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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.
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domingo, 25 de septiembre de 2011

Ninja Knight Thunderfox Rough Ending...but What then?

I am used to spend too much time reading opinions & reviews of IFD movies in internet. I really enjoy them, even when the reviewer hasn't even seen the movie he is writing about or when he has just seen only one movie but he has the "right" to give the same value to all Joseph Lai's catalog. But I still have to recognice some ( well, many) reviews that complain about some ( well, many is the correct word again) aspects of IFD movies are well-unfounded.

A good sample of those bad aspects found in some IFD movies is the rough ending in titles such as Ninja The Protector, where Richard Harrison after defeating the evil chubby ninja says: " I am the Champion of the ninjas" & leaves the place in a cocky way and THE END in big letters appears in your screen. Then your brain starts to think about what's wrong... Similar cases are the endings of Rage of a ninja & speacially Ninja Knight Thunderfox.

A nice still pic taken during the shooting of Ninja Knight Thunderfox courtesy of Mike Abbott!

When I met Mike Abbott in Hong Kong in Feb 2009 for an interview he told me these words: "At the end of THUNDERFOX I die by having a sword thrown into my chest.They filled four bags full of different coloured powders and put them inside my ninja suite and then exploded them as the sword hit my chest"

His words can be checked in the following video about the final duel & ending of Ninja Knight Thunderfox



The ending of the movie is maybe the roughtest ifd ending along with Rage of the ninja ( also starred by Mike Abbott & Marko Ritchie). So the question I do in the post title gets its meaning at this point. THEN WHAT? What happened after Mike Abbott got the blade into his chest and he exploded without any logical reason? we got the answer from Mike Abbott with the following picture!
This is the result when you are a ninja & you get a sword into your chest

THANKS TO MIKE ABBOTT, one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life & a true gentleman despite he always played a villain in Hong Kong movies!

sábado, 24 de septiembre de 2011

Good ninjas enjoy superb music (part 2)

The last post showed us how Stephen Tsang, music supervisor at IFD, used in a perfect way new age & progressive rock themes on most ninja movies produced by Joseph Lai. IFD was very innovative in this way because most of kung fu movies from the previous years used "can music" or they just "borrowed" some tunes from Morricone & other italian composers who made us happy with their creations for the famous spaguetti westerns.

IFD offered modern fashionable movies using old source movies ( what a paradox!!!!) containing western actors & the newest music of that time. We can tell IFD movies were Post-modern movies & Joseph Lai was a visionary & extremely smart producer.

Here you can enjoy some more examples how IFD knew how to choose the best music for its modern ninja movies.

Ninja Operation 5: Godfather the Master ( aka Power of Ninjitsu) opens with Richard Harrison doing some cool movements & "pose" while we listen a hooking melody



Stephen Tsang used a very famous tune from A-HA title The Sun always shines on TV.



Then we have Ninja Operation 2: Sword of Revenge ( aka Ninja Strike Force) that opens in a very ( really ,very very) closed way as Ninja Operation 5: Godfather the Master


But this time our pal Stephen Tsang chose a theme from Alphaville titled Sounds like a melody. The titled of the song was maybe the reason Mr Tsang took it for this Ninja movie!!!


But sadly, one day, Stephen Tsang became lazy ( well, maybe it was the copyright policy) & he decided not to use full tunes from famous groups & he went to famous movies and...



Yes,yes, the last duel of Ninja Knight: Thunderfox ( aka Ninja Empire) was scored using a tune we prevously listened at Nightmare in Elm street.



Eventually IFD music department went to TV ( the international copyright policies were becoming stronger & stronger). At the time IFD ninja movies were being produced, the coolest TV series were the several seasons of Miami Vice. So Stephen Tsang thought Miami vice ending titles score would be prefect ( and he was not wrong at all) for the most ambitious ninja movie ever produced by IFD: Ninja Operation- Knight & Warrior ( aka The black ninja).





IFD ninja movies music score history was writing in this way. I just can add it was a very smart way because those movies were scored with the popular music of that time ( middle 80's) plus the themes of big & small screen successful movies & TV series. Indeed, they were movies that could not fail in the video markets where they were being sold.

jueves, 22 de septiembre de 2011

Good ninjas enjoy superb music (part 1)

If you are an avid fan of Kung fu movies & Spaguetti western, you surely noticed long time ago both genres shared similar stories, plots, chararacters & the tale how a good, innocent or idealistic man becomes into a killing machine in the search of the main topic from this kind of movies: revenge, vengeance when his world has been savagely destroyed by evilish people.

