Subject: Hong Kong Video FAQ part 1
Date: 2 Apr 1996 09:40:23 GMT
Summary: Everything you wanted to know about finding Hong Kong movies on video

Hong Kong Movies on Video and Laserdisc

Frequently Asked Questions

Dated April 2, 1996

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By Lars Erik Holmquist
leh@mdstud.chalmers.se

Contributions and corrections are welcome.
Uncredited text is written by me. I cannot guarantee the truth in included
text written by others. I've marked some entires with a ? - this means I'm
unsure of the information given.

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Sections:

  1. Introduction
  2. Hong Kong movie resources on the Internet
  3. Getting Hong Kong movies on video and laserdisc
        o Where do I find Hong Kong films on video/laserdisc?
        o But what about English subtitles?
        o Bootleg copies and a word about quality
        o Why are original Hong Kong videos and laserdiscs so expensive?
        o Why are many movies split up on two tapes / discs?
        o What is Category I / II / III?
        o Why are there different versions of Hong Kong movies?
        o My copy of this movie is 5 minutes shorter than it should be - is
          it cut?
  4. A bluffer's guide to Chinese names
  5. Where can I get HK movie posters/CD:s/t-shirts/etc.?
  6. If all else fails: Mail order
        o Some advice about shopping by mailorder
        o Addresses to mail-order companies
             + Australia
             + Germany
             + Great Britain
             + Holland
             + Sweden
             + USA
  7. Video and laserdisc companies
        o Great Britain
             + East2West
             + Eastern Heroes
             + Made In Hong Kong
             + Missing In Action
             + Popular Progress
        o Hong Kong
             + Cinema City
             + Mei Ah Video Production Co.
             + Ocean Shores
             + Star Entertainment
             + Universe Laser & Video
        o Malaysia
             + Kavein Video
             + Solid Gold
             + Speedy Video
             + Triumph Success HB
        o Taiwan
             + (help needed!)
        o USA
             + NYUE Enterprises
             + Tai Seng Marketing
             + The Voyager Company (The Criterion Laserdisc Collection)
             + World Video & Supply
  8. Bibliography
        o Books
        o Magazines and fanzines

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Introduction

The best way to see a Hong Kong movie is to see it on the big screen, in a
cinema, with a large enthusiastic audience.
Yeah, right, I should be so lucky.
The sad fact is that most of us have to make do with seeing Hong Kong movies
on video. But fortunately, finding Hong Kong movies on video is often easier
than you might think. I hope that this document will help you find the
movies you are looking for.

I'd like to dedicate this FAQ to all the Hong Kong movie fans on the
Internet; everybody who have helped me, and everybody I've been able to
help. That's what friends are for.
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Hong Kong movie resources on the Internet

The Hong Kong Movies WWW-page
URL:http://www.mdstud.chalmers.se/hkmovie/
     Lots of documents, links and a searchable database. The place to go if
     you have a WWW-browser, such as Mosaic, Netscape or Lynx
The alt.asian-movies newsgroup
URL:news:alt.asian-movies
     The discussion forum for Asian movies, dominated by Hong Kong movies
     (but with room for other Asian movies as well)

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Getting Hong Kong movies on video and laserdisc

Where do I find Hong Kong movies on video/laserdisc?

The best place to find Hong Kong films is always at local Chinese shops.
Look around; no matter where you live, you're almost bound to have a Chinese
grocery store somewhere close. And chances are they will have movies. You
may have to ask around a bit, you may have to go to the store and talk to
the owners a few times to gain their confidence, perhaps develop a taste for
Chinese rice - but don't give up!
To help you along, there's Hong Kong Movies around the World, which is a
listing of shops that carry Hong Kong movies on video. Maybe somebody's
already discovered a shop close to you!
When you find a shop, they might have the movies out on the shelves, in
boxes, so you can easily pick a movie by the English title. But it's also
possible that they have bootleg copies of some kind, with the label only
marked in chinese. Then you'll have to be a bit more creative. Find pictures
of actors you want to see, try to get the names of actors and movies in
Chinese (in Chinese writing, or a transcription of the title in Cantonese or
Mandarin). The Bluffer's guide to Chinese names might come in handy here, as
will the Hong Kong Movies Database.
One big disadvantage with Chinese video shops is that they usually only
carry the most recent films. If you're looking for a movie that is more than
a few years old, you might have to resort to mail order.

