sting of the superspy

Found these lobbycards on Ebay sometime ago for what looks to be a swinging spy flick starring a young Josephine Siao Fong-Fong (Fong Sai Yuk), Wu Fung (who was a leading man, not that I knew from the goofy cameos I came to know him from in the HK stuff I started watching in the late 80s) and Roy Chiao Hung (A Touch of Zen and Enter The Fat Dragon).

From 1967, Operation Blue Wasp aka The Blue Bees!

pages and pages of Category III

Slow on posting this as Grady over at Kaiju Shakedown got the news earlier, but coming soon from pal of Kung Fu Fridays, Julien Seveon, is his long awaited book, "Category III, sexe, sang et politique à Hong Kong" (Category III : sex, blood and politics in Hong Kong). Can't wait for this one - hardcover, 330 pages, with analysis and interviews with many leading figures including Simon Yam, Billy Tang, Herman Yau, Hsu Chi. Plus its loaded with hundreds of rare and never before seen photos/ lobby cards/ posters, many of which come from the collection of yours truly! Hope to get more information on how it can be ordered online! Meanwhile, here is the link for the French publisher.

keep it "tight!"

the real Balls of Fury...

Just stumbled across this two part ad for the camera Nokia N96 cell phone with "Bruce Lee" playing ping ping with his nunchucks. and doing a variety of other fun tricks. Practice these for winning bar tricks. You'll make a killing on the road as a kung fu grifter. Now give me a free phone, please Nokia.

a video after my own heart...

For those of you not getting the reference, the name of my personal business is Ultra 8 Pictures, named after a cool t-shirt that my friend Steve brought me from Japan that had an "Ultra 8" logo on it --- as in Ultraman, the joke being that the series ended at Ultra Seven and there is no "Ultra 8". That is til me, and then later, the reunion series called "Ultraman 8".



This brief post has been brought to you courtesy of my pal Mike who directed my attention to this video by Bloc Party for the song "Flux."

some things never change...

A behind the scenes shot of HK director Wong Jing on the set of KING ZOMBIE (Yau Ji Geung Bai Am Lynn Nei which literally is "The Zombie Who Loves You Secretly"). Found over at Monkey Peaches. Photos from www.mtime.com.

"A group of young models come to a remote island for some swimsuit shoot and a cursed zombie is awakened by accident..."

Dec 1st - Free screening of ENTER THE FAT DRAGON!!!

If you live in or nearby Toronto, Christmas treats are being delivered early this year with a FREE screening of the Kung Fu Fridays cult favourite, ENTER THE FAT DRAGON, starring Sammo Hung! 35mm print! Big Screen Thrills! Be sure to show up early to get a seat!

Monday December 1st - 7:00 PM
Innis Hall - 2 Sussex Avenue
ENTER THE FAT DRAGON
1978 / Hong Kong / Cantonese with English Subtitles / 89 mins
Director: Sammo Hung
Martial Arts Director: Sammo Hung
Cast: Sammo Hung, Li Hai-sheng, Leung Kar Yan, Roy Chiao, Feng Ko-an,

Time to relearn the one of the first cinematic combat styles taught in the temple of the late, lamented Kung Fu Fridays with Enter The Fat Dragon, starring Hong Kong fight flick legend, Sammo Hung. In this rollicking tribute and loving send-up of the legacy of Bruce Lee, Sammo plays a farm boy who comes to Hong Kong to work for his uncle. He idolizes Lee and attempts to act like him, fight like him and even dress like him, every chance he gets, leading to a mix up with a bunch of crooks who kidnap the girl he has a crush on. Sammo had worked with Lee on Enter the Dragon, appearing as a Shaolin fighter who spars with Lee at the beginning of the film. His respect for the screen icon shows as every scowl, thumbed nose, shriek, and hand gesture is nailed down perfectly. Loads of laughs and the last reel is chock full of wild fights as Sammo dukes it out with a European boxing champion, a black karate expert a la Jim Kelly from Enter the Dragon, and a Chinese kung fu master of played by Leung Kar Yan, who played the bad guy in several Kung Fu Fridays picks including The Victim, My Life Is On The Line and Five Kung Fu Daredevil Heroes. Without a doubt, Enter The Fat Dragon is one of Sammo Hung's most entertaining films and the features the best imitation of Bruce Lee ever seen on screen. Many thanks to Rob King for making this screening possible!

Check this clip from the flick!

beaten to a pulp (fiction)

posters from over there and here

Here are some Japanese eiga chirashi I found while browsing on eBay today. They are the little movie flyers that are found in cinema lobbies. They always have striking designs. Also, I found some Taiwanese posters for I LOVE MARIA and BUTTLERFLY MURDERS. Sweet!

Teruo Ishii's JIGOKU

John Woo's BULLET IN THE HEAD

SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE

Hideo Gosha's HITOKIRI

Tsui Hark's THE BUTTERFLY MURDERS

I LOVE MARIA (don't we all?)

Bruce Lee Friday

Just stumbled across the news of the Chinese 50 episode TV series The Legend of Bruce Lee over at Kaiju Shakedown, which in turn got the news from Mark Pollard's great site, Kung Fu Cinema.

Bruce Lee finally comes to mainland China. That’s the angle many news outlets are taking in describing THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE, a 50-part prime time TV series described as a “biography” of the famed martial artist and film star that begins airing on state-sponsored Chinese television on Sunday. Despite dozens of films and TV series from Hong Kong, the U.S. and elsewhere that have depicted Bruce Lee and his life ever since his premature death in 1973, no attempt has been made by mainland Chinese producers, at least on this scale, to cover this topic until now.

