Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest

[What A Disgrace]

I'm watching them for the films themselves.

[Finch]

James Flower explained on his twitter account what the Final Game of Death extra is:

Hope you all had lovely long weekends! Now I'm feeling refreshed, I can tell you a bit more info about the Bruce Lee bonus feature The Final Game of Death, signed off and delivered (at last!) on Thursday.

As there's been some confusion, I thought I'd clear up a few things about what it is, and isn't. For one thing, it's no longer just "three hours" long; it came in at a whopping 223 mins (!). A testament to hubris run amok or my inability to properly delegate? Quite possibly so!

Brace yourself and sit comfortably, this thread is going to be almost as long as the film...

Anyway, what is it exactly? A documentary? There's no interviews so I'm not sure it qualifies. "Video essay" sounds more correct, though at what point does it become a "video dissertation" given the runtime? Either way, it's kind of weird, but I hope you dig it.

It came about basically by accident: having assumed the elements were lost in Japan somewhere, we found out last summer L'Immagine Ritrovata were sitting on a scan of an interpositive of all the rushes, and got approval to access them. It seemed to me a unique opportunity...

.. not only to give the most comprehensive rundown yet of the original GoD project, but to forensically examine Bruce's filmmaking and choreography choices in a style similar to one of my favourite ever documentaries, coincidentally about my favourite film...

I am of course referring to Robert Gitt's magnificent Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter, which you should seek out immediately if you haven't seen it (after Laughton's film, of course!). Though there are major differences here: the GoD footage has no sound...

... and its status as an "unfinished" film means there is no complete version to compare it against for context. So it became something else: less about the making of The Game of Death, than its un-making.

The majority of the runtime is the full 123 minutes of raw footage filmed for The Game of Death in 1972, meaning the pagoda fights with Dan Inosanto, Ji Han-jae and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as well as exterior footage filmed in the New Territories with Dan, Ji and Hwang In-shik.

The Inosanto footage finally includes the 'log fight' with Chieh Yuan and the start of his fight of James Tien, basically the whole first reel of rushes prior of Lee's on-screen entrance.

As I've been asked more than once: no, there are no fights with Bruce filmed outside. Any photos showing this are just behind-the-scenes poses or rehearsals, nothing more. It is an extension of the footage seen briefly in Bruce Lee: The Legend, only now in its full 'scope ratio.

The rushes play with music and, for the most part, narration written by myself,
@OldPangYau & Wing-Ho Lin, and read aloud by yours truly. (No, I wasn't my first choice, but given the amount of material and how late we were making changes, it was the only feasible option...

... besides which, if you don't like my voice or the narration in general and decide to mute it while you watch the raw footage, technically that's actually the purest way to see Bruce Lee's The Game of Death since he never lived to edit or dub it!)

The footage has been arranged into shooting order (meaning the Kareem fight comes first) and is bookended with chapters discussing Bruce as a writer/director and how the project came to be, and finally Bruce's death and how the project mutated into a Bruceploitation film in 1978.

My favourite bits? The flashes in between each take - sometimes only a handful of frames - of Bruce and the crew setting up and talking among themselves. The closest we'll ever come to seeing behind-the-scenes footage, and often slowed-down in other parts of the essay.

(Yes, I'm aware there's oft-bootlegged video footage shot by Bruce and Robert Lee showing a fight rehearsal in Bruce's garden with Dan and Wu Ngan, as well as the photo shoot with Bruce, Kareem and James Tien. No, we couldn't access it.)

As well as info about the planned plot of the film, the production, Bruce and the rest of the cast, the narration attempts to parse rumour and legend from fact as much as possible, though a ten-hour film couldn't possibly address every mad theory that's been floated about GoD.

If you're wondering how two hours of raw footage could ever be fun to watch, bear in mind that the film was 'edited in-camera', which means there's very little in the way of extraneous material. Many times, there's only one take of a shot; once they got it right, they moved on!

But wait, there's more! In addition to the video essay section, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a whole new assembly and dub of the footage into a 'finished' form. It's not A Warrior's Journey, or Bruce Lee in G.O.D., or Redux - it's something else.

Another huge thanks to @OldPangYau for working with me on the short film edit, especially given his exhaustive knowledge of prior versions of the material. Brandon's the best!

Our aim was to present a 'complete' short film that feels as much as possible like it was made by Golden Harvest in the break between Way of the Dragon and Enter the Dragon. Obviously (as the narration takes pains to point out) it is not Bruce Lee's vision of TGOD...

... and it would be dishonest to say any assembly/dub is 'finishing' the film as he would. We will never know what that would be. But we can emulate the style and tone of films made in Hong Kong in 1972, so that the spirit of something resembling Lee's intent can be evoked.

To that end, we've used music by Joseph Koo (such as his 'Game of Death theme' as heard in the opening credits of Bruce Lee: The Legend) and sound effects from other contemporaneous Golden Harvest films, including The Way of the Dragon.