But what about English subtitles?

Most Hong Kong movies on video have english subtitles! English is still an
official language in Hong Kong, and every movie shown is requiered by law to
be subtitled in English. The law doesn't actually seem to cover videos, but
since videos (and discs) are usually mastered from theater prints, they
automatically have subtitles.
But even though a movie has subtitles, there's no guarantee they'll be
legible! All movies that are subtitled in English for the Asian market are
also subtitled in Chinese, and the English subtitles do not have a very high
priority. They are often extremely badly done, often incomprehensible, and
what's worse is that since they're on the bottom of the screen (below the
Chinese subtitles) they'll frequently slide out of the picture all together.
This is something that you'll simply have to get used to. Fortunately,
things have become much better in recent years, now that most video labels
release virtually all their releases letterboxed.

Bootleg copies and a word about quality

When you rent your first Hong Kong movies on tape or even laserdisc, you
might get a shock. Screechy sound, splicy and grainy source material,
subtitles sliding off the screen, widescreen compositions ruined by
non-letterboxed transfers, and a video picture quality that looks like it is
several generations removed from the master tape - welcome to Hong Kong
videoland! Actually, things are mostly not quite as bad as that - most of
the Hong Kong video labels have shaped up admirably during recent years and
now offer crisp-looking letterboxed transfers of their films, often (but not
always) in hi-fi. But even so, Hong Kong video quality in general is a cut
below most western countries; this is just something you'll have to live
with.
Apart from the sometimes less-than-perfect video quality, another thing you
will notice about Hong Kong movies on video is the proliferation of
unauthorised copies - bootlegs. These range from the cam-corder bootlegs,
which are cheaply filmed inside cinemas (with audience in attendance) and
rushed into stores only days after the movie premiere, to the slick
laser-disc bootlegs which sometimes surpass the legal releases in quality.
It's also common that a shop buys only one copy of every release and then
makes as many copies as are needed from that to rent and sell. Video
companies seem unable or unwilling to do anything about this, but are
countering with high prices and by splitting up releases on two tapes/discs.

You'll also see many companies advertising "public domain" copies of Hong
Kong movies in fanzines, mostly with the phrase "Sold from one collector to
another - no rights given or implied" somewhere in the ad. It's up to you if
you want to patronize these businesses, but you should be aware of that very
few Hong Kong movies are actually in the public domain the USA - most of
them are released in the USA by Tai Seng Marketing, and it is a crime to
sell bootleg copies of them. Also, with bootlegs clocking in at $20 when
legal tapes can be bought for around $30, bootlegs are not a particularly
good deal. If you think legal tapes are too expensive, why not team up with
a friend and buy half the titles each - then you get to see movies at a
lower price than if you'd bought bootleg tapes of them, and the quality will
be much better.

Why are original Hong Kong videos and laserdiscs so expensive?

An original Hong Kong tape costs approximately US $50, and a laserdisc $100.
And since many popular films are split up on two tapes/discs, you'll
actually have to pay twice that amount! This goes for brand new films; when
a release has been out a few months, prices drop, often dramatically.
The market for sell-through releases is very small in Hong Kong, which means
that releases are priced for rental (new rental films are expensive in the
West as well). But the most obvious reason for the high prices is of course
video piracy; for every legal release sold there will be at least a dozen
copies, so companies have to get good profit from the stuff they actually
sell.

Why are many movies split up on two tapes / discs?

This is another trick by video companies to get more money per movie. Most
movies would fit on a single tape or disc, but if it is a sure seller (the
rule of thumb is that it has made more than HK $10 million in the box
office) a movie will be split up in two parts no matter how short it is. In
the case of laserdiscs you might be hoping that this at least would result
in the movie being released in CAV (since there's enough room on two discs)
but don't bet on it; many two-disc releases are in CLV, and many of the CAV
ones are so incompetently made that the still picture is unstable anyway.

What is category I / II / III?

Different movie ratings, indicating the level of sex/violence. Category I is
suitable for children; category II (the most common) is "family films",
which may be quite violent, though there is never any sex or nudity. And
finally, category III are either extremely violent films, or films with some
(or a lot of) sex/nudity. (You might think that Category III movies are
always uncut, but this is not necessarily the case. Several Category III
movies - Untold Story is one example - have been edited before the video
release.)
Mostly, the rating is only indicated on the video jacket with a roman
numeral in a triangle. But recently, most video companies have started to
also reproduce a legal document which indicates what category the film is.
If you study it closely, you can sometimes find out whether the movie had to
be edited before release.

