About Asian Cinema

Hong Kong Kung Fu Movie Production

Asian cinema was more popular in Hong Kong & Taiwan. The most famous Kung Fu cinema production companies were SHAW BROTHERS & GOLDEN HARVEST well known and relished by western fans in the early 70’s. These companies produced many classic kung fu films over a span of 60 years. The most popular and famous companies was SHAW BROTHERS The company that gave many fans entertainment that was unparalleled with any other Kung Fu action movie company in the early 70’s, late 80’s was SHAW BROTHERS who made approximately 800 - 900 movies and the majority of them was Kung Fu action. It's fair to say SHAW BROTHERS was the number one production company in Hong Kong and Asian cinema.

SB Movie Classic Stars

LIU CHAI LIANG aka Lau Gar Wing

GOLDEN HARVEST was started by Raymond Chow who became famous for producing the early Bruce Lee classics such as BIG BOSS, FIST OF FURY, WAY OF THE DRAGON, ENTER THE DRAGON & GAME OF DEATH. Originally, an associate of SHAW BROTHERS Raymond Chow broke ties with SHAW BROTHERS and he formed GOLDEN HARVEST with several high profile SB actors such as Jimmy Wang Yu, Chang Yi and Chan Wai Man. GOLDEN HARVEST went on to make many Classics with big names such as Sammo Hung, Angela Mao, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Lam Ching Ying and many more. To this day GOLDEN HARVEST is one of the TOP 5 Hong Kong production companies.

FIRST FILMS was setup in Taiwan & Hong Kong in 1967 up until the early 90’s and without any doubt played a major role as a major production company that produced many classic Kung Fu movies such as 4 Real Friends & One Armed Boxer vs. The Flying Guillotine and much more. A small group of western fans took the initiative to buy many 33mm reels during the 80’s & 90’s and tranferred these great movies for not just entertainment but as COLLECTORS simply because these classic movies were no longer available for purchase on VHS or DVD. The HARDCORE Collectors named these obscure companies the INDEPENDENTS aka INDIES. Many big name stars would make these INDEPENDENT production company movies in between or after a major SHAW BROTHERS or GOLDEN HARVEST production.

THE INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION COMPANIES BELOW ARE THE 5 MOST POPULAR WELL KNOW KUNG FU DISTRIBUTORS AFTER THE ABOVE MENTIONED

INVOLVED IN OVER 32 MOVIES FROM - 1975 - 1988

Known For Classic’s
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow 1978

INVOLVED IN OVER 109 MOVIES FROM - 1972 - 1981

Known For Classics Such As Mantis Fists and Tiger Claws of Shaolin 1977

INVOLVED IN OVER 25 MOVIES FROM - 1970 - 1988

Known For Classics Such As Born Invincible 1978

INVOLVED IN OVER 11 MOVIES FROM - 1971 - 1980

Known For Classics Such As Win Them All 1973

INVOLVED IN OVER 35 MOVIES FROM - 1975 - 1988

Known For Classics Such As
Shaolin Wooden Men 1976

FANS OF ASIAN CINEMA PREFERENCES

All the above “indie” companies Promoted Kung Fu Movies From The 70’s to 80’s & Most of these companies cease to exist. However several western fans over the years sort after 35mm reels and restored them, and many were also released by CRASH Cinema in US. Most of the OLD SCHOOL classics were already released on VHS in English dubbed. It was a very expensive means to satisfy one's hobby which let small outlets such as CRASH sell these 35mm movies on DVD in the late 90’s early 2000.

During the introduction of DVD, the SHAW BROTHERS studio released the Re-Mastered versions of most of their catalogue but only in Chinese with English Subtitles. Most of the fans in the US was expecting English dubbed releases, however this was not forthcoming from SHAW BROTHERS Celestial releases.

English speaking fans were not happy with the Celestials release without English dubbed and since then fans were forced to dub the SHAW BROTHERS releases for themselves due to the fact a large majority of the SHAW BROTHERS were already in English dub.

There was a split in terms of who wanted English subtitles and who preferred English dubbed. The US & UK market is the worlds largest market for English dubbed hence a mass amount of SHAW BROTHERS Celestial Re-mastered releases were being dubbed by fans.

The SHAW BROTHERS releases were of course the most popular with English speaking fans all over the western world, hence the fans who were dubbing the SHAW BROTHERS releases became very popular on the internet.

Having said all the above, not all English dubbed were favoured. Most western fans preferred certain dubs over others such as Hong Kong dubbers like Ted Thomas, Michael Kaye, and Chris Hilton who worked in the 70’s with SHAW BROTHERS - GOLDEN HARVEST and several other companies.

TED THOMAS
UK Born HK Movies Dubber

Italy, France, and Germany also preferred kung fu movies dubbed in their language. USA UK and AFRICA preferred in English dub.

AT FLK WE GIVE THE FANS ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS MULTIPLE SUBTITLE TRACKS AND MOST OF ALL ORIGINAL ENGLISH DUB WE ALSO SPLICE BACK IN CUT SCENES THIS IS BECAUSE WE ARE STRICTLY FOR THE COLLECTORS

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