5.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A martial arts movie star must fake his death to find the people who are trying to kill him.
Starring: Bruce Lee, Gig Young, Colleen Camp, Dean Jagger (I), Tae-jeong KimDrama | 100% |
Martial arts | 100% |
Crime | 70% |
Action | 66% |
Thriller | 44% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Region B (A, C untested)
Movie | 1.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow's Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest 4K set. The two 1080 discs detailed below are part of this set as well as
Arrow's 1080 Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest
set.
In the vein of Everything Everywhere All At
Once, could it be that Arrow Video and Shout! Factory are actually "each other" in alternate universes? Of course that's said in jest, but
considering the following facts. Arrow has given martial arts fans holiday presents of a kind for two years running with Shawscope Volume One and Shawscope Volume Two, and Shout! is now starting to trot out their own
collections with Shaw Brothers Classics:
Volume One, Shaw Brothers
Classics: Volume Two, and Shaw
Brothers Classics: Volume Three. There's also a corollary if reversed situation in that Shout! released Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection years ago and now Arrow is following suit with its
own collection, all of which may give credence to my obviously whimsical proposition. (For purposes of this obviously joking comparison, we're just
going to flat out ignore Bruce Lee: His Greatest
Hits from Criterion, as well as any number of other releases in various regions that have come out through the years.) As Bruce Lee fans
in particular will probably know, the
Shout! release of Lee films
was afflicted with so many problems that it was actually recalled (more than once, kind of humorously), resulting in me having to revisit some of
the films several times as Shout! attempted to remedy various problems (I got a downright hilarious private message from our site administrator at
one point with
this hilarious photo of a train wreck when the second or third recall was
announced). One can only hope that the Arrow release doesn't encounter that series of unfortunate events (I'm hoping against hope we would
know by now if it had
any major issues), but it's another really stunning collection from the label, with generally secure technical merits and some outstanding
supplements, along with some handsome deluxe packaging.
Note: Screenshots are sourced from Arrow's 1080 presentation of the film.
Game of Death is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. I've excerpted
both some
general and specific comments about the transfer included in Arrow's beautiful hardback book included with this release:
The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Game of Death and Game of Death II have been exclusively restored for this collection by Arrow Films. The original feature film elements have been used as the primary source materials for this work, but extensive searches and investigations were also undertaken to locate and identify additional film and audio material sin order to restore original logos, credits, cut scenes and reconstruct alternate release versions.Some may see my score above and think this is a lackluster presentation in 4K UHD, and while it certainly is not at the same level as the transfers culled from original negatives, it's often surprisingly spry, and the 4K version does offer at least some marginal uptick in detail levels. As I mentioned in my review of Arrow's 1080 version, CRI sources can often offer somewhat skewed looking palettes, and that's the case here, though I actually think HDR and/or Dolby Vision may have helped things, as I found the warmth of this presentation more noticeable than Arrow's 1080 version. There's still a somewhat yellow-green aspect on tap, but overall things look surprisingly natural. As also mentioned in my 1080 review, grain can be relatively highly variant, but generally resolves without any major issues.
The international English language version of Game of Death is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with English mono audio. The best existing feature film element, an original 35mm CRI internegative, was scanned and restored in 4K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The film underwent additional picture restoration and was graded in SDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision at Silver Salt Restoration, London. Material relating to the Japanese theatrical cut was upscaled from a high definition scan of a Japanese 35mm exhibition print supplied by Twin Co., Ltd., with further restoration and grading by Silver Salt. All audio mixes were remastered from the best quality materials available by Bad Princess Productions, London.
For the Blu-ray presentation of the Cantonese and Mandarin language version of Game of Death, a high definition master prepared by L'Immagine Ritrovata was supplied by Shout! Factory, with additional optimisation work (using the 4K restoration of the international cut, among other sources) undertaken on behalf of Arrow Films by Brandon Bentley. Alternate footage for other viewing options relating to this version of the film was reconstructed by Arrow Films using a mixture of high definition and standard definition (with upscaling by Leroy Moore of The Engine House Media Services) materials, as as a 4K scan of a 35mm interpositive of Lee's original raw dailies for the unfinished project of the same name from 1972, scanned by L'Imagine Ritrovata.
