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

miércoles, 31 de agosto de 2011

Shooting around Kowloon Tong 7: A small park in Cumberland Rd & Essex Crescent junction

I am not feeling so well lately & a big economic problems are making me sick because I can't sleep & the anxiety is too bad, so I am not paying to much attention to the blog & other internet activities. These problems may take a couple of week to be resolved or 6 months...but I don't want to leave the blog to die miserably. After all the contacts I have done, all the new friends, all the good people who has contacted me, I should continue this work. If you have sent me an email or tried to contact me but in vain, don't think I haven't got your mail or call...as soon as I can settle my present situation down, you will get a reply.

I would like to continue & finish the entries I dedicated to the locations IFD / Filmark used in Kowloon Tong. Too many movies shot in just a couple of streets & the surroundings. I still can't understand the "love" IFD & Filmark director had for this place since they could have been shooting 2 movies at the same time just getting the correct camera angles.

The pic above shows a small park located in the junction of Cumberland Road ( where Bruce Lee's former house is located) & Essex Crescent a bow-form street. The small park in the junction has been dozens times in many Hong Kong movies but it was specially used by IFD & Filmark.

Twinkle Ninja Fantasy, directed by Tommy Cheng Kai Ying under the name of Bruce Lambert shot in this park a ninja fight.

Today, the park is still there but the house in the background has suffered a total change.


Then we have another Filmark movie, Ninja in Action, that also used the park but from other camera angle where we can see Cumberland Road & the famous O mas Hotel.

Only the iron bars that protect the park walls have been changed for better!


Other movies produced by different companies who hired Godfrey Ho or Tommy Cheng at the end of the 80's also used this lovely park as a film location.
Live Hard got Godfrey Ho as a second unit director who added some new scenes in Essex Crescent park to the international version.

Fairlie Ruth Kordick who really looks like Sophia Crawford went to Kowloon Tong for her scenes!


And then, finally, almost 25 years later Simon Yam who worked in Live Hard went back to this place to shoot a scene with Samo Hung for Fatal Move.


It is nice to see how the locations used by IFD & Filmark are now "in use" again. Just remember another Simon Yam's movie Election that also used some other locations that were IFD "favourite" places...

martes, 23 de agosto de 2011

HKMDB is listing IFD movies as they deserve

I have always believed HKMDB was the most accurate movie data base of Hong Kong cinema ( HKCinemagic is its twin sister but a bit younger) but I always complaint HKMDB didn't register IFD / FILMARK "cut & paste" movies. I didn't undertand it. Even if they used movies from other South East Asian movies they were registered in Hong Kong & some of them used HK movies as source movies.

A month ago, one day, a lucky day for me, I was contacted by Teddy Wong one of the editors at HKMDB, he is possibly the person who knows everything about Philip Ko's filmography & a very very very nice guy. We talked about Philip Ko's works in IFD & we started to idenfie actors & movies used by Ko while he was working under Joseph Lai's commands.... then, we continued working giving names, faces & original title movies that are being included on HKMDB.

Yes, at last, these movies & the people who worked on them will have their place in the biggest movie data base about Hong Kong movies. At last the gweiloh actors who have been seen in dozens movies but we never were able to guess their names will have face & name, filmographies will be more completed & mistake will be erased.

Right now, Teddy Wong & I are working together to offer for first time the most completed & true information about the movies & the people who worked for IFD & FILMARK. No more bullshit or urban legends about Tomas Tang, Godfrey Ho or Joseph Lai & their movies.

To start with you can already check many of the IFD ninja movies at HKMDB just writing the title you prefer in the browser, the same cab be done with some of the main actors who acted on those movies & many of them include a link to other pages where you can learn about the original source movie used by them. HERE

Also, if you are a fan of Philip Ko, please check, Teddy Wong's site about this genius of martial arts & editing work just clicking here.

Teddy Wong's site in in Russian Language but the design, the contents & everything there will catch you.
Enlace

miércoles, 17 de agosto de 2011

The Killer Elephants are getting ready in ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT!!!

The Killer Elephants is one of those Thai movies Joseph Lai brough to us in Europe throught his IFD & Arts Ltd in a time when it was very difficult to access to certain asian movies. That's what IFD did, they bought dozens of movies from several asian countries & they dubbed them into English language, then each country would edit in their own language or subtitled.
I am one of the many people who "met" Sombat Methanee, Sorapong Chatri or Krung Svrilai thanks to IFD movies. And that's not all, IFD was also the firtt company to bring to Europe Panna Ritikrai movies throught its film Kickboxer king. Today many of these thai actors are well-known internationally thanks to movies like Ong Bak, Legend of Suriyothai or even Siamese Outlaws but we can't forget who was the first source we got to enjoy this kind of movies: JOSEPH LAI'S IFD.

Now, a new company in Sweeden is preparing this title from IFD to be enjoyed on its best way: A remastered dvd, including extra features, different art cover & much more. A definitive edition of this Sombat Methanee's classic.

