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
Ninja Showdown has been the last IFD ninja movie to enter in my private collection. While most of IFD cut & paste movie were released in Spain on tape, the ones that never got their release have been very hard for me to get them. I am still trying to hunt several ones that it seems were never released on domestic formats.
Ninja Showdown is other of those bunch of ninja movies supposely directed by Joseph Lai. These movies were not directed by Mr Lai but by several action directors such as John Cheung, Ridley Tsui and their stuntment groups. They were done when the demand of this kind of movies were at its peak and IFD people hardly have time to prepare them with a minimus care.
Ninja Showdown was done using a 1983 taiwanese production titled Tian Zhuang A Ge, also known as The Return, a movie that was co-directed by taiwanese superb director Chu Yen Ping who made some of the very best & craziest movies ever done in the world. I personally enjoyed his vision of gangster movies with Requital or Island on Fire. He was also the man who made the most popular movies ever played by Elsa Yeung: Golden Queen Commando & Pink Force Commando.
Chu Yen Ping was assisted directing Tian Zhuang A Ge by Chiu Chan Kwok who seems to be his most diligent student sincce Chiu also directed some crazily funny movies such as Lucky Seven and Lucky Seven 2 and he worked in some movies that were directly influenced by Chu's visuals such as Gun and Rose that weird movie starred by Alan Tang & Andy Lau.
Tian Zhuang A Ge was starred by Tattoer Ma, maybe the most popular taiwanese actor who has ever portrayed a gangster there and internationally launched by IFD and Choi Wing Wa the same actor who played in the taiwanese movie used in Ninja Hunt.
Recently Tian Zhuang A Ge was released on VCd in Taiwan & it can be purchase throught usual online shops. It is indeed a good chance to get it & understand how they made movies not only in Taiwan but at IFD.
I have to recognice it: I am very lazyyyyyyy about updating the blog lately. I have many entries ready to be post but I don't publish them, I am getting bored of these entries about Taiwan Black movies at IFD & Filmark but I should publish all the information I have been collecting before I should start other topics about IFD/ Filmark, their movies & the people who made them possible...but I say again, I am very lazy & other matters need most of my free time...
Anyway, after all my stupid excuses have been explained, I have to finish this entry with another Taiwanese Black movie that has been "unmasked" after it was used by IFD in the making of Ninja Hunt, one of the latter movies Richard Harrison made IFD in 1986 before he left the company & Hong Kong.
Ninja Hunt is one of those ninja movies from IFD I haven't enjoy very much due to several reasons. It belongs to that group of movies supposely directed by Joseph Lai ( such as Ninja Kill, Ninja Commandments or Ninja Against Cobra among other titles) that just contains 5 to10 minutes of uninspired ninja action usually choreograhped by John Cheung. who was also probably tired of working for IFD, or very stressed, or just wanted to finish as soon as possible.
Ninja Hunt was made using a 1983 produced taiwanese crime drama titled Wrong Step directed by Tsui Mei (aka Chui Mooi) whose filmography only contains this title. Then, Wrong Step was choreographed by Lam Gwong Wing a well-known face from some important taiwanese martial arts films.
The Spanish VHS was designed just following the original design of Eagle Leung the publicity artist at IFD. The most curious fact of this work is the painted Stuart Smith was also used in Spain in several artcovers for some taiwanese martial arts films that have nothing to do with IFD or Ninja Hunt.
The last entry of this blog was about the Taiwanese gagster movie used by IFD to create Ninja Knight Thunder Fox. A pic of such movie was provided by HKMDB editor Teddy Wong & today I got an email from him where he adds the title of such movie & its HKMDB flle. So, we are happy to announce Ninja Knight ThunderFox was made using A FIERCE LADY as main body.
Fierce Lady is a great post-taiwan black movie shot inthe middle 80's.
There isn't too much information about the film's cast & crew yet but we are working on it. The director of this film Lai Man Sing directed some other gangster movies that still are on IFD's catalog such as Legal Killer or a great Taiwan Black movie titled Coming With a Gun. I was lucky enough to get an original VCD copy of Coming With a Gun while I was in Hong Kong in 1999.
Coming with a Gun, another of those "supposely lost" Taiwan Black Movies was released on VCD in Hong Kong at the late 90's.
