"The Big Boss" Hong Kong Legends (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL vs. Fortune Star (Ultimate Collection) - Region 3 - NTSC vs. On Air Video (Collector's Edition) - Region 2

(aka "Tang shan da xiong" or "China Mountain Big Brother" or "Fists of Glory" or "Tong saan daai fong" )

directed by Wei Lo
Hong Kong 1971

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 3,1971 (Hong Kong)

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DVD Comparison:

Hong Kong Legends (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL vs. Fortune Star (Ultimate Collection) - Region 3 - NTSC vs. On Air Video (Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Ole Kofoed and and Henrik Sylow for the Screen Caps!

(Hong Kong Legends (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Fortune Star (Ultimate Collection) - Region 3 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. On Air Video (Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
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Distribution	Hong Kong Legends Region 2 - PAL	Fortune Star Region 3 - NTSC	On Air Video Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:36:01 (4% PAL speedup)	1:39:28	1:36:01 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.68 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	2.30:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 8.48 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	2.31:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.56 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Hong Kong Legends (Special Collector's Edition)
Bitrate: Fortune Star (Ultimate Collection)
Bitrate: On Air Video (Collector's Edition)
Audio	2.0 Dolby Digital Cantonese Mono, 2.0 Dolby Digital English Mono (Dub)	2.0 Dolby Digital Cantonese Mono, 5.1 Dolby Digital Cantonese / Mandarin, DTS Cantonese / Mandarin	2.0 Dolby Digital English Mono (Dub)
Subtitles	English, Dutch, None	Traditional, Simplified, English, None	Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Hong Kong Legends Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterboxed - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Audio commentary by Bey Logan. • Biography of Bruce Lee - audio / text (21:13). • Photo gallery. • Original theatrical trailer. • UK / HK promotional trailers. • Info and HKL trailers about 9 other HKL releases. DVD Release Date: November 6, 2000 Keep case Chapters 30	Release Information: Studio: Fortune Star Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.30:1 Edition Details: • Limited Edition (10,000) • Each box marked by little • Menues available in both English and Chinese DVD Release Date: April 29, 2004 Digipack Chapters 21	Release Information: Studio: On Air Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterboxed - 2.31:1 Edition Details: • Immortal Dragon - Bruce Lee documentary (50:02). • A Fistful of Yen (31:36). • 6 trailers (3x Big Boss, Way of the Dragon, Fist of Fury and Game of Death). • Biographies of Bruce Lee and Lo Wei. • Photo gallery from Bruce Lee movies. • Extras is in English and not subtitled. DVD Release Date: 2001 Keep Case Chapters 30
Comments	While the On-Air looks a little more detailed/sharper the colors is faded and there is more print damage compared to the remastered HKL DVD - and the captures doesn't show that the On-Air has some digital artifacts and a bit to much "moving" grain. So the Hong Kong Legends has the best picture quality. The On Air is missing the preferred Chinese soundtracks. The extras on the On-Air is the same as the other Bruce Lee releases from them - a pretty good Bruce Lee documentary (written by Phillip Dye and released by Passport International Productions according to the end credits) and the "Enter the Dragon" spoof "A Fistful of Yen" from the John Landis / Zucker /Abrahams movie "The Kentucky Fried Movie", here presented in open matte (see last captures). I haven't listened to the HKL Bey Logan commentary, but it should be at the usually high quality. We can hope that 20th Fox will re-release the movie in region 1 with improved picture quality but until then I can only recommend to buy the HKL disc, and if you can find the On-Air disc cheap (I paid 25 DKR = $US 4) you can buy it to get the documentary. -Ole Kofoed The picture of the Fortune Star DVD simply is beautiful. No cropping, crisp detail and natural colour scheme, this is the best presentation of his films yet. . The sound is another story. The original mono just sounds good. The 5.1 and DTS have been manipulated, so there now is rear speaker action. This may be all fine and such, but the new added sounds are of different quality, so it ends up sounding inserted and wrong. Go with the mono, unless you cant help yourself. -Henrik Sylow

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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DVD Menus

(Hong Kong Legends (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Fortune Star (Ultimate Collection) - Region 3 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. On Air Video (Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Hong Kong Legends (Special Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Fortune Star (Ultimate Collection) - Region 3 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. On Air Video (Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)