Here's the cover for Fred Anderson's upcoming DVD release of the Thai killer animal flick THE KILLER ELEPHANTS (to be released on his new ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT label). I'm told the artwork is by Cinehound's Cteve. :D

But The Killer Elephants has got an international career since IFD distributed it all around the world, offering different art covers & even alternative titles. And it is a must see if you really enjoy bizarre asian cinema beyond Hong Kong kung flicks, samuria vendettas from Japan or dramatic comedies from Korea.


Original Thai Poster



New Pressbook from IFD where we can notice they retitled it as Rumbling the Elephants

A screenshot from the spanish fullscreened version


A mexican pressbook for Killer Elephants that was retitled La furia de los elefantes ( Rage of the Elephants)

I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD THE ATTACTAFANT ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES!!!!!!

domingo, 14 de agosto de 2011

Pedro Ernyes & Geoffrey Brown in other hong Kong movies

Pedro Ernyes & Geoffrey Brown were regular actors on IFD & Filmark movies but they also played supporting roles as extras in some big budget movies in Hong Kong. They roles on those movies can't be compared to the ones played by gweilohs like Jonathan Isgar, Mike Abbott or other big names among the western actors who lived inside the industry during the 80's and early 90's. Even so, if we have a sharp eye or we just pay attention to the movies that include western actors, it is not so difficult to find them out among the chinese actors playing party guests, people in restaurants, people walking around & other extra roles in the background.

Pedro Ernyes can be seen in Police Story 2, in the scene where Jackie Chan goes to a restaurant to contact a dynamite seller.

Pedro & other gweiloh fellas are having dinner just to be disturbed by Jackie & two police officers


It seems he liked to work in Jackie Chan movies because he was also in Project A part 2 as one of the Hong Kong Governor's party guest.

Pedro was an ubicous gweiloh in Hong Kong movies: we found him everywhere !!!!


Then, we have Geoffrey Brown who had previously worked with Godfrey Ho in many IFD ninja movies playing both good & bad boy roles with a lot of screen time & dialog lines. He then played a silent ( a quite strange) role in Van Damme's bloodsport, but he was also hired to play a killer in Philip Ko's Angel Mission.

He held a Hi-Fi radio in Bloodsport, but he changed it into a bazooka in Angel Mission

and then we spotted him in an extremely tiny cameo in Shanghai Shanghai!

Geoff & another extra talks in the background while Yuen Biao chats in a main position!


We are still looking for more movies that include these two bad boys from Hong Kong Cinema. Any kind of help will be always welcome!

sábado, 6 de agosto de 2011

Mission Thunderbolt on Youtube

I got surprised someone has put online the full lengh running time of Mission Thunderbolt on Youtube. I don't know if this is licit or not since Mission Thunderbolt is copyrighted by Joseph Lai's IFD.



If you haven't seen it, enjoy this chance to watch it online, but please don't forget try & get a "real original thing" with its cover. These movies must be enjoyed into a TV laying down into a sofa with a lot of beer & some friends, not in a computer screen!.

jueves, 4 de agosto de 2011

Diegong Bayong VCD

Lets say it again: Joseph Lai's IFD didn't use unfinished nor unreleased movies for its cut & paste films. Philip Ko made Platoon The Warriors adding new scenes & re-dubbing a filipino actioner from 1984 titled Diegong Bayong. During the summer of 2009 I was able to find the original movie on VCD in video store inside SM Mall of Asia in Pasay, Manila.


There are a lot of people who still define IFD movies as "bottom of the barrel" films, or as "worst of the cinematic experience". These kind of sentences usually come from people who compare IFD movies with big budgeted movies from Jackie Chan or John Woo. Of course they get dissapointed. It is like if you watch 55 days at Peking expecting to see another chapter from Once Upon a time in China. Both movies are wonderful, both movies are about the colonial time in China, but both movies are totally different & they can't be taken by same measurement.

We must recognice Joseph Lai offered us movies from several asian countries, movies that we would never be able to see if IFD never used them. IFD offer us the chance to discover other action movies from South Korea, Thailand ( before Punna & Tony Jaa arrived), the Philippines & Taiwan. No one talks about this. No one notices it? The easiest way was ( and still is) to despise these motion pictures.

Many of asian action movies fans & collectors have been able to enjoy Sombat Methanee's movies thanks to IFD, the same can be said about Sorapong Chatri's, Anthony Alonzo's, Lu I Chan or Master Lee Dae-Keun & even the korean movies starred by Casanova Wong or Wong Chen Li.

Now it is time to Diegong Bayong & here I offer you some snapshots from the original movie. Enjoy them!




The final battle takes place in an abandoned building that has been used by Philip Ko in many of the movies he shot in the Philippines starred by Yukari Oshima. I remember I have seen this place in movies such as Lethal Panther 2 or Guardian Angel among other titles. The following pics show how that building hadn't changed too much since Diegong Bayong was shot in 1984 until Philip Ko shot there his films at the begining of the 90's.

We have a western moment during the last battle, The police as it happens in most action movies arrives too late to save anyone....our hero waits for them in an heroic pose as Jimmy Wang Yu used to end his films



After this shot, we see the END titles....so it seems Diegong Bayong was a finished movie, right?????

miércoles, 3 de agosto de 2011

Platoon The Warriors Vs Diegong Bayong ( Part 1)

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.

Diegong Bayong 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 48 hereEnlace