Why are there different version of Hong Kong films?

Films are altered for many different reasons. The obvious one is censorship:
many countries are not as lenient about screen violence as Hong Kong, and
therefore sometimes trim movies considerably. Films are also sometimes
trimmed in Hong Kong to get them into the Category II. Other countries, like
Malaysia, might find even the innocuos erotic contents of some Hong Kong
movies too much, and trim the movie accordingly.
Furthermore, a film might premiere in one version in a country and then be
altered before it reaches the next. Often, Hong Kong movies open in Taiwan
several months before they open in HK, and in the meantime they can be
altered quite substantially - for instance, The Killer lost 25 minutes
between the Taiwanese and HK versions. The reasons for shortening a film are
many; often it is done to improve the films pacing, or distributors may
simply want a shorter film to be able to squeeze in more showings per day.
But it is not necessarily so that the longest version of a movie is the best
one, or the one that most reflects the intentions of its creator; in the
case of The Killer, for instance, the 110 minute version is the one that
John Woo approves of and not the original 135 minute cut.
Many Hong Kong films are also edited to suit other the tastes of other
cultures; for instance, most English dubbed versions of Jackie Chan's film
contain less humour and slapstick than the orignal Hong Kong versions.
Similarly, the English dubbed version of A Better Tomorrow has had all
Chinese music on the soundtrack replaced by bland disco-tunes - which,
needless to say, ruins the picture. Alterations like these are done to make
a Hong Kong movie more "commercial" - i.e. less Chinese, and less like a
Hong Kong movie.
When the films are released on video or disc, anything can happen. A
distriubutor might find the film to long to fit on one tape, and cut it
accordingly (this often happens in Malaysia). Another distributor might get
a different version than what was shown in cinemas. And so on; the
possiblities are truly endless.

My copy of this film is 5 minutes shorter than it should be! Is it cut?

Not necesarrily. Two copies of the same film may actually be identical, even
though they have different running times. Becuase of different projection
speeds, movies in the NTSC video format (USA, Japan) run longer than exactly
the same movie in PAL (Hong Kong, some of Europe).
To get the right running times you have to do some maths:

   * PAL running time = NTSC running time * 24 / 25
   * NTSC running time = PAL running time * 25 / 24

The NTSC running time is the same as that of the movie when projected on
film.
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A bluffer's guide to Chinese names

If you walk into a chinese video shop and ask for films with "Jet Li", or
"John Woo" films, or for "A Chinese Ghost Story", the only thing you're
likely to get is a blank stare. Just about all Hong Kong films have English
names, but these probably mean very little to your friendly Chinese shop
assistant!
Most actors and directors working in Hong Kong have taken English first
names, which they use in conjunction with their Chinese family names in
English credits. To make matters even more confusing, the sur-name is
actually the first name in Chinese. And further adding to the confusion is
that the same actor may go under different names in different the Chinese
dialects Mandarin and Cantonese. For instance, Jet Li's Mandarin name is Li
Lian Je while his Cantonese name is Li Lin Git.

Here is a small guide to some famous actors and actresses. There's only room
for a few well-know actors and stars here; for more, check out the Hong Kong
Movie Database.
The Cantonese name is a phonetic approximation. The Mandarin name is
suitable for conversion to Chinese signs with a program such as hz2ps.

Actors / actresses

Jackie Chan
        o Cantonese: Sing Lung
        o Mandarin: Cheng2 Long2
Stephen Chow
        o Cantonese: Jau Sing Chi
        o Mandarin: Zhou1 Xing1 Chi2
Chow Yun Fat
        o Cantonese: Jau Yun Faat
        o Mandarin: Zhou1 Run4 Fa1
Maggie Cheung
        o Cantonese: Jeung Maan Yuk
        o Mandarin: Zhang1 Man4 Yu4
Samo Hung
        o Cantonese: Hung Kam Bao
        o Mandarin: Hong2 Jin1 Bao3
Michelle Yeoh (previosuly known as Michelle Khan)
        o Cantonese: Yeung Ji King
        o Mandarin: Yang2 Zi3 Qiong2
Jet Li
        o Cantonese: Lei Lin Git
        o Mandarin: Li3 Lian2 Jie2
Brigitte Lin
        o Cantonese: Lam Ching Ha
        o Mandarin: Lin2 Qing1 Xia2
Anita Mui
        o Cantonese: Mooi Yim Fong
        o Mandarin: Mei2 Yan4 Fang1
Joey Wong
        o Cantonese: Wong Jo Yin
        o Mandarin: Wang2 Zu3 Xian2