Game of Death features DTS-HD Master Audio Mono in a track that unsurprisingly has the most energy during the fight scenes, when some of the goofy sound effects help to keep the sound design active. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Disc One (4K UHD)
- Alternate Opening Credits (Cantonese) (HD; 2:16)
- Alternate Opening Credits (Mandarin) (HD; 2:16)
- Greenhouse Fight (HD; 4:46)
- Death Threat (HD; 00:22)
- Alternate Fight with Ji Han-jae (Cantonese) (HD; 3:15)
- Return to the Boat (HD; 00:32)
- Alternate Fights with Inosanto and Han-jae (Mandarin) (HD; 4:32)
- Alternate Cantonese Ending (HD; 1:38)
- Alternate Mandarin Ending (HD; 1:37)
- First Among Equals with Dan Inosanto (HD; 36:47)
- Game of Death Revisited with Bob Wall (HD; 28:48)
- HK Theatrical Trailer (HD; 3:31)
- International Trailer (HD; 2:22)
- US Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:18)
- US TV Spot (HD; 00:25)
- UK Radio Spot (HD; 00:30) plays to key art.
- Brucesploitation Trailers (HD; 14:44)
- Robert Clouse at Golden Harvest (HD; 10:17)
- Publicity Stills and Lobby Cards (HD)
- Behind the Scenes (HD)
- Posters and Video Art (HD)
- Robert Lee (HD; 19:25)
- Phoebe Lee (HD; 11:36)
- Pat Johnson (HD; 28:22)
- George Lee (HD; 16:16)
- Gene Lebell (HD; 13:53)
- Van Williams (HD; 33:55)
- Joe Torreneuva (HD; 7:47)
- Linda Palmer (HD; 10:35)
- Fred Weintraub (HD; 15:54)
- Tom Kuhn (HD; 11:19)
- Paul Heller (HD; 16:28)
- Jeff Imada (HD; 21:13)
- James Lew (HD; 17:25)
- The Hall of the Unknown (HD)
- The Hall of the Tiger (HD)
- The Hall of the Dragon (HD)
- The New Territories (HD)
My original review of Shout!'s release of Game of Death probably made it more than abundantly clear how shoddy I think this enterprise is in general, but that said, Arrow's presentation is quite impressive given the source, and the supplementary material is kind of mind blowing. With caveats noted, Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
猛龍過江 | Měng lóng guò jiāng | Return of the Dragon | Limited Edition
1972
唐山大兄 | Táng shān dà xiōng | Fists of Fury | Limited Edition
1971
精武門 | Jīng wǔ mén | The Chinese Connection | Limited Edition
1972
殺破狼 / SPL: Kill Zone / Saat po long
2005
死亡塔 / Sǐ wáng tǎ / Tower of Death
1981
用心棒 / Yôjinbô
1961
導火綫 / 导火线 / Dǎo Huǒ Xiàn / Dou fo sin | Ultimate Edition
2007
給爸爸的信 / Kap ba ba dik sung / My Father is a Hero | Eureka Classics
1995
Serbuan maut 2: Berandal
2014
警察故事續集 / Ging chaat goo si juk jaap | Eureka Classics
1988
Serbuan maut
2011
Lung zang fu dau / Lóng zhēng hǔ dòu / 龍爭虎鬥 / 50th Anniversary 4K w/40th BD
1973
その男、凶暴につき / Sono otoko, kyōbō ni tsuki
1989
Premium Collection
1967
황해 | The Murderer | Hwanghae | Director's Cut
2010
江湖情 / Gong woo ching | Eureka Classics
1987
2012
新宿事件 / San suk si gin
2009
Police Tactical Unit / Masters of Cinema
2003
2009