Nam Ki-nam films date changes

[J.J.Hayden]

While doing some research involving the films of Nam Ki-nam, I noticed some more dates that might need some updating:

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10150&display_set=eng
The Clones Of Bruce Lee – shows 1980 as “Year of Release” but a note in the summary says (korean release date), also the “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” is same date as Korean theatrical release date 23May1981, so I think someone might have just used the Korean date in the absence of a real HK date. Is there some evidence to show this truly is the HK release date, or an earlier Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1981 and move the date from “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9755&display_set=eng
The Blazing Ninja – shows 1980 as “Year of Release” yet there doesn't seem to be any other info related to dates. But the Korean release date was 05Nov1977 which is also by the cast that reflect Nam Ki-nam's usual suspects from the 70s rather than 80s. Is there any evidence of a Hong Kong or Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1977 and enter 05Nov1977 to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9511&complete_credits=1&display_set=eng
Wild Panther - shows 1984 as “Year of Release” yet there doesn't seem to be any other info related to dates. But the Korean release date was 17Mar1984, so I'll add this to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea, unless there's an earlier date in Taiwan or something?

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9123&complete_credits=1&display_set=eng
Shaolin Vs. Lama - shows 1983 as “Year of Release” yet there doesn't seem to be any other info related to dates. But the Korean release date was 05May1984. Is there any evidence of a Hong Kong or Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1984 and enter 05May1984 to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10566&complete_credits=1&display_set=eng
37 Plots Of Kung Fu - shows 1979 as “Year of Release” yet there doesn't seem to be any other info related to dates. But the Korean release date was 07Mar1982 and the Korean cast match with Nam Ki-nam's usual suspects from the 80s rather than 70s. Is there any evidence of a Hong Kong or Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1982 and enter 07Mar1982 to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10183&complete_credits=1&display_set=eng
Bruce And Shaolin Kung Fu 2 - shows 1977 as “Year of Release” yet there doesn't seem to be any other info related to dates. But the Korean release date was 06Feb1978. Is there any evidence of a Hong Kong or Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1978 and enter 06Feb1978 to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9103&complete_credits=1&display_set=eng
The Proud Horses In Flying Sand - shows 1977 as “Year of Release” yet there doesn't seem to be any other info related to dates. But the Korean release date was 05May1979. Is there any evidence of a Hong Kong or Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1979 and enter 05May1979 to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10159&display_set=eng
Evil Hits Evil - shows 1983 as “Year of Release” yet there doesn't seem to be any other info related to dates. But the Korean release date was 16Feb1985. Is there any evidence of a Hong Kong or Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1985 and enter 16Feb1985 to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10940&display_set=eng
Leopard Fist Ninja - shows 1982 as “Year of Release” but the “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” is same date as Korean theatrical release date 29Nov1982, so I think someone might have just used the Korean date in the absence of a real HK date. Is there some evidence to show this truly is the HK release date, or an earlier Taiwan release date? If not, I shall move the date from “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=14888&display_set=eng
Seven Finger Kung Fu - shows 1981 as “Year of Release” but the “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” is same date as Korean theatrical release date 11Apr1982, so I think someone might have just used the Korean date in the absence of a real HK date. Is there some evidence to show this truly is the HK release date, or an earlier Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1982 and move the date from “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=16352&display_set=eng
Double Dragon In Last Duel - shows 1978 as “Year of Release” but the “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” release date shows 18Jan1979, which does precede the Korean release date of 22Feb1979, so where is the 1978 date coming from? Is there some evidence to show an earlier Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1979.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=16877&display_set=eng
Four Infernos To Cross - shows the “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” is same date as Korean theatrical release date 17Nov1978, so I think someone might have just used the Korean date in the absence of a real HK date. Is there some evidence to show this truly is the HK release date, or an earlier Taiwan release date? If not, I shall move the date from “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=20303&display_set=eng
Return Of Fist Of Fury - shows the “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” is same date as Korean theatrical release date 18May1978, so I think someone might have just used the Korean date in the absence of a real HK date. Is there some evidence to show this truly is the HK release date, or an earlier Taiwan release date? If not, I shall move the date from “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9954&display_set=eng
Return Of Red Tiger - shows 1977 as “Year of Release” but the “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” is same date as Korean theatrical release date 20May1978, so I think someone might have just used the Korean date in the absence of a real HK date. Is there some evidence to show this truly is the HK release date, or an earlier Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1978 and move the date from “Honk Kong Theatrical Run” to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.


