MERRY SOULS starring Yuen Biao & Eric Tsang.
The ninjas arrived first

Then Lau Kar Ying came

There is no questions Signal Hill Garden was also a character in the movies thatb used it as location

Also other productions from the past showed us some views of Signal Hill in the background or bird's view from the location.

Bruce Le in Challenge of the Tiger, a movie that included Richard Harrison & Donald Kong in the cast. Interesting, right?

Ronnie Yu's directorial debut SAVIOUR, gave us a bird's view of Signal Hill at the end of the 70's.

Signal Hill Garden is a quiet place & a must to visit for all the Hong Kong movies lovers who may run in Hong Kong for tourism or bussiness. The place keeps today the same buildings & surroundings that it had 25 years ago when all these movies were shot there.

The ninjas who came from Signal Hill Garden ( Part 3)

Signal Hill Garden, as we have seen, was used by IFD technicians during the shooting of some ninja movies such as Ninja Dragon & Diamond Ninja Force, then it would not be a surprise to guess Filmark International used these locations as well.

If IFD shot its ninja movies in Signal Hill, Filmark that was always some steps back to IFD did the same & then moved to this location to shoot Silver Dragon Ninja, but I would like to study some facts around this singular production.

Sometime back in 1986, Godfrey Ho directed Ninja Dragon a movie whose action director was Donal Kong Do who was also an the main villain in Diamond Ninja Force. Both movies had some ninja shots in Signal Hill Garden so when Donal Kong shot the ninja scenes of SILVER DRAGON NINJA for Tomas Tang's Filmark International, he went back to these gardens located in the very heart of Tsim Tsa Tsui to shoot most of the ninja content for Silver Dragon Ninja that was a re-edited & updated version of a filipino-chinese co-production entitled KILLER COP ( THE TRAP)starred by Pai Ying & Tsang Kong among other actors came from kung fu movies.

White ninja VS an army of useless black ninjas at the doors of Signal Hill tower

The same location 25 years later, there are no ninjas but the surroundings has no changes at all

Donald Kong Do not only used the same Signal Hill Garden for his movie, he also used Paulo Tocha who worked with Donald in Ninja Dragon credited as Bruce Stallion and playing the main villain against Richard Harrison.

It's time for ninja hunting

It's time for locations hunting

Hong Kong was always a main headquaters for ninja illegal trades in Filmark movies

A nice place to visit if you love Hong Kong trashy ninja movies

The building in the background is The New World Center

If we climb to Signal Hill, we will check the building hasn't change a bit in the last 25 years.

Silver Dragon Ninja, apart from its locations had more things to do that linked itselft to other productions from different companies. I mean Silver Dragon Ninja casted Eric Neff, a black guy with excellent skills as the hero friend & Pedro Ernyes as the leader of the bad black ninjas. Neff & Ernyes were casted together to star NINJA VS NINJA, an Ocean Shores attempt to imitate Filmark working conditions. Both, Neff & Ernyes reprised the roles they played in Silver Dragon Ninja.



Does anyone knows if there exist a widescreen edition of this Silver Dragon Ninja???? All the editions I have found are fullscreen & the british edition is even cut during some erotic moments.

martes 13 de julio de 2010

The Ninjas who came from Signal Hill Garden (Part 2)

Signal Hill Garden, as we saw in the last entry, was an strategy point in Tsim Tsa Tsui used for shooting movies dued to its locations. I mean it is located in an exremely crowded area but hidden enough to shoot with no disturbance. Even today, if you go to Signal Hill Garden, you will not find too much people around.


IFD not only filmed there the final showdown of Ninja Dragon but also some scenes from Diamond Ninja Force, the Golden Ninja Warrior second chapter. It is a short scene where actor Pierre Tremblay is practising his skills & suddenly is attacked by Richard Harrison as we can see in the screenshots below.

The cannons aiming to Victoria Harbour & the New World Center Building

Your gun is useless, only a ninja can kill a ninja

You are gonna to die, Pierre Tremblay

I put my digital camera in the same position, trying to catch the Diamond Ninja Force's spirit!