So, we didn't get surprised when we listen Ennio Morricone's scores in countless kung fu movies from the 70's. I only mention Morricone but music from dozens spaguetti westerns from different composers can be enjoyed as well. Music is a prefect link between european & asian movies that share and tell the same kind of stories in different enviroments.

Then, here IFD enters... and here IFD movies prove they were movies of their times just because of the music. Lets explain it with some examples:

Rage of a ninja offers us a new age music that fits perfectly to the action


Then we find the original music video from Clan of Xymox & I can't imagine it used in other movie.


Cobra Against Ninja also shares similar music that makes ninjas to be COOLER than they are. Cobra Against ninja also offers us a Spaguetti Western moment during the first duel seen in the credits.


Here we have the original score from Aleph in different versions.








And then we have Ninja Dragon that used a more traditional asian score for its credits.


The music was borrowed from a japanese anime titled Dagger of Kamui


Someone named Stephen Tsang was the responsible person at the music department at IFD. He was always credited as music supervisor but never as composer. Indeed he had an exquisite & refined music taste!

martes, 13 de septiembre de 2011

The FAKE information about Tomas Tang is still " alive" in many sites in Internet

Looong time ago, I published the fake Godfrey Ho Interview GaraiJan many years ago. That interview mixed some true information with many false pieces of information, lies & fake tips about Ho, IFD & the movies Joseph Lai produced since he started his company. I put here that false interview to let people know the truth & everything was cleared when Mike Leeder allowed me to publish his real interview to Joseph Lai.

Tomas Tang's most famous logo


The thing is that false interview to Godfrey Ho was not "alone" in the world wide web. To add insult to injury a lot of bullshit & crap about Tomas Tang & his Filmark International was included like a "double" feature. The most surprising of this case is that bullshit is still believed & rtcommented in many internet sites as true information. Even if there were links between IFD & Filmark, they were different companies, Tomas Tang was a real person, Godfrey Ho never ever directed a movie for Filmark in a direct way & of course Tomas Tang was not an alyas for Ho nor he was an asian Alan Smithee...

I have been searching some information about Filmark & Tomas Tang & I found the fake document GaraiJan spreaded so I would like to publish it here as it was done originally to let all the people / friends / visitors who visit this humble blog know that GaraiJan was only a joker who damaged IFD & Filmark public image with his lies ( it is a shame how he even mentioned korean star Dragon Lee died of overdose, as he also said about actor Bruce Baron).

THE FAKE TOMAS TANG INFORMATION

Tomas Tang
DOB and whereabouts: Never existed.
Real name: Godfrey Ho, Ratno Timoer, etc.

The name Tomas Tang and the production company "FILMARK INTERNATIONAL" is one with an unknown beginning and a mysterious ending. Actually, Tomas Tang never existed; it was another pseudonymn for Godfrey Ho, who created it in the hopes of creating another production company without anybody(aside from his production crew) knowing it was Ho behind it. Ho started using the name "Tomas Tang" as a co-producer along side Betty Chan, since "JOSEPH LAI'S IFD ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT" was on the scene in 1979.

ToLo Pore???? May HK director To Lo Po be behind this sad pseudonym?

In 1986, Ho broke the "Tomas Tang" name away to create "FILMARK INTERNATIONAL," and released "his" first movie, "CLASH OF THE NINJA," which starred Americans Paulo Tocha(credited as Paul Torcha)" and Eric Neff. "FILMARK" was one of the first cut-and-paste movies to edit unfinished Asian movies and hire the lead actors that played on it for few scenes, while the new scenes are Anglo Ninjas. "FILMARK INTERNATIONAL" moved to Malaysia after the release of "CLASH OF THE NINJA," when "IFD FILMS" began to distance themselves from Ho, and the IRS was investigating the validity of "FILMARK" as a registered production company, which it wasn't. While in Malaysia, Ho began using the pseudonyms Richard Philips, Mark Coston, Daniel Wells, Mick Stuard, Bob Poe, Ken Ashley, Carmen Heller, Bert Brooks, Edgar Jere, Victor Sears, Bruce Lambert, Ted King and Burt Petersen, as he disowned himself from these productions, loaning "FILMARK" to a producer from Malaysia, to sign the right for the company under another name, but the films being released in Hong Kong under "FILMARK INTERNATIONAL," but it went through many production companies along the way("NINJA HUNTER").