Big shoutout to Þorsteinn Gíslason (not sure if he's on Twitter) who has done an extraordinary job on the sound effects, which include authentic Bruce yelps and cries matching the on-screen action.

We've commissioned a brand new animated opening credits animation sequence in the style of credits from the period, brilliantly executed by the geniuses at
@gazelle_inc Justin at Gazelle also did some excellent voiceover work for us! Speaking of which...

A round of applause for the other very talented voice actors, who all did a terrific job: @BrianRandomVA as Bruce, @Jason21608030 as James,@ItBeMeMrButts as Chieh, @GriffinPuatu as Dan, @TheThorntonWay as Kareem - thank you!

This may be controversial: we also dabbled in some Bruceploitation of our own by filming a short prologue that condenses the pre-pagoda exposition Bruce never got to film. MASSIVE thanks to @neerdowellfilms, @Jimmythenut, @RussWould for helping put this together!

If you want to skip all the video essay stuff and just go straight to the short film, you can do so by going ahead to Chapter 8, titled "Life After Death". Only a few minutes of me yammering then you're in business.

So that's The Final Game of Death! It's an odd duck and I'm much too close to it to say whether it's any good or not, and it may well be an acquired taste. But I think it's pretty cool, and I hope some of you do too. Though I don't recommend watching all 223 mins in one sitting!

[MichaelB]

The rushes play with music and, for the most part, narration written by myself, @OldPangYau & Wing-Ho Lin, and read aloud by yours truly. (No, I wasn't my first choice, but given the amount of material and how late we were making changes, it was the only feasible option...

I was attacked by a disgruntled former colleague on social media for having the temerity to present a piece myself on a disc that I co-produced, but I had very little choice - my beginners' guide to Walerian Borowczyk on Arrow's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne was conceived, written, filmed and edited in less than 48 hours to meet a tight production deadline after I realised during the QC stage that Daniel Bird's extras all assumed extensive prior knowledge, which couldn't remotely be guaranteed when it was also Arrow's first Borowczyk release in the US. There were maybe about three people in the country who could have delivered a properly authoritative piece at that short notice, and I was legitimately one of them, so I didn't think twice about it.

So I couldn't be more sympathetic - I wouldn't have been my first choice either, but sometimes you have to be realistic.

[Orlac]

I'm curious as where THE BIG BOSS longer cut comes from - was it in the Golden Harvest vaults, or is one of the several fabled collectors' prints?

[ComradeMisato]

I know there was some hunting around for rare prints/film elements for The Big Boss out in the wild, among other things for a more complete copy of the original HK English dub, but apparently Fortune Star just had the Mandarin print handy.

Thinking about it now, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the same print that was screened in London in '79. The simplest explanation for where they got subtitled prints of all three of Bruce's Mandarin movies would be that they just rented them from Golden Harvest, and this being well after the wide release, they probably would've been sent back afterward.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

There have been long-circulating claims online that George Tan has the print from the '79 festival screening, and that Fortune Star kiboshed a plan to release it on video in the early aughts. It's said to be slightly shorter than the original export cut, which Steve Kerridge allegedly has. There are also claims that WB has a print of the original export cut in its archives, provided by Lee when he was seeking a studio deal for Enter the Dragon. All of this is just scuttlebutt on HK genre movie forums, so it could be BS.

[ComradeMisato]

The bit about the export print is interesting -- I wonder if that and the rumor about Fred Weintraub having a Mandarin print are referring to the same thing, whatever the actual nature of it was. The broad strokes of both rumors seem pretty similar.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Ah, I've got my wires crossed. The prints Kerridge and WB are rumored to have is the uncut Mandarin version. WB's print is said to be the same one Lee sent to Weintraub.

[JamesF]

Having spoke to Kerridge more than once recently and heard his enthusiasm over our releasing the Mandarin Cut, I very highly doubt he is secretly hoarding a print. But hey, it’s not like I’ve broken into his garage to check or something…

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The main source for the claim seems to be this 2007 Q&A, though the fact he was asked point-blank about the uncut Big Boss print indicates the rumor was already around:

Firstly, rumours have it you have an uncut Big Boss print with saw scene and you know the other scenes exist still with prositute etc. Is this true and please confirm that the "saw" scene exists?!
Secondly, when the hell can we fans see this if it does exist?

[...]

Steve Kerridge : Well.... i can assure you that YES the saw scene does exist, and cannot say anything else on the matter... believe me i've been approached by Hong Kong Legends and a few others who will pay good money, but because of my word, i will not bend..

So it sounds very much like he had something, but of course he doesn't explicitly say whether it was a print and it could be something else related to the missing footage (I believe the production still of the saw scene that's been kicking around for awhile came from his collection). It could also be that he was aware of someone else with relevant material but had promised to keep it under his hat, which would explain "because of my word."