In the other hand, Teddy Wong has also uploaded to HKMDB a poster of Mixed Up the Hong Kong movie ddirected by Chow Chun Gaai in 1984 starring a lot of popular faces from HK film industry that later was bought by Tomas Tang and re-edited using some of the original cast like Ho Pak Kwong & gweilohs like Louis Roth, his girlfriend Deborah Grant & John Masters in new shots that became Vampire Raiders Ninja Queen.
A really hard to find Hong Kong film...Mixed Up.
I look for a copy of Fierce Lady & Mixed Up desperately...if anyone knows how & where to get them, any kind of information will be highly appreciated.
One more time, Thanks a Lot to Teddy Wong & its great work at HKMDB
When the ninja craze was at its peak in the video markets, Joseph Lai & Tomas Tang needed a lot of raw stuff to created their ninja movies. The market was so hungry that they seldom have time to get new titles at the different video markets, so the solution was to re-use some movies that they previously bought & released on their original cut.
Ninja Commandments Spanish VHS
Original taiwanese VCD of Ma! Don't Die on my back.
The ninja films starred Richard Harrison were the lucky ones because at the time they were shot, 1985-86, IFD still had several taiwanese movies on their vaults that were never released in the west previously & they were the ones used in films like Ninja Commandments, Ninja Showdown, Ninja Dragon and even several episodes of the Ninja Operation saga.
Ninja Commandments was supposely directed by Joseph Lai in 1987...well, at least this is what we can see on the credits but since Richard Harrison parted away from IFD at the end of 1986 after he is second teamed with Mike Abbott in Ninja Operation 7: Royal Warriors shot in November 1986 ( Mike Abbott kindly provided this information), we believe Ninja Commandments was very probably shot at some time in 1986 before November & of course it wasn't directed by Joseph Lai but by Godfrey Ho or some of his assistants.
Ninja Commandments was done using a 1981 taiwanese drama starred by Elsa Yeung & O Chung Hung titled Ma! Don't Die on my back directed by Chen Yun Quan who has no more directional credits. Ulysses Au Yeung whose black movies were quite well considered was credited as Planning in Ma! Don't die on my back.
Ma! Don't die on my back was not the average revenge drama used to be shown in taiwanese black movies but an intense, existentialist drama where the characters are ill-fated from the very first begining. There is no hope for them. Elsa Yeung proved she was also a very good dramatic actress besides an action star. Not to mention Tattoer Ma Sha & Lee Siu Fei who became regular actors in many taiwanese black movies are also on this one.
Ninja Commandments is remembered as one of the worse ninja movies from IFD. Probably a movie like Ma! Don't Die on my back doesn't suit at all those ninja interludes starred by Harrison & his pals. What the hell are doing the ninjas in the middle of rural drama???...We should ask to Godfrey & Joseph since I don't have the answer!
Do you remember that line from A Fistful of Dollars when Benito Rojo tells to The Man With No Name that "the life of a man is always linked to a thread of information"? Today I have the chance to use this line from Sergio Leone's film because my good friend Domingo López, the only & the one true real reference about Asian movie industry in Spain, has told me Joseph Lai's IFD film didn't attend Filmart this year. It seems Mr Lai is retired from bussiness.
Joseph Lai & Domingo Lopez at HK Filmart 2011
But the question is what will happen to IFD films & its movie catalog? I hope someone else will continue the work Mr Lai started more almost 40 years ago when IFD was a branch of Intercontinental films & we started to enjoy those Thai action movies starred by Sombat Metheanee, Krung Svrilai or Sorapong Chatri along with those bizarre filipino actioners from Bobby Suarez and starred by a very young Chris Mitchum.
Intercontinental Films was the "mother" of IFD. We can't talk about IFD without mentioning Intercontinental Films.
We can't forget the wonderful time we spent in front of the tv screen watching those korean kung fu movies starred by Elton Chong, Eagle Han or Dragon Lee that Mr Lai brought us via Asso Asia in partnership with Tomas Tang. All those movies are part of my childhood. I remember my mother used to take me to the video rental shop every Friday after school to rent 2 or 3 of those movies. Every weekend was a kung fu festival for me!...
The most popular IFD logo. Who hasn't seen it at least a couple of times?
Then, we have the IFD ninja films, the most beloved & hated ninja films in cinema history. I am sure 100% of HK movie goers from around the world have, at least a couple of times, enjoy some of these IFD coloured ninja adventures. Not too many were aware about their origin or the original movies used on the famous "cut & paste" experiment IFD released in the middle 80'and that was the reason because this site was created.