Directors

Tsui Hark
        o Cantonese: Chui Ha
        o Mandarin: Xu2 Ke4
John Woo
        o Cantonese: Ng Yu Sum
        o Mandarin: Wu2 Yu3 Sen1

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Where can I get HK movie posters / CD:s / t-shirts / etc.?

Your best bet is, once again, to check out Chinese shops. They might have
soundtrack CD:s or poster, or might be able to help you to order them.
Otherwise, try these:

David Lo

P.O. Box 34330
Philadelphia, PA 19101

"I know a place that does mail order business. I ordered from them before
and they do really reliable business."
- Liz (JIGSAW2@news.delphi.com)

Dragon Art

P. O. Box 9307
N. Hollywood
CA  91609
(818) 766-3062

Be careful - there's been complaints about lost stuff, and the company seems
to be in trouble:
"I called Gere LaDue's place a couple of weeks ago to ask her something, and
the message on her answering machine stated "This is no longer Dragon Art.
You can reach them at --" and proceeded to rattle off the P.O. Box address.
So I have no idea who's in charge now; according to that message, Dragon Art
is still in operation, but by whom I have no idea." Curtis Kam-Tin Tsui
ckt0001@jove.acs.unt.edu "Some tips for ordering from Dragon art:

  1. Do send a SASE, as we can then just insert the catalog and send it
     right back to you.
  2. Enlose an itemized list--preferrably the one from the catalog--so we
     can easily check in the order and process it.
  3. Make note of availabily and list alternatives as necessary. This way if
     we can't get you the exact item you want, there is no time wasted in
     getting you an alternative.
  4. If you are writing with just an inquiry about information, please also
     send an SASE so we can quickly get you the answers you seek!
  5. BE PATIENT! We really do want to get you your order but it will take
     some time. We will soon be sending out confirmation notices to those of
     you place orders so you will know your order has been received and is
     being dealt with."

- Suzanna M

Joe Smart

Joe Smart
P.O. Box 118073
Chicago, IL 60611-8073

e-mail: jsmart8836@aol.com

Has been advertising lobby cards and posters for HK movies on the
alt.asian-movies newsgroup. Not cheap...

Sound of China

London
Great Britain

phone: 071 7341970

"I don't think they have a proper mail order system but they sent me the
soundtrack to Rumble in the Bronx and some other Jackie Chan album with love
songs on it (don't know what it's called coz I can't read chinese) both on
CD for stg16.00 each including postage."
- Thomas Needham (d93tn@causeway.infc.ulst.ac.uk)
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If all else fails: Mail order

Some advice about shopping by mail-order

If you're absolutely, 100% sure that there are no Chinese shops where you
live, you may have to resort to mail order. This is also usually the only
way to find older movies, since Chinese stores seldom keep older movies.
When ordering by mail order, it pays to be a little bit cautious, especially
when ordering from smaller firms like those advertising in Psychtronic Video
and other fanzines. In the USA, there are many one-man mail-order operations
- or rather one man and two VCR:s - which sell copies of "public domain"
titles. (Most Hong Kong movies are quite definitely not in the public domain
in the USA, and it is a crime to sell bootleg tapes of them, but this
doesn't seem to worry some people. Maybe they have good lawyers.) Many of
these companies are very unstable and likely to disappear at any moment.
Therefore, always check if a company takes major credit cards: that means
that they at least are up to some kind of minimal legal standards; and pay
with card if you've got one. Don't just send a cheque to somebody on the
basis of an ad, no matter how cheap they are or how many movies they seem to
have. Preferably, you should talk to someone with personal experience of the
company, or at the very least make sure that they are reachable by phone
before you send money.
Because of stronger copyright laws, bootlegs mail-order outfits are much
less common in Europe, but still exist - especially when it comes to Hong
Kong movies.

