Taiwan Black Movies at IFD & Filmark ( Part 26): Ninja Operation Knight & Warrior Unpublished!

My many trips to Hong Kong during the late 90's and the first years of the new century allowed me to collect enough information about IFD & Filmark movies and the people who worked on them. Of course, the spanish video releases were also a very valuable help on this task for unveiling the true story behind these productions. But at one point I found myself in a dead-end situation. If I wanted to continue researching about Lai & Tang productions I needed the help of several people that in some ways were related not to IFD or Filmark but to Hong Kong in general and Hong Kong cinema in particular. And here is where people like Teddy Wong, editor of HKMDB, enters. 

Teddy knows very well my interest on those movies bought by IFD & Filmark and I think he enjoys my uncontrolled reactions of happiness & anxiety when a movie has eventually been discovered or "unmasked". I know the work of this humble blog is just a hobby but offering some information that has never been published is something else...it is like a small discovery of something that was practically impossible few years ago. And that's the feelings I enjoy most!. So, after many years of being looking for the taiwanese movie used on IFD Ninja Operation: Knight & Warrior, at last, we can say the "Quest" has been accomplished. Ninja Operation: Knight &Warrior has been unveiled!!!!!

 

 The story of how Ninja Operation: Knight & Warrior was done was explained quite well by Godfrey Ho himself on an interview my friends from Nanarland.com did to him. Please click HERE to see the full interview. But we didn't know what movie was behind it. Ninja Operation: Knight and Warrior was done using a taiwanese film titled A GIRL ROGUE. 

 A Girl Rogue was directed in 1984 by Chiu Chan Kwok who has on his credits some important & popular films like Gun n´ Rose directed by Clarence Ford with Andy Lau, Alan Tang & Simon Yam as main stars along others like Leon Lai or Loretta Lee. We also owed Mr Chiu funny movies such as Lucky Seven or several movies of the Kung Fu Kids franchise. But as always, IFD also bought another movie from Mr Chiu that were released under new titles with Ninja fotage. So, checking Chiu Chan Kwok profile on HKMDB we can see he was also the director of the taiwanese movies used on Ninja Showdown. 

As always on these kind of posts, what we need now is finding a copy of A Girl Rogue to check & enjoy it on its original form. Thanks again to the hard and priceless effords of Teddy Wong and special mention here to Michael Kistner who has been the one who made this entry possible. Michael is also an editor of HKMDB and shares with me a passion for finding the movies used by IFD and Filmark.

Lover & Killer ( aka A Fierce Lady) is at home: Turning the impossible into possible 2!!!

The title of this entry it is just the only one I could have given because these days I got another personal goal since I started to investigate about IFD & Filmark. One of the most important one was when on May 2010 I got a good bunch of unreleased or barely released IFD movies on DVD from a legal distributor in South Africa. You may check it HERE. I also have commented many times my love for Ninja Knight Thunderfox & the taiwanese movie used on it, you may check also HERE & HERE.

Today, Thanks to Toby Russell, a person who has been working on Asian films since he was a teenager & a great guy who has released many great movies throught his Eastern Heroes & other labels, sent me the original movie used on Ninja Knight ThunerFox: A Fierce Lady. A movie that I have been looking for years since I saw the IFD edited version in 1990 for first time.

Just imagine how nervous & anxious I was when the postman delivered the package to me!!!...The moments before I opened it & I played were priceless, I was like a child waiting to open his new toys! So, eventually, my dream of watching the original film became true...and now the best is coming...

While I was researching information about this taiwanese movie along with Teddy Wong from HKMDB, we find out the art cover & the title, A Fierce Lady, but the English titled displayed on screen on the copy Toby Russell sent me we can see the English title was Lover & Killer.

And, and, and...the it includes English subtitles!!!!....so the experience of watching it, was a real pleasure since I could follow the original storyline and this fact delivered me another surprise... The new edited version with new fotage starring Mike Abbott & Marko Ritchie just follow the same original storyline...and even the dialogs are exacly the same in both versions. IFD just added the new fotage & adapted it to the original one without any changes!

While I was watching Lover & Killer, I got surprised that IFD even didn't change the order of some scenes as it happened in some other movies or as it happened in most of the movies edited by Filmark. In this case IFD version just follow the original edited version.

The only changed made by IFD was the music of the OST, while IFD, as always, used a synthesizer electronic music and in this case, a part of Nighmare on Elm Street at the end battle between Mike Abbott & Marko Ritchie, the original taiwanese cut just "vampirizes"  the music from movies such as Death Wish 2 for the opening titles and some other music from other american hits during the running time.

 

Well, the bad news is that Lover & Killer is a very cut version for the local market. Every erotic frame has been edited out, even kisses...also some bloody action was also cut. Thankfully, the IFD version contains all the gory & erotic moments & since the dialogs & story line is the same, a fully uncut version could be possible edited...some day...

Once again, Trillions thanks to Toby Russell for his kind help and unlimited thanks for making my dream have come true!

Taiwan Black Movies at IFD & Filmark ( part 21): Survival Of A Dragon

Back to the early 80's it seems IFD catalog was an endless one if we compare the ammounts of movies they released around the world to the limited catalog they offer today. One of the most interesting facts is most of the movies that IFD has no longer on its catalog are the taiwanese ones. I can just imagine two ways for this matter: IFD have not longer the copyrights of those movies or they were just lost during the fire that destroyed IFD & Filmark offices in Garley Gallery in Yau Ma Tei back in 1996.

