Flying Dongdado Bat Demon a.k.a. Devil Fighter II (1974)

[Chen Hung Lieh]

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml? ... ay_set=eng

While I don't know if the english Alias "Devil Fighter II" really exists (I doubt it), I absolutely can't believe that "Flying Dongdado Bat Demon" is a legit title. "Dongdado" are actually three different words that have been incorrectly merged here.

I'll change the main title into Pinyin in 2-3 weeks if no one objects.

[Chen Hung Lieh]

I wonder if this is just a 1974 re-issue of "Devil Fighter" (1969) which was also shown in Singapore in 1974. The Chinese title 飛天童大鬥蝙蝠魔 (my poor translation would be "Some flying whatever Kid's big fight against a Demon Bat") doesn't sound particularly different from what can be seen on the 1969 lobby cards. Why should that kid fight against a Bat in the sequel again? If I were the producer, I would have invented some other kind of gigantic monster for a sequel

[Chen Hung Lieh]

Was "Devil Fighter" 1969 really that successful that the same company, after five years of inactivity, decided to produce a sequel in 1974 and managed to persuade 100% of the same cast & crew only to send the same hero into a battle against the same creature from the first part again? Did Hu Fu-Yan debut in 1969, then stopped acting and then suddenly reappeared five years later only for the sequel and then stopped acting afterwards again? In 1974, the main actor of "Devil Fighter" Pa Ke was already twenty years old and not a boy anymore as the chinese title of the alleged sequel suggests.

Unless someone comes up with good counter arguments, I will merge these two entries and delete the english titles "Flying Dongdado Bat Demon" and "Devil Fighter II".

[J.J.Hayden]

I don't know much about the situation, so this is just a thought that you've probably had yourself, but thought I'd throw it out just in case: It is possible that (if it was a sequel) they were filmed back to back and the second was just shelved. Though five years is a long time for that, then again in HK maybe not?

[Chen Hung Lieh]

Not impossible, but I don't think they filmed two parts. The chinese title of the "sequel" would fit with the "first part" perfectly and one of the lobby card images appear to show the Demon Bat was killed in the showdown.
Devil Fighter is considered a lost movie among hardcore collectors, but there are still two posters and two different sets of lobby cards out there. And now it turns out there was even a sequel, but nobody knows anything about it, no poster, no picture, no whatever. Devil Fighter was re-released in Singapore in 1974 under the original title, so I'm very, very tempted to assume it was also re-released in some other country in the same year, just under a different title.

[J.J.Hayden]

What a pain. I know how you feel though, it's a similar situation with the Taiwan Korean crossovers, different cast, crew, titles all getting jumbled up all over the place. Such a nightmare.

[Oliver Sodemann]

Hi there,

please delete this "Dongdado" title!

Too much discussion about an entry maybe years or
decades ago taken from somewhere on the internet
where it must not have been true anyway.

It is our nowadays problem:
Someone put something (without naming the source here)
into a database or on the internet, and there it stand as
some kind of "law" with a time-spending discussion which finally
becomes rather a fantasy. (I heard about a deleted scene
last year from GHOSTLY FACE, with somekind of a vulcano
and a monster which there was after research no evidence
or indication for. Most probably: Someone hat told the
rumour-spreader (who loves deleted scenes more than
anything) that he had seen such a version an a Dutch
cinema, just fell asleep and confused his dreams with
the movie or another movie in hindsight.

There is no indication of a two-parter of DEVIL FIGHTER,
nor any feasible reality about taking the same crew again
after five years or what the assumptions
were. But that there was a re-release by the time.

So this is just one movie.
(Until someone comes up with a reliable source
or even a poster or lobby cards for a sequel.)

Best,
Oliver

[Oliver Sodemann]

Let me please add:

I would perceive us here as having a responsibility.

If we do not really have proof for a movie, we should not
make an entry just based of some doubtable source
(just) on the internet (e. g. books and mags from that era
are the most desirable and reliable sources)

So it is better to not do an entry – if too uncertain.
The same is the other way round: If we discover
a title that has no real basis in hindsight,
better delete it.

Because others may refer to hkmdb,
as we also have this entry, and then relying on
us, quote us as a source and thus help spreading
a title that never existed.

[Chen Hung Lieh]

Movie entry deleted:

飛天童大鬥蝙蝠魔 (1974)
Flying Dongdado Bat Demon
Alias: Devil Fighter II
Origin: Taiwan
Language: Mandarin
Genres: Fantasy Action

Director
Pan Lei

Screenwriter
Pan Lei

Cast
Hu Fu-Yan
Pa Ke
Chin Shih
Yee Hung
Chao Chiang

Production Company
Hwa An Film Enterprise Co. Ltd.

Art Director
Chow Chi-Leung

Production Manager
Pan Lei

Filming Location
Taiwan

---------

I have added the Chinese title 飛天童大鬥蝙蝠魔 to Devil Fighter 1969.

[Chen Hung Lieh]

I FINALLY found a HIGHLY USEFUL Taiwanese newspaper archive:
https://das.nlpi.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gs ... de=advance
Go to the advanced search 進階查詢 (works better), place the checkmark 全部 (all) or 舊報紙 (old newspapers), enter a term into the top field and click 查詢.

So I finally found the source of the Chinese dongdado title and uploaded it, a Taiwanese newspaper ad from 1974:
https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/image_detai ... ay_set=eng

I also uploaded a newspaper ad from the 1970 release. It seems there wasn't an earlier release than 1970, but this archive is seemingly not as complete as the HK one.