Some good sources for mail order addresses are:

The Cult Video FAQ
     Many addresses to mail-order services specializing in unusual movies
The Offbeat Video Sourcebook
     Describes video distributors of all types, including Asian
Video Watchdog Special Edition
     This yearly, book-size magazine has a "source directory" with many
     useful addresses
Psychotronic Video
     Lots and lots of advertisements by bootleg video dealers - I recommend
     that you be very careful when ordering from these ads!
Other movie magazines - Empire, Premiere, Film Threat, video magazines, etc.
     Check for advertisements!

Mail order addresses

Here are a few mail-order companies to get you going. But remember: I
haven't done any business whith most of them, so don't blame me if they turn
out to be crooks! Please send me any good/bad experiences you might have
with the companies listed here.

Australia

CHINATOWN MAIL ORDER

13 Charlotte Lane
East Sydney  2010
Australia
Phone/fax  (02) 360 7582

"Brett Garten is the guy who runs this and he is very quick with orders (fax
to make sure he has goods in stock) He also has posters, pressbooks, zines
and all sorts of videos including all Made in Hong Kong and Eastern Heroes
stuff. Write for a catalogue. I order from him all the time and know he is
reliable. Tell people about it as he is the best mail order place i have
dealt with, plus he gets all the best stuff, he won't sell anything that is
not of excellent quality."
- creepy@iconz.co.nz

Germany

Incredibly Strange Video

P.O. Box 620464
D-10794 Berlin
Germany

tel/fax 010 49/30 215 17 70

"Imports, rarities & deletions (all PAL factory-boxed originals). Send 1 IRC
for latest list."
Might sell HK videos; worth a try... (Don't forget that most movies released
in Germany are dubbed into German!)

Great Britain

Eastern Entertainment

PO BOX 26
Leeds
West Yorkshire, LS25 7XE
England

"I have no personal experience with them, but I think they sell low quality
copies with photocopy covers."
- Mika Kajala (mkajala@mits.mdata.fi)

Eastern Heroes

3A Buck Street
Camden Town
London
NW1 89J
United Kingdom

A great source for Hong Kong videos, magazines and books. Have a reputation
for being somewhat on the sluggish side when it comes to filling orders by
mail, so a personal visit is to be preferred.

Mr. Benson`s Video Portfolio

375 Harrow Road
London W9 3BR
ENGLAND

tel. (081) 960 4868
fax (081) 969 7211

WWW: http://www.info.co.uk/bensons.videos/default.html

Carry all British releases.

"Nice people, quick service."
- Antti Niskakoski (antnis@utu.fi)

Pastel Blue

e-mail: Mike@pastel.demon.co.uk
URL:http://www.demon.co.uk/pastel/

Take orders by e-mail, and have an extensive on-line catalogue.

Holland

Cult Video

P.O. Box 55670
1007 ND Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Most John Woo films, and many other modern-day action movies from Hong Kong,
have been released in Holland in English language versions with Dutch
subtitles. Becuase of the country's lenient censorship laws Holland is a
popular source for uncut videos.

Sweden

Melody Line

Box 2163
S-403 13 Goteborg
Sweden

tel. 031-17 39 50

Good source for British imports; all British releases are in stock or can be
ordered.

USA

Asian Television Video

328 S.E. 82nd Ave.
Portland, OR  97216
phone (503) 256-0866
fax (503) 257-6666

"They have great service and the best prices. Tapes are $30 and prices go
even lower if you buy a bunch. The owner's name is Chuck Lee and he is a
member of the Jackie Chan Fan Club. He will be sure you get exactly what you
want, e.g., Cantonese, subtitled, etc. He is selling legitimate copies of
Jackie's and other Hong Kong movies. Let him know you heard about him from
the fan club."
- Joy. C. Al-Sofi (chanfansus@aol.com)

Advantage Video

P.O. BOX 5224
Willowick, OH 44095
USA
e-mail: advantag@aol.com

Free catalog.

