DISCLAIMER: I cannot take credit for the video/color-correction part of this project. All of that credit goes to another friend. And special thanks goes to him.

And also, special thanks goes to HKR (Hong Kong Rescue), and all who worked on those projects.

HKR, we miss you.


Audio list (note, all tracks will have the Cantonese theme song playing in the end credits)

#1. 2.0 LPCM (mono) Cantonese mono track (presumably from the HK laserdisc?)

This track has A LOT more weight behind it than HKR's! "Heavier" and "dirtier" but very robust.

#2. 2.0 LPCM (stereo) all-Cantonese (from HKR...but I'm not sure where they sourced it from)

HKR's audio tracks are a lot cleaner, but a little weaker. And I think they are genuine stereo and not dual-mono, but I'm not 100% sure.

#3. 2.0 LPCM (stereo), Cantonese/English hybrid (from HKR...but I'm not sure where they sourced it from)
This is one that I made personally. I thought it'd be a nice touch to have a "hybrid" track, with the Chinese characters speaking Cantonese and the British characters speaking English. During scenes that have back & forth conversations between Chinese & Englishmen, the Chinese characters will also speak English.

#4. 2.0 LPCM (stereo), export English dub (from HKR...not sure where they sourced it from)

Unlike the Miramax dub, the "export" dub retains the original score and sound effects. The export version played an instrumental version of the "Drunken Fist" theme song during the end credits. However, this dub I synced will play the Cantonese theme song with subtitles.

The original "export" version of this film cuts to end credits after Fei-Hung faints after the final fight. Movie-censorship has that documented here. I believe the export dub on the official Warner Bros blu-ray and VOD releases revert to the Cantonese for the entire ending scene. but will still play an instrumental version of the theme song.

In my restoration on the export dub track, I use the Miramax dub for that final scene, until the very end during the "blind boxing scene" (the scene that Miramax infamously cut for being "tasteless"), where the track will revert to Cantonese.

I personally would like to know if a stronger, heavier and possibly "dirtier" version of this dub exists somewhere, becuause I'd like this track to pack a little more "weight" without too much distortion. Though nonetheless, this dub from HKR is clean and clear.

#5. 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, Miramax/Dimension English dub

I'm sure many of you were first introduced to this movie with this dub track. This is the only audio track for the movie that will have Jackie Chan's voice. It has a brand new score (which is actually really good in my opinion), plus new sound effects, which I also feel are well-done.

It is my dream one day to make a version of this movie which has the Miramax score and sound effects, with the original Cantonese dialog! If anyone wants to help me make such a track, please contact me!

#6. Commentary from Bey Logan (ULTRA RARE TRACK...no idea where it originally appeared)

Subtitle list
(just a reminder that all subtitle options have a "no bi-lingual" option, for the lyrics to the theme song in the end credits, just in case your media player can't handle it)

1. English for "pure" Cantonese tracks
   
2. English for my custom HKR Cantonese/English track
   
3. English for the English dubs
   
4. SDH for Miramax dub
   

Wait...what is the "Mandarin" version?

If you're not familiar with the "Mandarin" version, Movie-Censorship can explain it here. Basically, the main difference is the song that Wong Fei-Hung sings at the outdoor marketplace, during the evening time, after he's been (temporarily) dis-owned by his father. This cut of the film has him singing an alternate song filmed in the Mandarin dialect (which I properly subtilted in this restoration).

I restored the "drunken singing scene" using the Thakral DVD. Yes, the visual difference is obvious. I left that sequence in its original 1.85:1 AR (whereas the rest of the movie is 2.35:1), since I didn't want to crop an already cropped video, and I upscaled it as best as I could and color-corrected accordingly.

It also had all-Chinese opening credits (instead of bi-lingual English/Chinese ones), but I decided not to honor that.

The Mandarin dub's script is quite similar to the Cantonese one, but it does differ in some areas. My wife helped translate the theme song (and she's far more confident in her translation here than she is for the Cantonese one). I used the Takral DVD for guidance on some of the subtitle nuances in the script differences.

Video
I made this video before my friend's color-corrected version of the HK theatrical cut was made available. So therefore, my version uses HKR's somewhat over-saturated version (but still looks great!)

Audio
2.0 LPCM, Mandarin dub (from HKR) for everything except the alternate "Drunken Fei-Hung singing" scene, which used the Thakral DVD 5.1 Mandarin dub track

Subtitles: English, properly translating the Mandarin script, which is very similar to the Cantonese script but has its differences.

"non bi-lingual" option is available.

By the way...
I also included in the folders separate SRT subs, to "open source", if anyone wants to make their own subs in another language. And also, if any of you understand Cantonese/Mandarin and written Chinese well enough to correct for the song and dialog translations, please feel free to make corrections!

Sounds like an amazing project. Thanks for spending the money

Bey Logan's commentary came from his website. I believed he monetised it.

In terms of Cantonese tracks HKR used an LD track, and the unfortunately-looped 'stereo' track from the R3 DVD. This one, that I'd love to fix if I had stems to work with, took the dialogue and sound effects from the film but used the stereo audio from the CD soundtrack as its soundtrack. They didn't construct the track properly, so the music loops here and there.

(2024-04-06, 08:31 AM)Serums Wrote: Bey Logan's commentary came from his website. I believed he monetised it.

In terms of Cantonese tracks HKR used an LD track, and the unfortunately-looped 'stereo' track from the R3 DVD. This one, that I'd love to fix if I had stems to work with, took the dialogue and sound effects from the film but used the stereo audio from the CD soundtrack as its soundtrack. They didn't construct the track properly, so the music loops here and there.

Ah, that's interesting. I don't think I ever got the R3 DVD from Warner, but I'd be interested in comparing the tracks.

I think I have the track directly from the R3 disc, I'll check and let you know.

The looping is present in the R3, I can tell you that much. And the R3 is missing the music cue in the final fight when Wong Fei Hung smashes that wooden thing. But that could be patched with the soundtrack.

(2024-04-06, 08:31 AM)Serums Wrote: Bey Logan's commentary came from his website. I believed he monetised it.

In terms of Cantonese tracks HKR used an LD track, and the unfortunately-looped 'stereo' track from the R3 DVD. This one, that I'd love to fix if I had stems to work with, took the dialogue and sound effects from the film but used the stereo audio from the CD soundtrack as its soundtrack. They didn't construct the track properly, so the music loops here and there.

BTW, has Bey Logan done any other commentaries since being..."outed"    ?

Quite a few. Most of which are available on his website.
I think a few international companies got him to record commentaries for their releases since then, but I think that's it.

I cannot vouch for their quality.

This sounds like a great project. I am new here so could someone point me in the right direction for this.

(2024-05-25, 04:34 PM)snowlax Wrote: This sounds like a great project. I am new here so could someone point me in the right direction for this.

PM me for a link to the project.

if you want to check if something is dual mono or stereo i've found that the easiest way is by reducing the vocals.

for example i open up the audio in goldwave (which i sometimes use and prefer for this) -> effects -> stereo -> reduce vocals and click okay

if it comes out empty, it's mono. if there's anything there at all that means it's stereo