After the ninjas, the kickboxer came then IFD went back on time and offered us new Bruce Lee Clones, a la Asso Asia.
What a paradox! 25 years ago, these movies were everywhere from North to South, from East to West, most countries in the world had IFD films in video rental shops. Now they are a bit hard to get & what is even worse, we don't know what is going to happen to IFD Films now. Surely, Mr Lai need to rest, but I truly hope someone else will take the reins of the company.
IFD can't dissapear just like this. IFD is an important piece of film distribution in Hong Kong cinema industry. IFD films got bigger & wider releases around the world than other bigger & more popular film companies.
Mi GRAN amigo Churri, nos obsequia la entrada de este 2012 con una super-reseña de la primera entrega de la saga Ninja Operation. Quizas las obra maestra del cine ninja según Godfrey Ho, una película con un reparto excepcional tanto de occidentales como de orientales y encima la peli taiwanesa de relleno también tenia su gancho. Godfrey Ho le saco la pasta al actor camerunés para producir esta Knight & Warrior y con lo que le sobró rodó aquella rareza titulada Top Mission y que fue distribuida por la Filmark de Tomas Tang, recibiendo Joseph Lai la primera puñalada trapera de su socio Ho...pero bueno, ahora se trata de disfrutar de
NINJA OPERATION : KNIGHT AND WARRIOR
Inicio impactante, música de Miami Vice a tope y Richard Harrison, todo un ninja futurista lanza sus mortales shurikens… ¡a una diana de tiro de dardos!. Éso es categoría.
Pero éso era sólo para abrir boca. Paris, una venta de drogas. la Interpol logra impedir el asesinato de Lenny, mafioso menor. Alvin un atlético policía negro lo desarma de una patada espectacular, e intuímos que es un gran luchador. Alvin encañona a Lenny y para nuestra alegría, dice éstas aladas palabras: ”Sé lo que estás pensando. ¿He hecho 5 ó 6 disparos?. Te diré la verdad, con toda ésta agitación yo también he perdido la cuenta. Si queres que te vuele la cabeza, inténtalo”… ¿No os suena?. ¡Muérete, Harry Callahan, éso es originalidad!.
Alvin le dice a Lenny que su jefe, Rudolf, gran capo de la droga, no admite el fracaso, y que le matará, y a su mujer, sus hijos y la abuela de 70 años. Éso enternece a Lenny, y Alvin acepta la petición de éste: Dinero, nuevas identidades y protección, todo para encerrar a Rudolf y detener el flujo de droga hacia Europa.
Ahora, un campo de entrenamiento ninja. Su jefe, Rudolf, prodigio de look ninja multicolor lleva en la frente una cinta con una calavera. Los demás, lucen mucho más sobrios el traje ninja convencional, pero en su cinta una discreta palabra… Ninja, lo adivinaste, quizá alguien aún no notó que lo eran. Rudolf les ordena matar a Lenny y Alvin. Éste vuelve a casa feliz y con una botella de champán. Su mujer, Donna, le regala un reloj por su cuarto aniversario y empiezan a hacer proyectos de futuro en un lenguaje pastelero y cursi… ¡Desdichados!… ¿No sabéis lo peligroso que es hacerlo en una película de Godfrey Ho?. Pues los pérfidos ninjas ya han asesinado a Lenny, y ahora buscan a Alvin. Éste sale de su habitación y no ve a Donna, pero sí a dos ninjas que le atacan . A Alvin aunque sale de su habitación en calzoncillos, le basta un segundo de concentración y aparece, entre sonidos espaciales, vestido de ninja futurista tipo Power Ranger, con un katana, y en su cinta una silueta negra con un ninja. Dónde estaban el traje y el katana (y la cinta) es un misterio, quizá en un mundo paralelo…
Un brevísimo combate. Alvin es demasiado ninja para ellos, y los aniquila, y ahora, la desgarradora muerte de Donna, que dice que no habrá un quinto aniversario y que busque a Gordon. En Hong Kong, un mafioso, Norman, habla con Tigre (Tatooer Ma), jefe mafioso portuario de una operación beneficiosa, pese a contar con la oposición de Mao, líder honrado. Rudolf le dice que necesita un puerto para mover su droga…
Alvin, destrozado por la muerte de Donna, sabe que sin Lenny, no hay causa contra Rudolf. Planea una horrible venganza y mete sus armas ninja en una maleta (¿pero no las guardaba en la Nada Cósmica?), va a Hong Kong, pasa sin problemas la aduana y busca a Gordon, que con otros polis idean cómo acabar con Tigre y así llegar a Norman. El jefe de Gordon dice que infiltró a 2 agentes entre el personal de Tigre: Vivian, agresiva joven que busca redimirse y Jackie.