"They've been around for a number of years and have about a thousand
different Hong Kong titles. Mostly Martial Arts. I've bought Tai Seng,
World, Ocean Shores and others from them and had no problems. They do carry
a few others that are listed as fair quality, but they are really hard to
find titles. (from the early '70's) Looks like their just starting to carry
Lasers too! Catalogs are free."
- Dean (WhatWong@aol.com)

"Advantage Video are reliable in answering letters but I've had problems
with their e-mail address. Mailings bounced back on the grounds that the
address is not an official one."
- Tony Williams (TONYW@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU)

Blue Laser

Blue Laser
54 Hazard Ave.
Suite 105
Enfield CT 06082

e-mail: hongkongld@aol.com

Specialize in Hong Kong discs - I've seen them recommended by several
people.
"They're a great company but they AIN'T CHEAP."
-Ken (crowspants@delphi.com)

Chinese Books & Periodicals

(415-282-2994)

"They sell chinese movies on video via mail order. (I don't work for the
company -- I'm just a customer.)"
-Julie Keeler

Da-Wei Films Unlimited

PO Box 24513
Los Angeles, CA  90024
310-838-7101
e-mail: DFears@Getty.edu

Formerly known as Eastern Way Films.
"Prices are $36.95 per tape (I'm an authorized dealer, no bootlegging!) I've
got a constantly updated catalogue and like to discuss films with anyone by
phone or on the Internet."
- owner David Fears

"I really like them -- have gotten several titles from them. They have an
excellent selection, and their catalog is pretty informative, worth getting
just to read it, in my opinion."
- Michael Perry (schlock@netcom.com)

Facets Multimedia, Inc.

1517 West Fullerton Avenue
Chicago IL 60614
1-800-331-6197
e-mail: sales@facets.org

Good source for foreign language films, art films, etc. A non-profit
organization (!) with "over 23,000 titles for sale and/or rental through the
mail."
You can e-mail them for their Hong Kong Action Cinema Catalog; just remember
to include your real (snail-mail) address. They claim the catalog contains
"all those hard-to-find Chinese action videos that you've been searching
for! This new catalog contains films by John Woo, Jackie Chan, Poon Man Kit,
Eric Tsang, Yuang Ho-Ping and more."

Far East Flix

59-13 68th Ave.
Ridgewood, N.Y. 11385
(718)381-6757 phone/fax
Mon-Sat 11am-7pm

FEF have a good reputation on the 'net for being knowledgeable and reliable.

"Just thought I'd let you know that the "final and definitive" catalog for
FEF is now out. They have come out with an 8.5 x 11 copy of their 'log and
have added some things and changed others around. There are good things and
bad things about this. First, the bad news. Videos are in NTSC format only,
and all titles are now $20 except where noted (up from $19/each.) The videos
sold for $39.95 are "sold as boxed, covered and licensed original tapes".
The good news now, they also sell laser discs! You have to call them for
availability before ordering. Now I don't own a LD player, but some of those
disks seemed expensivee! (ex. $95 disks are single disks while $180 disks
are 2-disc sets). FEF carries HK films, and Japanese Sci-Fi and
Action/drama. I have no affiliation with FEF, I've just bought from them
before and liked what I received."
- Eric Fong (stalker@uclink2.berkeley.edu)

Foxx Entertainment Enterprises

327 West Laguna Drive
Tempe AZ 85282
602-829-1365

"Lots of HK stuff (on the expensive side) plus a VSoM-like collection, but
cheap -- presently $14 or $14.50 plus shipping. I've ordered several of the
latter. Reasonably quick service, nice people."
- Louis Smogor (paradox@depauw.edu) "I ordered some *non* hong kong films
through them twice. The first time it took maybe 4 or 5 weeks. The second
time took a little longer but when I called him to find out what the delay
was he politely explained that they were in the process of moving and that
it would be soon. So, I will vouch for their honesty and reputation. They
have a great selection and fairly good prices on what I ordered."
- B. Ridge (bridge1@u.washington.edu)

International Film Circuit

20 Nassau St., Suite 244
Princeton NJ 08542

"Chinese films."
- Dennis L Murry (murry@agora.rdrop.com)

J.A.R.S. Video Collectibles

14 St. Johns Road
Ridgewood, NY 11385
phone (718) 456-0603
fax (718) 417-5771

Prices are stiff, but these guys have the abolutely biggest collection of
older martial-arts stuff anywhere. Try them if you're looking for
Shaw-brothers stuff - and they have more Bruce Le/Li/Lo/etc. movies than you
thought ever possible! Also rental by mail.

