According to the DVD, Finger Of Doom was actually made in 1971 and was Pao Hsueh Li's first film as director. We have it as 1972. Also I'm not sure how much of the db's cast list is correct - doesn't seem to resemle the on-screen credits all that closely, but the film credits aren't very complete so the other members mentioned may be in there too...

Both The Shaw Screen and iPac list the release date as 4/10/72. The dates on the IVL I occasionally found to be unreliable, sometimes listing the production year instead of the release year.


From the ipac listing:

太陰指 Finger of doom /
Language: 國語對白 ;

Phys. Desc: 有聲, 彩色.
Period: 古裝.
Rel Date: 14. 04. 1972.
Prod. Place: 香港.

Credits: 導演, 鮑學禮.
編劇, 邱剛健.

Casts: 金漢, 凌波, 康華, 楊志卿, 陳鳳鎮, 林芝寶, 洪性中.
(Chin Han, Ivy Ling Po, Hong Wah, Yeung Chi Hing,Chan Feng Chen ,? Lam Chi Bo,currently not in db, Hung Sing Chung)
Prod. Co.: 香港 : 邵氏兄弟(香港)有限公司, 1972.

Other Org.: 1972 [首映].
Title: 太陰指 Finger of doom /
Pinyin: Tai yang zhi

Yeah, I've seen the IVL case get the year wrong before - but the production notes or the behind-the-scene photos also said it was PHL's first film, which would definitely place it in 1971. It's possible it wasn't release until '72, though I can't imagine why. It was also the film where Ivy Ling Po and Chin Han met, which led to them getting married - don't know if that helps place it

(I took advantage of your screenshots to add prod., assist. dir., art dir. and 4 actors more)

calros wrote:(I took advantage of your screenshots to add prod., assist. dir., art dir. and 4 actors more)

Cheers - did you verify if the names already in the db are mentioned in the credits? Does the last capture include any year of release/production info?

Sorry, Mr. Booth, I cannot verify all the names of the cast, because sometimes their roles are so little that they do not appear in the credits.

Only Mr. Kistner and his hawk eye can identify these actors.

Of the credited actors, I only cannot identify the 3rd name of the 5th screenshot.

The year does not appear in the credits. I think the last screenshot only says (in chinese) the same things that says in english.

Hi Editors,

I wd like to get confirmation on the definition of "year" entry.

Does it mean:

1. Production year
2. Release year
3. Copyright year (use mostly by western movies)

Production and release year is hard to confirm as they often do not appear at the end of the film. For logic, i think production year shd be use.
For reality, release date is the only year we can confirm from other sources. For conformity, i think copyright year shd be use as present chinese movie provide such info.

I hope the choice wd be reflected in the heading for "year" input box to avoid uncertainty.

It should definitely be the release date in my opinion. I assume that's what is currently used since there is a field for theatrical run dates in the db. Copyright protection can precede the release of a film far in advance of release due to planning and pre-production. Not sure I'd trust the dates at the end credit of films/videos anyway. With the transfer of distribution rights, etc, the dates oftentimes only indicate the copyright date of the at-the-time distributor, not necessarily the original.

Special cases, e.g., China Behind, can be noted in the summary with an explanation.

I believe release year (in HK) is what we're supposed to use

calros wrote:Of the credited actors, I only cannot identify the 3rd name of the 5th screenshot.

Cheng Yin. Updated.

Yes, it should always year of "theatrical release". Sometimes that may not be altogther clear so a best guess needs to be made.