Cheers

[Chen Hung Lieh]

The "(HK)" after "Release date" was added later to the database, in the past it was all read simply "Release date" without (HK). That's why a lot of release dates of Taiwan, Korea or Mainland movies have automatically been changed into HK dates.

I too changed several HK dates from Korean movies into Korean dates. Every time I checked the HK newspapers to make sure I don't delete a correct release date. But when it comes to Korean movies, I never happened to find a single theatrical advertisement in the HK newspapers. So as long as it is a Korean movie and you are sure of the Korean release date, I wouldn't hesitate to change those dates into Korea.

If you want to be sure, you can dig through old newspapers of HK (works faster with HK VPN connection).
https://mmis.hkpl.gov.hk/web/guest/old- ... u=Y&dummy=
Search with the date 1978-05-18, for example, and choose newspaper 華僑日報 which is the most complete. If the movie was released in HK at that day, you'll usually find a theatrical advertisement.

https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9755&display_set=eng
The Blazing Ninja – shows 1980 as “Year of Release” yet there doesn't seem to be any other info related to dates. But the Korean release date was 05Nov1977 which is also by the cast that reflect Nam Ki-nam's usual suspects from the 70s rather than 80s. Is there any evidence of a Hong Kong or Taiwan release date? If not, I shall change the “Year of Release” to 1977 and enter 05Nov1977 to “Initial Theatrical Release” for Korea.

I added the actors from the DRAGON ON FIRE and MAGNIFICENT footage recently. I was already about to change the date to 1977, but I was not 100% sure if it wouldn't be better to split the movies, because the copy-paste-footage was from 1978. But I only know the ASSO ASIA "Blazing Ninja" version, don't know if the IFD version looked different, also don't know if Godfrey Ho was also on the set in 1977, I doubt it, but in an interview he said that he was on the set of some Asso Asia / Korea co-productions, even though he didn't always direct himself. Trapped in my confusion, I began to forget this movie until you mentioned it again^^

[J.J.Hayden]

1 - Ah, I thought it might be something like that.

2 – I think most Korean films usually weren't considered worth a mention in the HK papers, if they even saw a HK theatrical release at all. Fortunately the Koreans have done a half decent job of preserving many old films and related data sheets, it's just a shame they're not too keen on sharing them openly I'll probably go ahead with the changes next week then, I can always correct them if new evidence comes to light.

3 – Thanks for the advice, that should help me out a bit another bit of research too.

4 – Yes, Godfrey Ho and his shenanigans do complicate things. I don't have any issue with splitting it into more than one film, Bob and Harlock have already given the green light to doing that with all the Korean/HK (or Taiwan) co-productions with different cuts that I've brought up before. I prefer it that way, then all the cast and crew get their due credit. It's just not been a high priority for me to make those changes yet, for now I've just labelled actors with [Korean cut] and made hyperlinks for the Korean directors in the notes. I don't blame you for forgetting about it, I do that with a film every week So, maybe I'll have a go a splitting this one, as a test run, see how complicated/time-consuming it is.

Thanks for the input.

[J.J.Hayden]

Well, I went ahead and made the above changes in regards to the dates. I did check the newspapers too, it's a pretty useful site, but unfortunately (but not surprisingly) I couldn't find any dates for these films, some of the papers wouldn't load up either, which was a shame.

I also split the film as suggested, So I created a new page for the original Korean film Gate Of Life Or Death [1977] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=23924&display_set=eng
I also put hyperlinks in the “summary” section of all four connected films. I left The Blazing Ninja's date as [1980] because (as was pointed out before) it couldn't be before 1978 and a year or two after seems reasonable, but also since I can't find any other date, I'm best off just leaving it as is unless new info comes in.

