"Magnificent Butcher" Fox R1 NTSC vs HK Legends R2/4 PAL

(aka " Lin shi rong" or "Ren zhe wu di")

directed by Woo-ping Yuen
Hong Kong 1979

What a ton of fun! This was like a Bollywood film... a little bit of everything. Action, comedy, death in a soap opera type story. I really enjoyed this film and will seek out further Sammo Hung films. The acrobatics and work that went into some of these choreographed martial arts sequences are quite impressive. My exposure to martial Arts films is not extensive although I watched '36 Chamber of Shaolin' last week. I have seen the "classics": 'Drunken Master', 'Fist of Legend', 'Enter the Dragon'... and this belongs right up there with the best. Not only for Martial Arts fans, this is highly recommended! Gary W. Tooze

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Theatrical Release: ?

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DVD Comparison:

Fox Home Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Hong Kong Legends - Region 2/4 - PAL

Big thanks to Ole of DVDBasen for the PAL Screen Caps!

(Fox - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Hong Kong Legends - Region 2/4 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Fox Home Entertainment Region 1 - NTSC	Hong Kong Legends Region 2/4 - PAL
Runtime	1:48:12	1:44:08 (4% PAL speddup)
Video	2.27:1.00 Letterboxed WideScreen / 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.22 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	2.21:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 4.42 PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Fox
Bitrate: HK Legends
Audio	Chinese (Cantonese) (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), Cantonese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
Subtitles	English, Chinese, None	English, Dutch and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Fox Home Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.27:1 Edition Details: • Color, Widescreen, Dolby • Production notes • Exclusive amazing Sammo Hung music video • Sammo Hung and Yuen Woo-ping movie photo galleries and biographies • Movie photo gallery • New and original trailers • Original promotional material (4 posters and some lobby cards ) DVD Release Date: July 22, 2003 Keep Case Chapters: 20	Release Information: Studio: Hong Kong Legends Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.21:1 Edition Details: • Commentary with Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan • Interview with Sammo Hung (12:51) • Interview with Yuen Woo-ping (20:14) • Biography of Sammo Hung (text scrolling and spoken) (21:52) • Biography / filmograpy of Yuen Woo-ping (Spoken with movie clips)(10:02) • Movie photo gallery • Original Theatrical Trailer (Anamorphic WS) HKL Trailer for this and 10 other releases. Easter Egg: 12 photos from deleted scenes / of the real Lam Sai-wing DVD Release Date: July 23rd, 2001 Transparent Keep Case Chapters 32
Comments:	The Region 2 HK Legends DVD seems to have a bit of a ratio problem. The characters looks overly slim (the last capture probably shows it best). Both discs are very sharp with an anamorphic image, but the Fox Region 1 seems to have an abundance of 'red' in their frames (see the second last capture). The Extras go big-time to Hong Kong Legends, so real fans of tis genre may wish to pick up both editions just for that reason. The sound is very nicely boosted to 5.1 in the Fox version for both the original Cantonese and the English dub. Our recommendation is for the Fox Region 1. *- Gary W. Tooze*

Recommended Reading in Chinese/Hong Kong/Taiwanese Cinema (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)


Memoirs from the Beijing Film Academy by Zhen Ni, Chris Berry, Ni Zhen	Zhang Yimou: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers) by Frances Gateward	Chinese Films in Focus: 25 New Takes by Chris Berry	Wong Kar-Wai: Auteur of Time (Bfi World Directors) by Stephen Teo	China into Film: Frames of Reference in Contemporary Chinese Cinema (Envisioning Asia) by Jerome Silbergeld	New Chinese Cinemas by Nick Browne	Once Upon a Time in China : A Guide to Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and Mainland Chinese Cinema by Jeff Yang	Chinese Film Theory by George S. Semsel	Women Through the Lens: Gender and Nation in a Century of Chinese Cinema by Shuqin Cui	Tsai Ming-Liang by Tsai Ming-Liang

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(Fox - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Hong Kong Legends - Region 2/4 - PAL - RIGHT)