Y ahora, unos jóvenes y algo de break dance. Uno es Edmond, hijo de Mao, al que informan que éste ha sido asesinado. Edmond, que parece un macarra gay expulsado de Village People, sospecha de Tigre, acude a su local y comienza a golpear a sus secuaces, pero le interrumpe la policía.
Gordon le presenta a Alvin a John Lee… o John el Sucio. ¿No os suena?. John pone a un soplón a buscar a Rudolf, éste avisa a Norman y éste a Rudolf, que ordena a sus ninjas matar a John y Alvin. Dos ninjas muy cutres lo intentan, pero no duran un suspiro…
Otros dos ninjas atacan a Alvin y John en una cruel y breve pelea, pero el poder marcial de éstos se impone. Edmond ataca a los esbirros de Tigre. Son muchos y perseguido por ellos llega a un altísimo puente. Acorralado, se arroja al río en una asombrosa escena. Una y otra vez Edmond acosa a los hombres de Tigre y siempre lo vencen por número. Gordon y John impiden otra venta de drogas y al fin vemos a Gordon mutar en ninja al atacarle los ninjas de Rudolf. Se produce una corta pero excelente pelea… en la que triunfa Gordon, claro.
Gordon dice a Norman que se queda sin tiempo. Edmond, ataca por enésima vez a los hombres de Tigre y al fin los derrota. Es una espléndida y por fin larga pelea, donde apreciamos su espectacular forma física, su destreza marcial y su uso de cuerdas para inmovilizar a sus enemigos, algo similar a lo que hizo antes el gran Gordon Liu en Retorno a Shaolin.
Norman, acosado, ve que sus hombres son detenidos o mueren a manos de Gordon, Alvin o John. Gordon y Alvin atacan a los dos últimos ninjas de Rudolf, uno de ellos, habitual de las pelis ninjas de la IFD, Paulo Tocha, tendrá el honor de morir a manos de Gordon. Luego destruyen una gran partida de drogas de Norman y Rudolf camufladas en sandías…
A Edmond y John les atacan los hombres de Tigre y el asesino de Mao, Allan, que apuñala varias veces a Edmond, que también recibe un katanazo, mas no parece sentirlo mucho pese a recibir otras puñaladas en una pelea anterior, es MUY duro. Allan apuñala a John y sólo logra que luche con más ímpetu… ¿De qué son ésos cuchillos?. Ésta pelea es espléndida, larga, vibrante, y violenta, como nos gustan. Tigre y sus hombres se unen a los que luchan contra el dúo dinámico, y adivinamos una lucha aún más terrible…
Gordon llama a Norman y le dice que Alvin y él lucharán contra Rudolf y Norman, que (lo sospechábamos) también es ninja. Norman acepta, y añade un detalle… la lucha será a muerte…
Los ninjas aún tienen ojos limpios, casi exentos de ése rimmel usado para acentuar la fiereza de sus miradas en ésta coproducción entre Hong Kong, Inglaterra, Estados Unidos y Canada. La saga Ninja Operation comienza con ésta película y su personaje icónico, Gordon, famoso por sus frases lapidarias y por ser una mala bestia sanguinaria, el mejor discípulo de Harry el Sucio, aquí homenajeado más de una vez. La saga se alargará hasta la saciedad, pero ésta es, para mí, la mejor, la más completa, lo tiene todo, luchas electrizantes, violencia sin medida, acción espectacularísima… y cuatro ninjas dispuestos a conseguir sus fines sin importarles nada…
Godfrey Ho, director, y Joseph Lai, productor, crearon un modus operandi que funcionó perfectamente… a una película indonesia, taiwanesa, coreana o de vete a saber donde, le añaden los insertos ninjas y los fragmentos que permiten “unir“ ambas películas de un modo más o menos lógico. Aquí, la otra mitad es una película taiwanesa, y aparecen fragmentos que desconcertarán a todo ignorante de las maravillas del “Corta Y Pega”. Así, desarrollan sin aclarar la historia de la hermana cieguita de Edmond o la breve existencia de Jackie, el infiltrado, que aparece apenas unos segundos, ni a Vivian, presunta gran luchadora (cosa que apenas muestra).
