Release it already! - Da hong denglong gaogao gua (1991) Discussion

[–] DrStrangeLurve 21 years ago

It's already available on DVD - I've just finished watching it!
It's on an ERA (Hong Kong) disc - region free, so playable on any machine.
It's in the original Mandarin with Chinese & English subtitles.
I'm in the UK and bought my copy on ebay from a seller in Los Angeles. The DVD was shipped direct from Hong Kong.

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[–] rockiestrivers 21 years ago

Thanks Doc!

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[–] kachua 21 years ago

How was the quality of the DVD? Which one did you buy?

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[–] dharmabum 21 years ago

My Ebay copy is a Region 0 (playable anywhere) copy of the Hong Kong released laserdisc. It's watchable and in widescreen, better than the VHS copy, but nowhere near as good as a proper DVD release would be. Sad, because this movie is a landmark in not just Asian cinema but one of the greatest movies ever made.

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[–] starmantha 20 years ago

God, I know! I joined Netflix recently in hopes of getting to see all the movies I love... and was shocked to realize it wasn't out yet. I just thought Blockbuster had a crap selection!

Hopefully it's soon.

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[–] VerbalKint-2 20 years ago

It wouldn't surprise me if it was released on DVD to coincide with the eventual North American DVD release of Hero. Zhang Yimou is turning into a bit of a hot director right now, what with the box office success of Hero and his direction of the Beijing 2008 preview at the closing ceremonies of Athens 2004...now is definitely the time to release Raise the Red Lantern on DVD.

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Babies don't need a vacation, but I still see them at the beach
Steven Wright

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[–] boardwalk_angel 20 years ago

I just found it at my local library..the ERA dvd. Actually....for those who can only find it on VHS..I would recommend that you rent it..it's practically fullscreen anyway..filmed in 35mm.......and you would only miss a very small portion of the sides...very small...& there should be zero panning & scanning...just the cropping.

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[–] alex9star 20 years ago

You can go to amazon.com and get an e-mail notification when it does get released on DVD. They say you'll also be voting for the release and that the studio will know how many people want it. Maybe that will help?

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[–] carloshasan 20 years ago

I have been waiting for a "proper" DVD release. I heard the quality of the Hong Kong DVD is not very good; ie. blurry english+chinese subtitles printed on the image (not "real" DVD subtitles), bad VHS-like image quality, etc. I emailed SonyClassics.com asking if they can release Raise the Red Lantern in DVD, but I haven't received any response from them :-(

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[–] mr_kobayashi 20 years ago

Yes I can confirm that the DVD quality is rather poor. The subtitling is terrible also and would make it difficult for non-mandarin speakers to read and comprehend, but certainly still possible. Also some of the translations weren't very good either IMO. But it is available on DVD now.

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[–] sammyd 20 years ago

I agree! It is in my all-time top ten and i love Gong-Li. C'mon somebody release this masterpiece!!!!!!!!!

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[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] carloshasan 19 years ago

Yeah, I'm crossing my fingers too!

Btw, recently I watched Red Sorghum. I couldn't find any copy, so I "had to" get an illegal copy from eMule. Sorry, I'm a Zhang Yimou fan, so I "had to" see it :)

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[–] baseballfanjm 20 years ago

Hear, hear!

This film is one of my all time favorites. I'm desperate for it to get a proper DVD release in the US.

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