Filmark, like IFD did, also distributed some Taiwan black movies internationally like this one

With the fluctuations in its ownership, a number of genres were touched upon, including science fiction, war movies, the ninja, and the vampire; all done in the shoddier qualities of Malaysian movies. In 1990, the Malaysian Ratno Timoer producer, saw that Wu Kuo Jen also owned "FILMARK" with the same title design and had a wise idea, said "FILMARK" went bankrupt, and sold the company rights back to Ho. However Timoer kept on making movies under the "FILMARK" label without Ho knowing it," keeping his crew, and became successful, with a flurry of movies. Since Ho aquired "FILMARK," nothing was made out of, so he dropped it while in a contract with "BO HO/WIN" films. By 1993, Ho sold it to other producers, but "FILMARK" finally ended when its new producer died in an apartment fire in Hong Kong, and was labeled as the actual "Tomas Tang," therefore ending the "FILMARK" and its "owner" Ho was on the spot for suspicion in Dragon Lee's 1983 overdose murder, so the end of "FILMARK" saved Ho from more trouble. Questions have surfaced if the fire was actually and accident or a set up, since Ho was investigated at that time. Although denies ever falsifying a production company secretly, or disguising himself as "Tomas Tang." A false rumor had Wu Kuo Jen "Tomas Tang," as he created theri best films under the "FILMARK," but that's not true, as there are hundreds of "Tomas Tangs" with different directing styles, so that defeats that purpose of one director.

Korean action movies were also world wided distributed & released by Tomas Tang's who was always a step back to Joseph Lai's IFD.

Some compare Tomas Tang to an Asian Alan Sithee, but I say otherwise, since it is a mistake for one, an opportunity for the other, and a living for the latter; an organization. Although, pseudonyms are not uncommon in Hong Kong, as a director will save his name the standards of one production are not up to expectations.

Tomas Tang's Joseph Lai Co-Productions Filmography:
"CRAZY KUNG FU MASTER(1979)"
"THE DEMON FIGHTER(1979)"
"RED DRAGONS OF SHAOLIN"
"RIVALS OF THE DRAGON"
"SLEEPING FIST"
"THUNDERING MANTIS"
"THOUSAND MILE ESCORT"
"JUDOMAN'S SHADOW VS DR. WONG:" Jess Franco(with alternate story edited by Ho)
"TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN"
"RAIDERS OF BUDDHIST KUNG FU"
"VENGEANCE OF THE SNOW MAID"
"NINJA THUNDERBOLT": as co-producer
"NINJA THE PROTECTOR": as co producer
"NINJA CHAMPION(1986)"

* Note that Tang's HK and Southestern Asian "Americanized pseudonymns" as director appear as actors once in every while, which are inconsistent. The Anglo names used in the Tang movies are just pseudonymns, as there is either not one Anglo in a movie, while the cast of names are, or there is one Anglo, which doesn't account for the whole Asian cast, who are Asian, with of Anglo names in the credits! Either way, don't look for the name of an actor for research in Tangs, Ho's, or any low budget HK/SE Asian hack productions. The lead actor is the only real or distinctive name in the credits, which sometimes never happens either.

Tomas Tang's HK filmography:
"CLASH OF THE NINJA(1986):" credited as director Stanley Chan
"MISSION TERMINATE(1986):" Stanley Chan(this rowdy one stars Bruce Le, Richard Norton, Hwang Jang Lee)

* NOTE: that Ho, profitably thinking(it was not his publically), also sold "FILMARK" to the Taiwanese Wu Kuo Jen in 1986. Wu's "FILMARK" lasted 2 years, with a nominal amount of well made ninja movies befor the production comapny, and the "FILMARK" associated with Wu, dissolved in 1988.

