Credits: The Sword (1971)

[MrBooth]

http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=5255&display_set=eng


























If nobody stops me, Poon Lui will become Pan Lei some day (maybe even Peter Pan Lei?)

[calros]

very valuable data!

added 1 dir. more, prod., prod. man., phot., ed., art dir., costumes, gaffer, sound and 2 actors more.

Tomorrow I will add more info...

[MrBooth]

I think a lot of these actors should be changed to Mandarin primary romanisations, with the evidence being that they appeared primarily in Mandarin films and/or the aliases entered for them are variations on the Mandarin, not the Cantonese!

Chen Pei-Ling
Ko Hsieng-Ting (not sure which spelling is the best to use)
Li Kun
Ku Chun
Han Chiang - almost all Taiwanese films
Chang Feng - nearly all Taiwanese films

... probably a lot more!

[calros]

this is the longest cast I have seen in a Taiwanese movie. Added assist. directors, props, makeup and 3 actors more.

[kenichiku]

this is the longest cast I have seen in a Taiwanese movie.

I thought so too; there's a lot of guest stars. I noticed as well when I cleaned up & added credits to this entry over at the IMDB about a year ago (no time to get them all).

I'm looking here at these screencaps and see something different. Don't mean to get CSI on you guys but the Chinese title and director credits have been revised for this reissue. I've noticed this practice for some of the IVL Shaw remasters too. Here you can tell with the deviation in font style from calligraphy script for the film's title to the simulated Bronze age calligraphy (original from what I recall) & back again to script for the director's credit. It's always been a single character film title ('Jian') back in the day I've seen this film theatrically decades ago yet it now reads 'Whang Yu di jian' i.e. 'Wang Yu's The Sword'. The original credits (& original font) are consisitent & intact in the 80s pan/scan VHS tape that I own.

Wonder if Jimmy had something to do with either pumping up his own ego here by hijacking the credit & milking his own celebrity or he's just rightfully claiming his once uncredited co-directorship. If not rightfully his, it's like Tom Cruise declaring John Woo's MI2 'Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible II'. Wonder if Pan Lei himself is aware of this reissue (if he's still alive to care)?

[MrBooth]

I guess this DVD was authored from an old export print (the San Francisco-based distributor logo at the start being my main evidence!), so perhaps it was felt that Wang Yu's name would be a good seller overseas?

[kenichiku]

I guess this DVD was authored from an old export print (the San Francisco-based distributor logo at the start being my main evidence!),

While I don't recall this logo (Incidentally San Fran is where I first paid to watch it), the credits still wreaks of being messed with. Nothing really wrong with that & not an issue so much as to the origins of the print or even how the title has evolved (just add an AKA) as much as WHO really directed this film. I've always known it to be Pan Lei. My issue is these credits puts that known fact into question. I might cross-reference the directorship issue here and with historical listings in other DBs, versions, publicity, etc. and mete out the facts. This one's easy; there's a lot of stuff on it. Just look at the images on file with the entry. I recall Heinz having a 35 year old Singaporean flyer for this film. PM someone who knows Chinese here to decipher it and then decide. In the end, nothing wrong with sharing the director's credits I guess.

Like I said before in so many words for me, incumbency carries a lot of weight on these matters so whenever there's seemingly new facts to counter well established ones for a film (that's been around for 36 years no less!), the editor has to stop to recognize the foundation of previous data first and then address validating the new stuff and how it challenges the old. Sometimes, things aren't what they seem to be (especially if it's new). If there are no old stuff, then stake your claim.

[calros]

credits in crew are very complicated. Maybe Jimmy worked here as "executive director" or "supervising director" and first he did not want to appear.

New credits say he was the co-director. What can I do?

[kenichiku]

New credits say he was the co-director. What can I do?

From what I read, Negative on the co-directorship as a whole as the caps imply. I read the full credit for the next to last cap as this [pinyin: wu shu bufen, Canto: Mo sut bo-fun] which tells me it sez: (martial arts 'portion/department')* in parenthesis next to 'director': 'Wang Yu'. Please remember that in 1971 before Shaws/Bruce, the Martial arts/stunt coordinator title in the industry was not as official and celebrated as it has become (esp. by Wang Yu of all people) but that's still what the original credit reads. The credit in the last cap however is revised & Jimmy is now elevated to full-on directorship: ['canto: do yuen'] = 'Director: Wang Yu' whereas credits in my old VHS version and credits in your own publicity images also state 'Pan Lei'. So you're basing your change only on this remaster and nothing else? Peter Pan is now 'in flight'...as in outta here disregarding all other evidence? What are you basing the tip on the scales to be? A new cleaned up spit-shined print even with credits altered? Why don't you just qualify both personalities like I said above:

In the end, nothing wrong with sharing the director's credits I guess.

Qualify Jimmy with new parenthesis stating (per yr 2007 remaster, etc. etc) alongside the incumbent director. Jimmy gets his day in court (whether deserved or undeserved) & Peter Pan doesn't get the Hook. Everybody wins. That's what I mean by co-drectorship - they share it.

(*) - can I get a witness you Mando/Canto enabled editors to verify what I'm trying to say?