Un punto y aparte merece Edmond, Edmond Yau, si creemos los títulos de crédito de las películas de Ho y Lai, a menudo un gran error. Edmond es un auténtico suicida, y el que consigue las mejores escenas de acción por sus feroces luchas y su trabajo como stunt brutal, lanzándose sobre coches en marcha o desde el puente al río en escenas sumamente peligrosas sin trampa ni cartón. Ignoro si era él realmente o su doble, pero debió ser premiado como el Especialista Del Año… se ganó bien los garbanzos.
Todos los combates están tratados espléndidamente… los de Edmond son asombrosos, pues su maestría marcial y su técnica son impresionantes, como demuestra en sus abundantes combates siempre contra un sinnúmero de mafiosos, por el contrario, los de los ninjas, salvo en alguna excepción, son también fabulosos… pero con un fallo común, son demasiado breves, lo que impide apreciar la maestría ninja de los luchadores… o sus dobles. Pena, pues en su brevedad, demuestran ser excelentes, como la pelea entre Gordon y Noman, espectacular, intensa pero demasiado escueta… esperábamos algo más sangriento... Y desde luego más prolongado. Norman ataca a Gordon con un naginata que, al desarmarle éste, lo sustituye mágicamente un sansetsukon, y posteriormente, un boomerang plateado… lo dicho, no busques la lógica, impedirá tu diversión.
Y los villanos… Stuart Smith es un habitual de las películas de la IFD siendo uno de sus malvados más reconocidos, un ninja habitual, usual enemigo de Gordon… y Grant Temple fue flor de un día, o de tres películas, aunque también vemos a dos habituales de la IFD, Tatooer Ma y Paulo Tocha, aquí haciendo de malvados…
Uno de los grandes aciertos de Ho y Lai, para mí, es la funesta elección del vestuario de sus famosos ninjas multicolores… hasta entonces los ninjas eran muy espartanos, muy de salir a asesinar de noche, discretos, oscuros, se fundían con las sombras, y todos vestían igual, eran indistinguibles. Ho y Lai crean unos ninjas icónicos, plenamente distinguibles de cualquier otro. Sí, un auténtico ninja nunca vestiría como un rechazado por Locomía, ni mucho menos llevaría una cinta en la cabeza que pusiera Ninja. El ninja debía ser inesperado, pasar desapercibido… Los ninjas de Ho y Lai lucen a kilómetros, y eso era la inesperado, no su sutilidad.
El otro gran hallazgo de Ho y Lai fue la total ausencia de parafernalia ninja. Alguien podía ir (como en la presente), armado de unos calzoncillos, concentrarse y aparecer vestido de Ninja futurista cargado de todo un arsenal: Katanas, Sais, shurikens, naginatas, sansetsukons… algo muy cómodo para el ninja. Huelga decir que preguntarse DÓNDE estaba ése arsenal es el Gran Secreto Ninja de Ho y Lai que, claro, nunca explicaron, y es que lo más acertado es también lo más obvio: No hay respuesta posible.
Pero éstos “errores“, le dan a las películas de Ho y Lai una gran continuidad de acción, una enorme rapidez, son películas relampagueantes. Sus ninjas no necesitan cambiarse, y asumen su personalidad ninja en cualquier lugar y momento, y además tienen otro gran poder, el asombroso teletransporte, primordial para un ninja, y otros superpoderes que dejarían a más de un superhéroe en pelotas.
Yo, lo confieso, era muy reluctante a las películas ninja de la IFD o la Filmark. Era un purista de las Artes Marciales y su cine, y no apreciaba que un señor en calzoncillos apareciera, en un segundo, vestido de ninja multicolor (para mí el ninja y su atuendo debían ser el habitual) y nutrido con un impresionante arsenal, no me parecía serio, pero, tras meditar, asumí que la seriedad es incompatible con la mayoría de las películas de la IFD o la Filmark, pues impide toda diversión. Sí, nadie puede mutar a ninja en segundos, pero, una vez lo aceptas… ¿No es lo más divertido del mundo?. Éstas películas ofrecen todo lo que quieres ver, exudan alegría, regocijo, gozo, poseen toda la desfachatez concebible y son perfectas para disfrutar con los amigos, armados de unos tremendos cuencos de palomitas recién hechas y comentando las “mejores jugadas” entre carcajadas…
Y no, quizá no era eso los que buscaban Ho y Lai… pero creo que tampoco esperaban pasar a la historia del cine de Artes Marciales con sus producciones de cuatro duros, y lo han hecho, Ho y Lai son historia, y lo consiguieron con películas tan regocijantes como ésta, espléndida, que, sin ironía ninguna, recomiendo a todo el mundo… Gran cine a su modo, aunque, claro, no esperes encontrar la altura de Muerte en Venecia….
