Availability
Aside from starring Shaw Brothers actor Chen Kuan Tai this film was produced independently for the Ching Hua film company. Thus it is not among the titles that are remastered by Celestial Pictures. As of Jun. 2010 there are few known DVD releases, and all of them are in a desolate state and none features the original dialogue:
- UK: DVD by Vengeance Video, running time 91 min. 14 sec.
- US: DVD by Xenon Pictures, running time 91 min. 7 sec.
- Germany: DVD by Madison Home Video, 75 min. 49 sec.
Whether the US or UK DVDs are the original theatrical version is unknown. The US release runs with PAL speed up and is identical to the UK in content. The German release is edited to gain a "Not Under 16" rating. The film received an "Not Under 18" rating for an earlier VHS release, which was significantly longer than 75 min. 49 sec.
The picture shows significant amount of dirt and the colors have shifted severely. Also the aspect ratio is not correct and the image appears more or less stretched. This is common among all three DVDs, which suggests that they were taken from the same source. This is important as the UK DVD features a deleted scene which is in a much better condition. It has nearly no dirt, no color shift and it features the original dialogue with English subtitles.
Read more about this topic: Iron Monkey (1977 Film)
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