Tomas Tang's Taiwanese filmography:
"NINJA HUNTERS(1984/86)" Directed by Robert Tai; completed by Wu Kuo Jen
"NINJA DEATH(1986):" Directed by Robert Tai; completed by Wu Kuo Jen
"SHAOLIN AGAINST LAMA(1986)"
"NINJA USA:" directed by Wu Kuo Jen, no pseudonyms. Produced under the pseudonymn of Randol Ye in California
"NINJA CONDORS(1986)"
"SUPER NINJA(1987):" produced under the George King pseudonymn
"NINJA THE BATTALION(1988)"

* NOTE: Although Tang's Thailand/Filipino movies are credited to that name, Thai director Ratno Timoer directed and produced "FILMARK" movies of Thailand/Filipino origin, hiring uncredited Thai actor Sorapong Chatri to star in everyone of his movies, who eventually directed or completed the direction of most of these films uncredited, while Timoer left production for Chatri to complete for reasons or when the other uncredited directors left production.
* NOTE: that there were an endless amount of Thailand/Filipino war movies being made under the "FILMARK" label from 1986-91; most of which never made it to the US video market, although there are some exceptions in the European market, and that these war movies do exist in the US markets, but on labels that are unknown or out of business. Therefore, it is impossible to track everyone of these "Tang" war movies.

* NOTE: that even though "FILMARK" was sold back to Ho in 1988, "FILMARK" productions in Thailand and the Phillipines have continued past Godfrey Ho's consent, and still continue today.

* NOTE: Some of these movies are so badly good or out of this world, I have to say something about them, so I may have a sentence or two about who's in it or what the plot.

Tomas Tang's Thailand/Filipino filmography:
"NINJA THE VIOLENT SORCERER(1986)" credited as director Bruce Lambert(Badd)
"NINJA FANTASY(1986)" Bruce Lambert
"NINJA DEMON'S MASSACRE(1986)" Bruce Lambert
"RAGING QUEEN(1986)" Stewart Cheung(uneven but Brutal Fonda Lynn ambush)
"NINJA MASTERS OF DEATH(1986)" Bruce Lambert
"THE DEVIL AND THE DYNAMITE(1986)" Bruce Lambert
"NINJA FORCE OF ASSASSANS(1986)" Victor Sears
"NINJA'S EXTREME WEAPONS(1986)" Tomas Tang
"NINJA THE WONDER BOY(1986)" Bruce Lambert
"NINJA CONNECTION(1986)" Tomas Tang
"NINJA IN ACTION(1986)" Tomas Tang
"FIRE SOLDIERS(1986)" (Bloody stuff)
"NINJA ENFORCER(1986)" Efren Pinon
"KRIS COMMANDO(1986)" Wilfredo Milan
"RAIDERS OF THE PARADISE(1986)" Romy Suzara(belic movie)
"EAGLE OF THE JUNGLE(1987)" Henry S.(More than EVERYTHING is in this one!)
"WARRIOR'S OF FIRE(1987)" Bruce Lambert
"NINJA PHANTOM HEROES(1987)" Tommy Cheng
"THE TREASURE OF KAMPUCHEA(1987)" Toranong Srichua
"NINJA IN THE KILLING FIELDS(1987)" York Lam
"NINJA: AMERICAN WARRIOR(1987)" Tommy Cheng
"NINJA CONNECTION(1986)" Dickson Poon
"MOB BUSTERS(1986)" Joe Chan(wild; vampires, ghosts)
"TWINKLE NINJA FANTASY(1987)" Tomas Tang
"COUNTER DESTROYER(1987)" Tomas Tang(a must see! You can't miss this one, whatever you do)
"JAGUAR PROJECT(1987)" K. Cha Long
"MAD MOVES(1987)" Tomas Tang
"SWARM OF THE NINJAS(1988)" Dickson Poon
"WILD FORCE(1988)" Francis Jun(like a Chambara)
"EMPIRE OF THE SPIRITUAL NINJA(1988)" Bruce Lambert
"ROBOVAMP(1988)" Tomas Tang
"VAMPIRE RAIDERS NINJA QUEEN(1989)" Bruce Lambert
"PROJECT NINJA DAREDEVILS(1987)" Tomas Tang(everything is in this one)
"SUPER PLATOON(1987)" Tomas Tang
"WARKILL(1988)" Ferde Grofe
"SMALL TERRIBLE KICKBOXER(1988)" Chorapong Folongo(a baaaaad ass movie)
"SEARCH FOR THE TREASURE(1988)" Tomas Tang(Kent Cheng zombie?)
"ANGELS OF DEATH(1988)" Peter Tung
"ROBOCOP VS THE VAMPIRES" Rick Ching(If you loved "COUNTER DESTROYER," this is for you)
"ROBOVAMPIRE" Tomas Tang
"RAGE BETRAYED(1988)" Tomas Tang
"RAGING ANGER(1988)"
"REDFORD WHITE'S UNTOUCHABLES(1988)" Angel Labra
"SPY INFERNO(1988)" Tomas Tang
"TERMINAL ANGELS(1988)" Tomas Tang(better than "ANGEL;" MORE guns and fights. Must see.)
"LAW OF THE GANGSTERS(1989)" Edgar Jere
"NINJA PROJECT OF HELL(1989)" Rick Ching
"UNDERCOVERS(1989)" Tomas Tang
"DEMENTIAL EXPLOSION(1990)" Richard Tang
"SOLDIER WARRIORS(1991)" Toranong Srichua(like a Chambara; buckets of blood)
"COUNTERESPIONAGE IN THE FORREST(1991)" Richard Chan
"BOOMERANG ACTION(1991)" Sisworo Tangit
"POWER CONNECTION(1993)" Francis Jun
"REVENGE OF SCARFACE" SI
"RAGE(1993)" Anthony Maharaj
"REVENGE OF SCARFACE" SI
"RAIDERS OF THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE(1994)" Sorapong Chatri
"RED WOLF(1994)" SI
"RETURN OF DARNA(1994)" Edu Manzano(Filipina magician)
"TATLONG PURI 3(1994)"(banned; rapings and vengeance. Reportedly, it is available in the Japanese market under a different title, and possibly edited into a Japanese hardcore series)
"HARDBOILED 3: FIRE LEGACY(1996)" Wilfredo Milan
"URBAN RANGERS(1998)" Monsour Del Rosario(Heroic trio+fetish+tons of gore= you be the judge)
"ULTIMATE DEFENSE(1998)"


