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).

Taiwan Black Movies at IFD & Filmark (part 17): Raging Queen

Yet, another entry dedicated to the taiwanese gangster movies released by IFD & Filmark before 2012 ended. I think the blog is becoming a bit boring lately because I have just been focusing it on a single subject, the taiwanese black movies, for the last months. But in the other hand, I am trying my best to identify so many original movies as possible because it is a very good way to enjoy & understand IFD & Filmark movies. I got tired of reading or listening comments such as " IFD ninja movies are the bottom of the barrel ninja movies"...well, once you know how they were "produce", you may change your mind about them and you might realize they were not Ninja movies but gangster movies with new ninja scenes...and then, if you have a minimum interest on rare cinema you will know many of those movies used in the new edition were a portrait of the taiwanese society of that time...and many of those movies are gone forever...

IFD & Filmark got their golden age selling their catalog in economic rising countries during the early & middle 80's. Countries like Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece ( that now are in coming back to the Third World) were main markets for the cheap products Lai & Tang offered. Unluckily many of those copies are also lost and they are even gone from IFD catalog.

When Tomas Tang left Joseph Lai and he founded Filmark, he just followed his ex-pal steps. He bought a bunch of Korean, Thai, Filipino & Taiwanese movies and then some of them were edited with new fotage shot in Hong Kong and some of them were just re-dubbed into English & released in their original form but just making the audience think they were Martial arts movies.

Joseph Lai & Tomas Tang shared the movies they bought together during the Asso Asia time, they had previously bought some movies from director Cheung Chi- Chiu ( aka Richard Chen) such as Deadly Silver Angels or Rainbow force that were released by IFD, but Filmark also kept some movies from that package & released it in the same form. One of those movies Filmark kept was Handsome Vagabond.

Handsome Vagabond was also directed by Cheung Chi-Chiu in 1982 & got almost the same cast & technical teams as the ones above mentioned. So, we found on it people like Eagle Lee, Tattoer Ma or actress Chan Lai Wan that used to be credited by Filmark as Lyon Chan while it was credited as Juliet Chan by IFD...

Once again, this taiwanese movie was titled with different & alternative titles that made it quite difficult to find ind identify. Handsome vagabond was also known as Street fighter 2 and other two or three aka titles in Chinese language. Then Filmark retitled it as Raging Queen for its international release.

Of course, Raging Queen wasn't the Spanish title when it was released on tape, the spanish distributors added another title and eventually Handsome Vagabond arrived to my home as Codigo Mortal ( Mortal Code)

At least, this time, the cover designer didn't  add any ninjas on it, but three white guys fighting to make us think the movie was an american release or something similar.

For Further information about this film, please check it at HKMB

Taiwan Black Movies at IFD & Filmark (part 16): Angel of Fire

2012 is going to be finished soon, I can't tell how happy I am because it has been a horrible year for me. Too many & difficult personal problems came & I had to handle them so good as I could. Anyway, apart from that, it has been a good year for this humble blog. Many good people have helped me to continue this "assigment" of uncover the original movies used by Tomas Tang & Joseph Lai on the films they distributed about 25 years ago.

A kind of revival of IFD & Filmark movies has been felt in the last years.  The fact is more & more websites pay attention to these movies & the people who made them possible. The success of Ninja The Mission Force series is a clear evidence about it. And then,  this  interest on IFD & Filmark movies is also opening new backdoors that let me search for more "fresh" information about the original movies that were used/ distributed by Tang & Lai.

Cheap Taiwanase Gangster movies were bought by IFD & Filmark, some were released on their original form in some mediterranean countries such Spain. It seems Joseph Lai & Tomas Tang bought a package of movies directed by Wang Chung Kuang who was baptised by Filmark & IFD as Chester Wong.