These days, my elder son is sick & I have to stay with him full time at home, so, I decided to put in orderm my movies storage room & check damaged or forgotten old VHS that I haven't transferred into DVD yet. Among them I found a forgotten gem from IFD that it still remains as a rare gem from Joseph Lai's company since, to my information and if I am not wrong, it is a very underrated film titled Survival of a Dragon.

Watch out, Survival of A Dragon. Don't get confused with another film starred by Larry Lee originally titled The Thunderkick directed by Teddy Yip, a regular face on Samo Hung's movies, that later was re-titled Survival of the Dragon that also included in the cast famous faces like Bolo Yeung, James Nam or Yukio Someno.

The movie released by IFD, Survival of a Dragon is a 1981 taiwanese production originally titled Hero From the Time Tunnel directed by Lam Ying who scripted, among other nice kung fu films, a favourite of mine titled The romantic double rings. Lam Ying was also the director of one of those taiwanese women in prison movies that were also a "nice" subgenre for rottenminded people like me. Among those movies there is one that I like specially titled Escape at Dawn  

Survival of a dragon was starred by Alan Lau Tak-Hoi whom we have previously seen in some other movies distributed by IFD such as Pink Force Commando or as co-star with Elsa Yeung in Nude Body Case in Tokyo.

Alan Lau's co-stars in this movie were actress Lee Lit who also starred a crazy movie titled Lunatic Frog Women ( aka Virgin Commandos), Ngai Ping Ngo, the gaylish gangster in Bruce Lee's movies and Hung Chiu Hung, a guy who decided to be known internationally as Squall Hung (!!!!!!!) and whose movie career is quite short, probably a gangster who decided to try his luck in the movie industry.

Survival of A Dragon is a crazy movie about a reporter girl who is investigating about some gangsters and because of a electricity problem inside of an abandoned mine she is back on time to the middle age, then as it happened in Yuen Biao's The Iceman Cometh, the kung fu warriors will come to the present time & fight the gangsters!!!!!!

Till now, I Just knew the spanish VHS release of this movie, but I have been able to find some information that Survival of A Dragon  was also released in some other countries and territories!

One day, I should compile a complete list of IFD catalog including the long time lost movies like this one. Oh, I mean lost from IFD catalog....

Taiwan Black Movies at IFD & Filmark (part 20): The Ninja Showdown

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.

Taiwan Black Movies at IFD & Filmark (part 19): Ninja Hunt

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.

Taiwan Black Movies at IFD & Filmark ( part 18): Final Mission Final

We finished 2012 with an entry about Taiwan Black Movies at IFD & Filmark, and we open 2013 with the same topic: The gangster movies produced in Taiwan during the late 70's & distributed worldwide under several and different titles by Tomas Tang & Joseph Lai.

It is curious many of those movies are not longer on IFD catalog, maybe dued to copyright issues or whatever reasons that only IFD people know. It is also curious that the only source/ way to enjoy these movies are the ones released by IFD & Filmark since many of the original films negatives were destroyed after their commercial lifes on theatres.

 Final Mission Final is an exception. This gangster movie is still on IFD catalog on its original taiwanese cut but dubbed into English like most of IFD movies since it was edited for the international markets.

As usual, the edited version of Final Mission Final was released in Spain during the video boom at the middle 80's. The first released  used the original IFD artcover where we see Champ Wang holding a big gun plus some fights scenes around.

 The movie should have been a video hit because years later Final Mission Final was again released on tape in Spain holding the same title but a different artcover that tried to cheat the audience. The cast and other details of this taiwanese production were erased from the front cover.

Instead of Champ Wang, the designer used a pic of a filipino actor from other IFD movie holding a heavy machine gun plus some background fire blasts. Indeed, they tried to sell us a Rambo-look-a-like movie instead of a taiwanese crime drama.

But, if Final Mission Final is a relatively easy to find black taiwanese movie since it still is on IFD catalog and was widely distributed, there are some dark points around it that makes this movie interesting for this blog & myself.

First of all is its original taiwanese title. I haven't been able to find it out. Recently I got an original taiwanese cut of this film on widescreen that includes chinese & english credits of the stars & staff but it starts after the original title has passed.

So, on its first frame we see the chinese name of Champ Wang & Juliet Chan ( aka Lyon Chan when she was credited by Filmark).

 The we can check the producer of this movie wasn't Joseph Lai but Yen Wu Tung. , a guy who produce a good bunch of all kind of nice & well-known movies

And eventually, the director Hsu Yu Lung (aka Tsui Yuk Lung or Chui Yuk Lung) who was always credited by IFD as Steve Lung in all his works released by IFD.

Then finally...my own confussion trying to identify the real title of this film. I mean, I am trying my best to identify the original title of this movie but as I said above I haven't been successful yet. But  Final Mission Final is credited on HKMDB as an aka title for Who Knows About Me, the movie I identified as main source for IFD GUNS TO HEAVEN.

Right now, I don't know what to think about this film, but I would bet my neck Who knows about me is not Final Mission Final but Gun to Heavens. There are some snapshots that are exactly the same. So, the artcovers were wrong & used pics from other movies or I am totally nuts ( there are countless probabilities of this...anyway).