This is what GaraiJan offered us, such amount of filth & nonsenses have no place & no reason to be believed anymore. Most of this information plus the titles he marked as Filmark productions have been found to be mere lies, that's why I think is stupid to use the above words as true information whenever, wherever someone writes or talks about Filmark International or its late founder Tomas Tang.

viernes, 9 de septiembre de 2011

THUNDER KIDS: GOLDEN ADVENTURE in YouTube

When the ninja craze fade out at the end of the 80's, Joseph Lai's IFD produced a trilogy of action movies for kids titled Thunder Kids ( aka Thunder ninja kids) that emulates the famous taiwanese saga of the Kung Fu Kids. Lai bought some korean movies of that style & inserted new shot scenes as he did with the ninja movies. The result was quite funny & interested.

The first chapter of this saga was Thunder kids Golden adventure directed by Charles Lee Chiu & starred by Jonathan Isgar who created a very special, lovely but hateful Old Mel. A very greedy grandpa trying to get rich any cost & assisted by his son played by Ken Goodman.

Once again, someone has uploaded this movie to Youtube. I don't know if this is legal or not since this movie is copyrighted by IFD. But if you want to be introduced in Joseph Lai's Children world, this movie is a perfect example, besides we can enjoy the chamaleonic acting skills of the great Jonathan Isgar.

jueves, 1 de septiembre de 2011

BLVD WARRIORS Trailer & art covers.

On July 20th, I posted an entry titled NATHAN CHUKUAKE STRIKES BACK related to the new incoming documentary about western actors ( American actors) who worked in Hong Kong movies or they were key figures in Kung fu films. Nathan Chukuake can be inside of both groups. He worked in American films shot in Hong Kong like Bloodsport & he worked for IFD in Hitman the Cobra along Mike Abbott & Richard Harrison. He also played roles in other Hong Kong productions like Dragon From Russia, Midnight Angel and even Shaw Bros productions.

The trailer of BLVD WARRIORS was premiered in San Diego Comic-Con Thursday, July 21st, during the Superhero Kung Fu Extravaganza Panel, from 7:45-10:45 PM in Room 6A., if you ( like me) were not there, here you can enjoy it plus some art covers that makes me think this documentary is simply great.




The posters of this documentary are also great! Enjoy Them!

the mystic one



The urban one!

If you are interested in more details & information about this interesting project you should visit its official website at: http://blvdwarriors.com/