Read the full story here including details on the involvement of Mark Dacascos (BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF), Ray Park (STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE - THE PHANTOM MENACE), and Gary Daniels (CITY HUNTER). Here is an extended trailer (which just seems to be a loop of various versions of the credit sequences.



And in celebration of this series, here are a number of Bruce-sploitation themed posters including a HOT black light poster I scored on eBay a few years ago. Enjoy!

brand name punching

As I looked up YouTube stuff for Chiu Man Chuk, I came across these martial arts star ads. Bland for the most part, especially the Tony Jaa auto ad, but Donnie Yen always looks sooooo sharp.

Donnie Yen - Asahi Super Dry



Donnie Yen - Chilwee



Tony Jaa - Mitsubishi Triton Plus

big screen beggar

Over at Kaiju Shakedown, Grady posts about the new Yuen Woo Ping film, TRUE LEGEND , the story of martial arts folk hero, Beggar So. This is fitting as the director's father, Yuen Siu Tien who played the character in several movies, the most famous being Jackie Chan's SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW and THE DRUNKEN MASTER.

This time around, in the role of Beggar So, is Zhao Wen-zhou (Vincent Chiu Man Chuk), who appeared as the bad guy in FONG SAI YUK and then replaced Jet Li in the Wong Fei Hong role for UPON A TIME IN CHINA 4 & 5 and dazzled audiences in Tsui Hark's THE BLADE and GREEN SNAKE, only to fade away from the big screen to various television series (including the Tsui Hark produced Wong Fei Hong series and a Singapore Fong Sai Yuk series). Last thing I saw him in was FIST POWER, which, while ridiculous was at least entertaining. It was also one of the last films I saw at the old Golden Harvest Cinema up in the 'burbs of Toronto. Sadly, that cinema is now more.

I have good memories of Chiu Man Chuk (as he introduced himself) when I was able to host him for the Toronto edition of Fantasia back in 1998. He charmed audiences and did loads of press for the two films we screened, THE BLADE and THE BLACKSHEEP AFFAIR. I was showing off my lobbycard set of FONG SAI YUK to him and he was captivated by the shot of himself dressed in the imperial robes for his role as the bad guy, all shimmering in a golden light. He asked if he could have it to give to his mother and I obliged, breaking up the set of 12 cards. Super sweet guy and I was always sad to see him fade away. Fingers crossed for success in his new role. Here are some pics of Chiu Man Chuk and me from 1998.




Check him out in this ad for "Wild Aid". The punchline is so worth it!

pro-choice

There has been lots of dusty collecting on the floor of the temple. Promise to sweep it out more often and light some incense to clear the air. By that I mean, more regularity with the posts. Meanwhile, here is a Halloween themed posting about a recent screening in Winnipeg, Manitoba:

And some highlights with the print played in Sitges last year as part of the Mondo Macabro series. WARNING: Spoilers ahead!

Grady makes a point about critics missing the point.

Oh Grady. How we miss you here in Toronto. We fawn over your blog and think of our drunken fun times over a month ago. When will you return?

In the meantime, we will sit cross-legged drinking vodka and Red Bull as we chant your wise words about how critics seem to constantly miss the importance of physical action in cinema. Here are some excerpts:

Critics have long felt that somehow the martial arts or action genre needed to be changed, elevated, abstracted in order to be considered "real art." White isn't entirely to blame for his misperception, he's merely toeing the critical line here, mouthing stale attitudes that are pretty common among film writers. Somehow action in movies is looked at with suspicion, whereas "longing and weeping" are considered "rich and real."

Physical performance is an essential - I would argue THE essential - part of true cinema. Buster Keaton is one of the world's greatest filmmakers and he built his career by developing ever more sophisticated ways to showcase his physicality in his movies. In his own way, Jacques Tati did the same thing, building movies that are no more and no less than the physical performance. Bruce Lee was not a great verbal or psychological actor, but the grace and power he brought to the screen was not some kind of chop sockey grindhouse guilty pleasure, it was a call for revolutionary awakening, a re-definition of what a Chinese man could be.

When Jackie Chan takes on a hundred hitmen in a teahouse in DRUNKEN MASTER 2, or a speeding bus full of thugs in POLICE STORY or an entire warehouse of drug dealers in DRAGONS FOREVER the contrived storyline becomes secondary to the amazing things he does. Chan's physicality is an affirmation of human potential and audiences never get tired of seeing him show what anyone can do if they put their minds to it, that there are no odds we can't overcome. These are visceral lessons, emotional effects provoked by action that can't effectively be broken down into words. Sammo Hung's agility in ENCOUNTERS OF THE SPOOKY KIND or THE VICTIM are ten-thousand word essays in grace as he pulls off incredible feats that belie his bulky body.

where did those investors go?

An ad in Variety heralded this potential exploitation box office gold...

Thrilling Bloody Sitges

Sadly not in Sitges this year, but my 35mm print of Thrilling Bloody Sword is! Todd Brown over at Twitchfilm.net saw it and loved it. Missing Sitges right now...

follow-up - blind embargo outlaw samurai

Almost as soon as I posted the fancy posters, I got a reply from Michael who identified the film Samurai Invisible as Duel in the Wind (aka Kaze no tengu) and sourced out these two posters for it! Thanks Michael!


from http://www.cinemaposter.com/KRApojedynekwiatr.html

blind embargo outlaw samurai

Amazing Cuban posters found on eBay by blog reader Kat. Check out her movie review blog, They Shoot Actors. Don't They? Love the Zatoichi The Fugitive poster below. Not sure what the other one is for. The director is listed as Keiichi Ozawa, but can't find any cast listings on IMDB for his films. Maybe it is for The Outlaw Sword?