You can see the whole shot from minute 5:18 to 6:40

More to Come!!!!

lunes 5 de julio de 2010

The Ninjas who came from Signal Hill Garden (Part 1)

Diamond Ninja Force, Ninja Dragon & Silver Dragon Ninja were some of the very first ninja movies from IFD & Filmark that arrived to my hands and they are also the 3 titles I re-watched more times ( altogether with Filmark's Ninja Phantom Hero Usa & Vampire Raiders Ninja Queen) along the years. As I stated before, these titles are favourite ones dued to they arrived to me when i was just a tender teenager.

Ninja Dragon's Final Showdown impressed me a lot the first time I saw it!!!!

But what do they have in common? Diamond Ninja Force & Ninja Dragon are from IFD while Silver Dragon Ninja is from Filmark. There are 2 answers/ reasons for just one question. First, Ninja Dragon & Silver Dragon Ninja were starred by the one PAULO TOCHA hidden by some surrealistic pseudonyms such as Bruce Stallion in Ninja Dragon & Harry Caine in Silver Dragon Ninja

The entrance to Signal Hill Garden shot by my camera for my Hong Kong Filming Locations Documentary (this is only a screenshot from video...it is not a raccord failure)

The second answer is related to the location were both 3 movies were shot in Signal Hill Garden in Tsim Tsa Tsui,an oft-ignored area of the district that has a hilly park with nice views of the surrounding area, and that has a lighthouse of sorts that used to signal the onset of oncoming storms and typhoons plus a chinese pagoda in a square plaza.

Signal Hill Lighthouse is seldom watchable from Tsim Tsa Tsui grounds due to the vegetation aorund the hill

These elements that mix Asian & Western style architecture were perfect in those movies who used western people as asian killers.But let's compare some screenshots from those movies & some video / photos taken by me.

NINJA DRAGON FINAL FIGHT

See those Cannons looking at Victoria Harbour surrounded by metal benches, we can notice Hong Kong Cultural Center & the museums around were being built at time this movie was shot.


The Cannons are not longer there but we still can find the benches.

At one moment of Ninja Dragon, we see SHERATON HOTEL behind Richard Harrison

The same shot was taken by my digital video camera when I visited Signal Hill Garden for very first time at the begining of 2002

Signal Hill has something special, once you are there, you can feel it. I don't know how to explain that sensation. All Hong Kong is like a huge movie plateau, but there are certain places that had some kind of magic. Signal Hill is one of those places.


Few seconds before Richard Harrison killed Paulo Tocha, we can see this gorgeous pose in Ninja Dragon.

I tried to put my camera in the same place Godfrey Ho put his.




Coming soon, more pics & screenshots of Diamond ninja Force, Silver Dragon ninja & other movies shot in Signal Hill Garden or around the place.

sábado 3 de julio de 2010

Locations, Locations, Locations

The main idea I had before I started this blog was to dedicate it exclusively to the filming locations used by IFD & Filmark crews. My good friend Yoshi Yasuda did a great site dedicated to the filming locations in Spain used in Spaguetti westerns. You can visit him at http://garringo.cool.ne.jp/ get amazed studying his work about the locations. Sadly, I am not so professional nor so good working with a computer, but I would like to imitate him offering pics & screenshots about the places where Joseph Lai's & Tomas Tang's shot their productions along the years.


a screenshot from IFD's Scorpion Thunderbolt shot in 1984 / 1985

It is obvious my original idea for this blog is not longer on my mind, since I also decided to search information about the western actor woh worked for both companies, the source movies used in the cut & paste ninja / war / thriller experiments...etc.
But during this July, all the entries would be dedicated to the Filming locations.
I hope you, dear visitors & friends, like & enjoy them so much as I did when I walked all around hong Kong looking those places.


Same place in 2008

I would like to add many of these locations used by IFD & Filmark that I will post during the following days /weeks, were used as well by major companies & these places can be seen & recognized in bigger productions. So, if you love travelling, next time you stop in hong Kong, you may try the "cinema tourism" visiting the locations used in dozen of films from A-grade to Z-grade.