One of these movies was Fighting Duel of Death that maybe is one of the Taiwanese movies with more aka titles of its kind because this 1981 production was also known as Don't Take the Wrong Way or Make a Right Decition and different chinese titles as well. So, Tomas Tang decided to be more creative & titled it Angel of Fire for its international distribution

Buuuuuuuut, the Spanish distributors were beyond Tomas Tang creative team and retitled the movie Emboscada Criminal (Criminal Ambush) for the spanish language market & even added ninjas in the new art cover. As usual, they tried to make us think we would find a martial arts film instead of a gangster drama.

 If you are a die-hard ninja movies fan, you will easily notice the two ninjas in the cover are just a drawing of a scene from the original American Ninja film with Michael Dudikoff on the left facing the Black Star Ninja starred by Tadashi Yamashita on the right.

For more Details about this movie, please check this link to HKMDB

Robert de Ni...... nja

Uno de mis blogs favoritos de toda la red es sin duda AQUI VALE TODO que conducen Naxo Fiol, Victor Olid y Arazt Juanes, los desaprensivos que nos han obsequiado con ese libro maravilloso que es Malas pero Divertidas ( esperando quedo de una segunda parte o mejor aún, de un especie de malas pero divertidas pero sobre cine español u oriental!!!!)...

Ya tengo calado a este trio calavera del cine popular: Arazt es el que más tira de cine oriental, pero del "güeno", Naxo es el del terror y los monstruillos y Victor es el que tiene un gusto mas afín al mio propio...le gusta tó!...

 

De vez en cuando Aqui Vale Todo publica reseñas sobre las pelis de Tomas Tang, Godfrey Ho y/ o la IFD. Ni que decir tiene, que cada post dedicado a estos señores son los que más me gustan y no solo porque haya poca y mala información sobre estas pelis o sus hacedores en castellano, no, es que las reseñas de Aqui Vale Todo sobre las pelis de Ho y compañia no se limitan a reirse de ellas como casi siempre ocurre, sino que además añaden información o detalles que normalmente se pasan por alto. Y por eso mismo pedí permiso para cortar y pegar el texto y las fotos cortesia de Naxo Fiol que a continuacion siguen:

 

"El regreso del ninja" está dirigida por Jimmy Wang y protagonizada por Jimmy Wang Yu (¿ese Yu de más, significa que es el primo del director o él que se lo ha puesto para diferenciar sus tareas de actor con las de director?) y John Laum. El caso es que no la he visto... ni tengo intención alguna de hacerlo. A mi las pelis de ninjas que me gustan son las que sale Sho Kosugi o las que producía Joseph Lai. Pero ya está.
Sin embargo, el otro día localicé su carátula y vi algo que me llamó poderosamente la atención. Veánla....

 

 

¿Lo han notado?. ¿Sí?. ¿No?. Bueno, si la respuesta es negativa, ahora miren esta foto...

 

 

¿Qué?, ¿mejor?. Pues sí, creo que no desvarío si afirmo sin rubor que el ilustrador de la caratula de "El regreso del ninja" tomó esta imagen de Robert De Niro en "El Cazador" como inspiración para poner medio-rostro a su ninja protagonista.
Para estar más seguros, pongámoslas junticas...

 

 

Descarao, ¡hasta la sangre de la ceja!. El caso es que no deja de resultar curioso y, en cierto modo, premonitorio, viendo cómo ha ido evolucionando la carrera del prestigioso actor los últimos años, aceptando protagonizar toda clase de productos así como más de segunda (¡incluso una española!) que poco lustre aportaban a su envidiable curriculum. Dicho de otro modo, que como siga así, no resultaría tan descabellado encontrarnos a De Niro haciendo de ninja... y ¡para "Asylum"! toma ya. Sin compasión.
Últimamente han caído en mis manos muchas caratulas de estas sorprendentes, repletas de trapicheos sucios y demostraciones de poca vergüenza que, a buen seguro, harán las delicias de todos ustedes. Así que sigan visitándonos. En breve, more.