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Lee Rock III ?!? (1992)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:33 am
by john_larocque
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105847/

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Is this an alias for another film? It has Laurence Lau, Chingy Yau, Cheung Man and Andy.

http://www.taiseng.com/detail.cfm?varItemId=1410

PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 12:12 pm
by MrBooth
I believe Tai Seng split Lee Rock 1 & 2 into 3 parts when they released it on VHS - but I can't remember where I read that now...

PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 3:28 pm
by Mike Thomason
MrBooth wrote:I believe Tai Seng split Lee Rock 1 & 2 into 3 parts when they released it on VHS - but I can't remember where I read that now...


You read it on the Asian DVD Guide forums. ;)

Yes, back in the day, and when both HK retailers and their overseas cousins were greedy, they'd split up films into a) two cassettes and b) two or more laserdiscs. This was done because rentals were stipulated per item, not for the film on its own -- I well remember hiring FLIRTING SCHOLAR on laser and being taken aback that I was charged two rentals because the film was split over two platters. In the instance of a film being split up across three discs, you were stung three full-price rentals (and some people online today think they are hard done by when they can buy a single film on a single disc for a song these days!).

In this case, yes...LEE ROCK 1 & 2 were split up across three cassettes as LEE ROCK 1, 2 & 3 (thereby milking two films even further). This is actually an excellent example why we shouldn't be over-reliant on the IMDb for secondary information -- like this resource, it relies on public contributions for the bulk of its information. UNLIKE this resource its Hong Kong film information is not maintained by people as passionate and well versed as those here. Additionally, the IMDb has the annoying habit of translating all Hong Kong film titles into Mandarin, and "westernising" Chinese names (ie: placing the surname/family name last per English protocol -- when it should be coming first per Chinese protocol).

I would be VERY hesitant to utilise the IMDb as a cross reference checker against this database, as it's probably the least likely or reliable candidate for such an endeavour. Personally, I rely on my own judgement (which has occasionally proven incorrect in some instances, and thereby can be updated accordingly), the core of dedicated researchers here, and the scores of Hong Kong movie review sites available across the 'net over the IMDb any day. It has its place, but its not the best resource to corroborate information we hold here. :wink:

Cheers,
Michael

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:21 am
by MrBooth
Ah, that's where I thought I read it, but couldn't find it when I searched the forums... must have been on the old ezboard!

Agreed that IMDB is unreliable for info on HK films - it's occasionally useful as a second source (when you can be sure that the first source wasn't just propogating misinformation on IMDB!), but it's the last place I look. It really pisses me off when people refer to Chinese stars with the wrong name order - usually because that's how they've read it on IMDB :evil:

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:30 am
by john_larocque
The main reason I still use IMDB is because it hyperlinks to Amazon.com, where they (sometimes hilariously) link Hong Kong and martial arts movies to their database. For example, they seem to have confused three different "Lady Killer" movies to the 1970s Sylvia Chang titles. However, this is what alerted me to the Tai Seng tape that isn't currently in the DB.

Amazon/IMDB is usually third or fourth in my list of consulting resources, but if I come across a title with some vague HK connection to it, I will alert people here and they can do what they want with the information. I really do think there should be some kind of focus on what kind of titles shouldn't be inserted into the database, because there are a lot of Taiwanese and Chinese titles filtering their way into the DB now, and I have no idea what the criteria is for their inclusion or exclusion.

My main interest in Amazon.com is those old Tai Seng tapes (often based on crummy Ocean Shores prints), and HK films on region 1 DVD, and that's really why I'm there. I'm also researching out Korean and Japanese films on DVD (Midnight Eye provides a good list of what's in print).

While this isn't an Asia video site, the following is still one of the best resources for Region One DVDs, and I rely on it even more than Amazon.

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/DVDList2.php