¡Qué necio fuí y qué listo ahora!. Sé apreciar un género que aúna Artes Marciales, ninjas y diversión. ¿Se puede pedir más?
During the last summer, Teddy Wong, an editor from HKMD & I started a kind of mutual colaboration to add the IFD movies to HKMD database and the same time we work to uncover more taiwanese, filipino, korean & hong kong movies that were used as source movies by IFD directors. We did a good job & many titles from those countries has been identifed, but the KING of those titles is indeed the original taiwanese cut of GOLDEN NINJA WARRIOR.
Opening title of one of the most popular IFD ninja movies
Spanish video design for Golden Ninja Warrior. It is very curious it is signed by IFD's art director Eagle Leung so it is very possible this is the original artwork.
During many years, it has been believed Golden Ninja Warrior was directed by Joseph Lai in Tiawan. It was also believed this film was the only non-cut& paste ninja movie from IFD. Both info was wrong because Golden Ninja Warrior is just another Taiwan black movie bought by Joseph Lai who pasted the ending battle of Ninja Terminator in the opening & offered it as another Golden Ninja movie. You may remember the Golden ninja warrior stattuette is never seen in the original source movie, they just mention it but we only see the Golden Ninja Warrior at the begining taken from Ninja Terminator.
Taiwanese VHS tape that contains the original cut of Golden Ninja Warrior
Teddy Wong was able to find the original movie video cover & together we identifed some of the original cast. You may see the entry at HKMD. I just hope someone owns a copy of this title on its original cut. Any information about it & how to get this movie on its original cut would be highly appreciated.
After more than a week solving problems, here I am again with the last entry dedicated to China Fanzine, a Spanish fanzine edited in 1995 that already offered true information about IFD & Filmark productions. Well, it also included some mistakes & wrong data that were used by GaraiJan as true.
Here you have the pages dedicated to Godfrey Ho & the filmographies of Joseph Lai & Tomas Tang
Then this first study about IFD / FILMARK and their most important people, China Fanzine offered a partial Filmography of all of them.
Joseph Lai's Filmography
Tomas Tang Filmography
Godfrey Ho Filmography
THANKS TO DOMINGO LOPEZ for offering us this Fanzine when the information about IFD was into darkness & THANKS TO ZENI for his kindness when he scaned it for us!
Domingo López, was indeed a pioneer in Spain in the 90's when he put in the market his China Fanzine first & his book MADE IN CHINA later. Till that date, there wasn't too many books about asian pop cinema. At the time,we could access to some poor articles about asian cinema in some martial arts magazines, but those articles cared only about martial arts movies & big stars from Hong Kong. There isn't anything about IFD, Filmark or independent production companies till Domingo López dared to write about it.
Here, more than 15 years later, I am glad to offer to my honorable friends & visitors those pages from China Fanine that offered the very first short but correct information about Joseph Lai, Tomas Tang & Godfrey Ho.
China Fanzine included a 3 pages article about Joseph Lai's movies that studied IFD series, the music used on them, the actors and more technical details that made those movies different from the others came from Hong Kong
Internet plays miracles. Fifteen years ago we couldn't imagine internet would allow us to access to all kind of information sources or even meet movie stars, producers, directors through social networks. Fifteen years ago, I used to dream how wonderful it would be if I could talk to the stars of the movies I like. Now that dream is a reality but the information sources of that years ( maybe I should say "ages") are still very valuable & help us to understand better what we know now.
Spain, 1995. Video rental shops were flooded with IFD, Filmark and other independent video companies productions. Dozens of ninja flicks shared the shelves with Filipino actioners, Italian comedies, and all kind of explotation tapes from all around the world. But, there isn't too much information about those tapes, there isn't a clue about the people who made those movies...until China Fanzine arrived.