[Number Forty-Eight]

I have read rumors that a GOD teaser trailer exists, which was edited by Bruce (and thus featuring dubbing), which was shown before or after Way of the dragon in some territories. I wonder if it still exists somewhere.

did you know that Bruce did make a trailer for Game of Death, which he released for the audience who saw "The Way of the Dragon" in the cinemas in HK as it was advertised in newspapers as a bonus for those who attended in January 1973....

[JamesF]

I’ve heard the same and seen a newspaper ad allegedly promoting the trailer (can’t read Chinese so don’t know for sure), though there’s no evidence of any dubbing having taken place. I suspect the excerpts shown in the Man & The Legend documentary (also featured in Brian Trenchard-Smith’s documentary Kung Fu Killers) may in fact be the teaser, with no dialogue and the same Pink Floyd track also used in the Fist of Unicorn trailer.

[Orlac]

I’ve heard the same and seen a newspaper ad allegedly promoting the trailer (can’t read Chinese so don’t know for sure), though there’s no evidence of any dubbing having taken place. I suspect the excerpts shown in the Man & The Legend documentary (also featured in Brian Trenchard-Smith’s documentary Kung Fu Killers) may in fact be the teaser, with no dialogue and the same Pink Floyd track also used in the Fist of Unicorn trailer.

Terrible as it is, I will always love FIST OF UNICORN for introducing me to Pink Floyd!

That, and Chin Ti's bizzare rap about prostitutes...

[Number Forty-Eight]

Thanks James, yes, I also wondered if those snippets were an actual edit from the times. So no dubbing probably then.

[Orlac]

The long-lost footage from THE BIG BOSS is fascinating to see. The second brothel visit feels like outtakes from a mondo documentary!

And it's interesting that in cutting down the film, somebody took the trouble to remove James Tien's best fight footage! No wonder the poor bastard is still cranky!

[colinr0380]

If the Bey Logan commentary from the old Hong Kong Legends DVD is to be believed, James Tien was in The Big Boss as a kind of insurance policy in case the 'untested in Hong Kong cinema' Bruce Lee proved to be incapable of carrying off the film in the leading man role. Presumably once Lee proved himself capable it made sense to minimise Tien's role so as not to distract attention from their new star!

[Orlac]

If the Bey Logan commentary from the old Hong Kong Legends DVD is to be believed, James Tien was in The Big Boss as a kind of insurance policy in case the 'untested in Hong Kong cinema' Bruce Lee proved to be incapable of carrying off the film in the leading man role. Presumably once Lee proved himself capable it made sense to minimise Tien's role so as not to distract attention from their new star!

As the film was essentially improvised, the two actors were auditioned essentially as they made the film - Bruce was sent to Thailand more to keep him away from Run Run Shaw. When the directors changed from Wu Chia-hsiung to Lo Wei, Lee's potential began to be seen more, and the film moved to keep him the solo star. By contrast, Shaws' simultaneously released Thailand film, DUEL OF FISTS, has David Chiang and Ti Lung team up for the finale.

Although Tien was at Golden Harvest for over two decades in many films, they only ever seemed to give him one solo film, which doesn't look too inspiring - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdQ2HvK5GnU

[swo17]

This might've sold out already? Or has the listing on Arrow's website been temporarily pulled over complaints that the box comes all beaten up? (I saw Orbit post that about half of the stock that came in appeared damaged)

[JamesF]

The store exclusive with the Tom Ralston art (yellow box) is sold out; the Tony Stella 4K set will be back on sale tomorrow, it’s temporarily off sale due to a warehouse move. I doubt it’ll sell out for at least another month or two.

And yes, some of the initial shipments went out in a damaged state, as far as I’m aware Arrow is still investigating how it happened and how many are affected. Not much more I can say about it since I don’t have much visibility on it, other than it really really fucking sucks.

[Finch]

Sorry for going a bit off-topic, James, but are we going to see Shawscope Vol 3 this year, or is it happening next year instead? The Bruce Lee set must have taken a lot of time and resources for this year, so I figure Vol 3 might not happen in 2023.

[JamesF]

Definitely next year. One massive HK set per year is all we can manage!

[yoloswegmaster]

For any Canadians who have ordered this set from Arrow directly, have you been hit with import fees from Canada Post? This is the first time I've been charged by them despite ordering bigger packages from Arrow recently and not being charged extra for it.

[Drucker]

Both the 4K and blu ray editions of this set now list as sold out on the Arrow website. I almost pulled the trigger but held off because I don't know that I'll ever actually watch these films.

Still looks available on Rarewaves, but priced way higher than from Arrow direct.

[Finch]

Definitely next year. One massive HK set per year is all we can manage!

Appreciate your reply, James, which I completely missed until now.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Both the 4K and blu ray editions of this set now list as sold out on the Arrow website. I almost pulled the trigger but held off because I don't know that I'll ever actually watch these films.

Is it really sold out or still unlisted due to the aforementioned warehouse move? It seems strange it would sell out so quickly after James' prediction a few days ago that stocks would last for another month or two, but then maybe there was a wave of panic-buying after the first de-listing. Did it ever actually go back on sale after being pulled last week?