"J.A. R.S. is run by Joe Ragus whom I've spoken with on the phone. Very
reliable and honest. Sold me BLOOD BROTHERS (Chang Cheh) and King Hu's
DRAGON GATE INN, the latter of which I've searched for to compare with the
Tsui Hark production. Both good quality and speedy delivery."
- Tony Williams (TONYW@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU)

Ng Hing Kee of LA

518 W. Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

TEL: 818-284-4861
FAX: 818-284-6978

"I have found a place that does mail order video, laser disk. They also do
novels, books and all. I do not work for them or anything like that. I just
moved 60+ miles away and now they are my success for videos. Tell them that
a friend of DQ sent you."
- Ming Tshing (ming@coyote.rain.org)

Picture Palace

e-mail: PicPal@ix.netcom.com
URL:http://www.ids.net/picpal/

Have a very nice online catalogue with lots of exotic movies and a great
deal of additional information.

They have had some trouble getting stuff, but hope to have it sorted out:
"We will now be selling newer tapes, laser discs and also posters from Tai
Seng, and we won't be getting them from these slowpokes we have dealt with
before."

Samurai Video

PO Box 372
Suffern, NY 10901
914-357-5141
914-357-0780 (fax)

"Mostly Japanese films, of, not surprisingly, the Chambara sort. They have a
few HK titles as well. "
- Louis Smogor (paradox@depauw.edu)

Sight & Sound

27 Jones Road
Waltham MA, 02154
USA

phone (617) 894-8633

Specialists in imported laserdiscs. The Japanes and Hong Kong Import
Laserdisc Catalog (Volume 4) is extremely expensive at $39.95, but at 420
pages is quite probably worth the money.

Sinister Cinema

P.O. Box 4369
Medford, OR 97501-0168

Phone# 1-503-773-6860

Some public-domain titles, including Master of the Flying Guilliotine.
Sinister master from film, which makes their quality better than most dupe
companies.

Video Action

708 West First Street
La, CA 90012
Call Toll Free 18004222241

"They stock all asian films particularly samurai films."
- rons665@aol.com

Video Search of Miami

PO Box 16-1917
Miami, FL 33186
(305) 279-9773

e-mail VSoM@aol.com

VSoM specialize in "transfer copies" (i.e. bootlegs) of movies that are hard
to get in the US, but also sell original Tai Seng tapes. Prices are about
$30 ppd for bootlegs, $40 for originals ($60 for double-tape releases). They
have a reputation for being very quick and efficient in filling orders, but
they are also well known for selling video copies of often extremely low
quality.
They claim that all their copies are "2:nd generation or better", but anyone
who's dealt with them can tell you that this is an outright lie. Of the
dozen or so VSoM Hong Kong bootleg tapes I looked at in 1993 and 1994, half
were totally unwatchable, the rest were mostly very bad, and only a few were
what I'd call acceptable (2nd-3rd generation copy quality). And from what
I've seen of their recent tapes, the quality hasn't got any better. My
advise is to buy from other dealers unless you're absolutely certain that
the movie you want can't be found anywhere else.
Don't confuse VSoM:s bootleg tapes with the legal Tai Seng tapes; these are
sold by many other dealers, and vary in quality - but are never as bad as
these so-called "transfer copies".
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Video and laserdisc companies

Great Britain

Video system
        o Tapes: PAL
        o laserdiscs: PAL

Due to the severe video censorship laws, the Chinese video shops that are so
common in most other countries are virtually non-existent in Britain. All
videos have to be certified by the British Board of Film Classification,
which is a costly process. Non-certified videos are illegal to sell no
matter how harmless the content, which effectively rules out all imported
videos.
However, thanks to the work of new video labels like Made in Hong Kong,
Britain is quickly becoming the best country in the world for affordable
releases of Hong Kong movies on video. Most tapes are fairly cheap - about
13 (US$20) - and with several companies specialized in HK movies, there
shouldn't be a shortage of interesting releases in the future.

Apart from the listed companies, there are various noteworthy one-shot
releases, like prestige label Tartan's definitive tape release of
Hardboiled.