As expected, it reminded me why I much prefer doing my Korean Update Projects on individuals rather than doing the films, as it already takes a lot more time to do, but it keeps leading me to do more related stuff, I can't help myself So I won't be doing the others for a while yet.

There were several cast and crew members that needed their pages updated and some that didn't have pages yet at all. For the new ones I did try to add all their other credits though there may be a few that I missed as there were so many to go through and I was tired (especially when it came to Yang Ki-joo)

But it's definitely a good job that I did decide to go over this, as I noticed a stupid mistake I'd made. I'd misidentified Park Yang-geun as Ma Bin. I'm now so familiar with so many faces now, I spotted my mistake instantly and knew who it actually was. Funnily enough, I'd just done his update the other week.


Another coincidence is that it's a film by Tai Chang Enterprise, that I actually had an update prepared for, I just hadn't uploaded it yet. A pain in the ass it was too, they went through so many name changes, probably just to torture me here in the future I also happened to find some more logos and a bit of info about the company, including that it was founded by Kim Tae-soo, which I've also added to his page. I also added a bunch of new production credits:
A Blow Of Fury; Blazing Fists; Bruce And Dragon Fist; Dragon Lee Fights Again; Dreadnaught Rivals; Enter The Game Of Death; Great Escape From Women's Prison; Heroine Of Tribulation; Invitation To Hell; Kill The Ninja; My Name Called Bruce; Revenge Of The Drunken Master; Seven Men Of Kung-Fu; Shaolin Water; Tattoo; The Dynamite Shaolin Heroes; The Fight For Shaolin Tamo Mystique; The Magic Palm; The Master Strikes; The New Lover's Fist; The Shaolin Fighters; The Top Swordsman; Viper; and Woman's Martial Arts.
https://hkmdb.com/db/companies/view.mhtml?id=5591&display_set=eng

Kim Tae-soo also showed up as a producer for some of these films too, so I added him where applicable, and Hankook Color Lab (whose page I also gave an update) showed up on some as the film processing lab, so I've added those credits too.
https://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?id=54867&display_set=eng
https://hkmdb.com/db/companies/view.mhtml?id=6429&display_set=eng

I also did a small update for the pages for Fire Lord and Rocky's Love Affair, beefing up the cast lists for both films but removing the Korean cast members from Rocky if they only appear in Fire Lord, such as Bae Soo-cheon, who I managed to get some pics of from the limited footage I have.


I also deleted Kim Yoo-shin altogether as the original uploaded must've made a mistake. The DOB showed 1972, so this person would've been about 10yo in both film credits, but neither film feature a child. I also couldn't find any Korean actors that matched that name and date. I checked the credits on both films and found no Kim Yoo-shim either. What I believe has happened is someone misidentified 金有行 , Kim Yoo-haeng's Hanja as 金庾信 .

I think that was everything
Cheers

[Chen Hung Lieh]

I also split the film as suggested, So I created a new page for the original Korean film Gate Of Life Or Death [1977] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=23924&display_set=eng
I also put hyperlinks in the “summary” section of all four connected films. I left The Blazing Ninja's date as [1980] because (as was pointed out before) it couldn't be before 1978 and a year or two after seems reasonable, but also since I can't find any other date, I'm best off just leaving it as is unless new info comes in.

Thanks, very good work.
I added Asso Asia as a production company. I found the poster here:
https://www.ifdfilms.com/blazing-ninja/
According the poster it's from 1981, but the IFD catalague says copyright IFD Films 1980. I'm confused again

[J.J.Hayden]

Thanks for that, I must've missed it (too many distractions perhaps ). I think I should also remove Taichang from The Blazing Ninja too, as I think it was just from the original film.

Nice spot too with the poster, typical of them to have two possible dates to mess with us. I'd probably lean towards the 1981, as it's presumably (maybe) the actual release date, but I'm still not sure either way

Cheers