Domingo López, an avid follower of explotation movies since he was just a small brat brought light to people like me who usually rent those movies & were curious about their origin. China Fanzine was the first fanzine that dedicated a special issue to Joseph Lai, Tomas Tang & their production companies. The fanzine was lost until ZENI a friend & follower of this blog and user of ZHK website and of course, another avid fan of exploit movies told me he still owned a copy of that issue that I can now share with all of you.
Zeni gave his permission & he allows me to publish here the scan pics of China Fanzine. I suppose, Domingo López, the author will not find any offense sharing his work here. THANKS A LOT to Zeni for his kindness & THANKS A LOT to Domingo López for his early work on IFD & Filmark movies.
This first entry includes China Fanzine Issue 2 cover, an opinion columm & the pages dedicated to Tomas Tang & Filmark International.
A classic, lost and now recovered gem from the spanish fanzines. A bible about asian exploitation cinema
When internet was not a part of our lives & information was in very few hands, Domingo López knew more about IFD & Filmark than many HK cinema authors.
Tomas Tang's history was compiled in 3 pages full of humour, real data. The most completed article written in Spanish before the internet age.
There have been and there still are) many fake rumours & stories about IFD & its movies. One of the most repeated, disgusting, false & wrong ones is the " leyend" Joseph Lai used un-finisshed asian movies for his ninja / action films. Others said he used different 2 or 3 un-released movies to create a new film. Since I opened this site I have tried my best to prove all those bullshit was totally false & unfair to Mr Lai & his company.
There are some posts in this blog that give the original source movies used by IFD when they designed a new released. So, all my dear readers & friends have found out some asian titles from different countries that were updated by IFD adding new fotage & re-dubbing them.
I really hope this first post of August 2011 could be useful to eradotace & banish once for all that JOSEPH LAI'S IFD NEVER USED UNFINISHED NOR UNRELEASED MOVIES to design their own motion pictures.
One of my favourite IFD movies is Platoon the Warriors. It was starred by my friend Mike Abbott as a ruthless but coward drug lord trying to control the drug market & smashing other dealers like him using ninjas, guns, knives & machine guns. The show was directed by Philip Ko & his stuntmen. As always the plot & the way they film was not enough for a standar movie since the storyline can be resumed into 30 minutes.
IFD new pressbook for Platoon the Warriors, one of its best action movies due to a gorgeous source movie from the Philippines & the directing skills of Philip Ko.
Then, Philip Ko used a high octane filipino action movie to add another subplots related to the main story about drugs, killers & revenge and more actors. So they used a Filipino movie that was FILMED, FINISHED & RELEASED in the Philippines in 1984 titled Diegong Bayong, starred by one the very best action heroes from the Philippines Anthony Alonzo.
"Diegong Bayong" Stars Anthony Alonzo, Janet Bordon, Sarsi Emmanuelle, Ruel, Vernal, Dace Brodett, Lucita Soriano, Mario Escudero, Rocco Montalban.
DiegongBayong was not an average action movie from the Philipines directed by Ron Gallardo Pablo in 1984. His main actor Anthony Alonzo was at the peak of his popularity among 1981/ 1984 when he played roles based in real people with criminal true stories like Danny Lee Sau Yin did years later in many films produced by his Magnum Films productions.
Besides Anthony Alonzo was already a popular cult- action hero in the international markets because he also played in many co-production in the Philipines. Titles such as Intrusion Cambodia starring along Richard Harrison; W means war, Trident Force, Clash of the warlords were everywhere during the video boom in the 80's & those movies were on tape in each video rental shop in Europe, the Us and even Africa & South America.
Diegong Bayong is one of the many movies that proves IFD never used unfinished or unreleased movies. In this case Joseph Lai provided to Philip Ko with a very popular film in the Philippines for his Platoon The Warriors.
Platoon the Warriors new fotage directed by Philip Ko & starred by Mike Abbott & Mark Watson was shot in 1987 & then edited into Diegong Bayong that was premiered in 1984. So, I truly hope not to find more bullshit about unfinished, unreleased films while I dig for more information related to IFD, Joseph Lai or the people who worked on those films. The truth only has one way.
Special thanks to Mr Simon Santos from the wonderful site VIDEO 48 for his kind help, all the information he passed me about Diegong Bayong and Anthony Alonzo & the original poster of Diegong Bayong. You may find more information about Anthony Alonzo movies at VIDEO 48here