East2West

Language
     Cantonese
Subtitles
     English and Chinese
Letterboxing
        o Tapes: Yes
Hi-Fi sound
        o Tapes: Yes
Subjective picture quality (1-10)
     6 (low quality tape used)
Tape copy protection
     No
Notable releases
     Wicked City
Other comments
     Only one Hong Kong release yet, but hopefully more to come.
Adress
     East2West Films/Labyrinth Video
     32 Leighton Road
     Kentish Town
     London NW 2QE
     United Kingdom

Eastern Heroes

Language
     Cantonese
Subtitles
     English and Chinese
Letterboxing
        o Tapes: Yes
Hi-Fi sound
        o Tapes: Yes
Subjective picture quality (1-10)
     Variable from acceptable to excellent
Tape copy protection
     No
Notable releases
     Lots of trashy lowbudget HK movies; Holy Virgin vs. The Evil Dead,
     Escape from Brothel etc.
Other comments
     The renaming of some movies is annoying (The Last Blood was released
     under the ludicruous title Hardboiled 2!) The positive reviews on the
     covers are usually from Eastern Heroes' own publications.
     Has a shop in London at 3a Buck Street (near the Camden Town subway
     station); tel (0171) 284 4032
Adress

Made in Hong Kong

Language
        o Shaw Brothers movies are English dubbed
        o Other movies are in Cantonese
Subtitles
     All have English subtitles, either English only in the black area below
     the letterboxed image, or English/Chinese subtitles on the movie image
Letterboxing
        o Tapes: Yes (classics are in Shaw-scope!)
        o Laserdiscs: Yes
Hi-Fi sound
        o Tapes: Yes
        o Laserdiscs: Yes
Tape copy protection
     Yes
Subjective picture quality (1-10)
     Variable
Notable releases
     Many John Woo movies, including The Killer and on tape and laserdisc;
     God of Gamblers; Saviour of the Soul; lots of classic kung fu stuff
     including Drunken Master and Seven Deadly Venoms. Upcoming releases
     include Heroic Trio I and II; Full Contact and A Chinese Ghost Story.
Other comments
     A company with a lot of good movies in their line - though personally I
     give most of the Shaw Brothers movies a miss. Picture quality seems to
     vary a lot depending on the quality of the masters they can get.
Address
     231 Portobello Road
     London W11 1LT
     England
     URL: http://www.hardnet.co.uk/madeinhongkong/

Missing in Action

Language
     Cantonese on box sets, otherwise dubbed in English
Subtitles
     Box sets have new English subtitles
Letterboxing
        o Tapes: Box sets yes; other, varies
Hi-Fi sound
        o Tapes: Yes
Tape copy protection
     No
Subjective picture quality (1-10)
        o A Better Tomorrow box set: 7
Notable releases
     Boxed tape set of A Better Tomorrow with various extras; Police Story;
     Cinema of Vengeance (documentary). Upcoming releases include Iron
     Angels I and II.
Other comments
Adress

Popular Progress

Language
        o Tapes: English
Letterboxing
        o Tapes: ?
Hi-Fi sound
        o Tapes: Yes
Tape copy protection
     No
Subjective picture quality (1-10)
        o Tapes: ?
Notable releases
     Many modern-day action movies, including Dragons Forever, Force of the
     Dragon and Tiger Cage
Other comments
     Too bad about the English dubbing!
Adress

Hong Kong

Video system:
        o Tapes: PAL
        o Laserdiscs: NTSC

Hong Kong video releases have been getting much better in the last few years
and most companies now release their movies letterboxed on both tape and
disc. Virtually all movies are released both on tape and laserdisc, but
releases often lag several months behind countries like Taiwan and Malaysia.

Cinema City

Language
        o Tapes: Cantonese
        o Laserdiscs: Cantonese / Mandarin
Subtitles
     English and Chinese
Letterboxing
        o Tapes: No
        o Laserdiscs: Yes
Hi-Fi sound
        o Tapes: No
        o Laserdiscs: Yes
Tape copy protection
     No
Subjective picture quality (1-10)
        o Tapes: 4-6
        o Laserdiscs: Extremely variable; The KIller looks ghastly, while
          Swordsman is almost perfect
Notable releases
     Most John Woo movies; A Chinese Ghost Story I-III; Swordsman I-III;
     most movies with Chow Yun Fat
Other comments
-- 
.- Lars Erik Holmquist
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hong Kong Movies Homepage:
.http://www.mdstud.chalmers.se/hkmovie/
