Out of interest, I'm doing a bit of private research -- so I'm going to pose three questions of everyone (inclusive of my fellow editors):

1. What was the most recent Hong Kong movie that you have seen? By this, I am not talking about the last HK movie you saw, as that realistically could be anything; I am talking about the most recent HK movie by calendar year (ie: if your most recent film was something from this production year, what was it?).

2. What was the first HK movie you saw in a cinema?

3. What is the oldest Hong Kong movie you have seen? Once again, this has nothing to do with when your fascination with the industry began; this is about the oldest film, by calendar year, that you have seen.

By way of introduction, these are mine:

1. Wait 'til You're Older (HK release: 29/09/2005)

2. A Chinese Ghost Story II

3. Boxer From Shantung (HK release: 11/02/1972)

Over to you all and will be interested to see the results!
Mike

1. Kung Fu Mahjong - Ok enough movie from the man who brought us the wonderful, The Kung Fu Cult Master, Wong Jing

2. 2046 - Best movie I've seen at the cinema for years, wonderful movie. To bad so very very few movies from asia is shown at the local cinema.

3. Forever Yours (1960) - Quite nice romantic movie

1. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
2. -
3. A Touch of Zen Part I.

calros wrote:2. -

Poor calros!

I feel so sad for you that you've never seen a HK movie in a cinema...

1. Most Recent by Year: SPL and THE MYTH (same day at film festival)

2. First On The Big Screen: THE LONGEST NITE (at an Asian film festival)

3. Oldest: COME DRINK WITH ME (1966)


I'd add one more variable to your list, Mike:

First Hong Kong Movie You Ever Saw (either by choice or by chance)

4. First Ever: MAD MISSION II: ACE GO PLACES (1982) dubbed, full-screen U.S. video version, circa the mid-80's (although one could count various bastardized Saturday afternoon "Kung-Fu Theatre" TV programs of the late 70's, early 80's, but that stuff, at least in that format, never did enough for me to remember it. ACES got me hooked.

Hmmm, variable number four? Nice...though not necessary to my survey.

But FYI regardless, my first would be IRON ANGELS circa 1988 (even though it's technically a Taiwanese production). Mind you, I'd seen other stuff before that one (like Jackie Chan films and martial arts stuff), but never really taken them seriously...or, indeed, even watched them in their entirety...

NB: Calros -- I just realised what you typed! Are you telling me you've seen no new Hong Kong movies since 2000? If I didn't have a steady stream of new HK movies to watch, my brain would have dried up by now...

1 - 2046

2 - In the Mood for Love

3 - Come Drink With Me

4 - A saturday morning classic kung fu flick... the scene i remember clearest is a graveyeard brawl and one of the fighters gets hit in the back of the head with a metal baton, he falls to the ground and brains (which look curiously like egg whites) flow out of his head. As a 10 year old or so it really disturbed me. I'm still looking for that movie to this day.

1. Most Recent by Year: Kung Fu Hustle -- I tend to watch older films (all countries) so I do not watch newer films that much.

2. First by theater: Rumble in the Bronx (filmed in Canada, of course) Unfortunately watched the American edit, but still it got me into Martial Art films and Jackie Chan (though I was a Bruce Lee fan before that)

3. Oldest: One Armed Swordsman (1967) (Not happy with VideoAsia version )

4. First seen: Dirty Ho I think, I always remembered the name (no not because of the later connotation) and the memorable fight scenes (Gordon Liu and Wong Yu always fun to watch.) The film impressed me so much that I kept the name in my head for years before I finally found the film.

1. What was the most recent Hong Kong movie that you have seen?
Wait Till You're Older at the 4 Star theater in San Francisco.

2. What was the first HK movie you saw in a cinema?
My memory's a little hazy on this, but I think it was Once Upon a Time in China.

3. What is the oldest Hong Kong movie you have seen?
Kaleidoscope (1950) at the Hong Kong Film Archive.

White Dragon wrote:

calros wrote:2. -

Poor calros!
I feel so sad for you that you've never seen a HK movie in a cinema...

no problem I prefer see the movies in my home. And in the bed.

White Dragon wrote:NB: Calros -- I just realised what you typed! Are you telling me you've seen no new Hong Kong movies since 2000? If I didn't have a steady stream of new HK movies to watch, my brain would have dried up by now...

No problem my favorite film HK period is 1985-1995.

BTW now I see "A Touch of Zen" is actually a Taiwanese movie, so it does not count. Maybe I should delete it from our Db too

Lawks, I'm not sure I know the answer to any of these reliably!

1. Ummm... it was probably so forgettable I already forgot :p Err, SEOUL RAIDERS? SEVEN SWORDS?

2. Yikes... possibly BEAST COPS, oddly enough (with Mr Anthony Wong in attendance)

3. I *think* it was ENCHANTING SHADOW (1959).


Calros, CROUCHING TIGER isn't really a HK film either :p

MrBooth wrote:Calros, CROUCHING TIGER isn't really a HK film either :p

well... maybe I have not seen any HK movie in my life!

Based upon a minimal, though interesting, response thus far here are the stats I've compiled:

Number of participants: 8

Percentage of participants that have seen a HK film produced during the current calendar year (2005): 75%
Percentage of participants that have seen a HK film produced prior to 2005 but after 1999: 25%
Percentage of participants that have not seen a HK film produced from 2000 or after: 12.5%
Percentage of participants that have seen a HK film produced prior to 1980: 87.5%
Percentage of participants that have seen a HK film produced prior to 1970: 75%

Hopefully we might get a few more participants and these figures might shift a little over what we have so far.

Late to the dance, again.

1. Seven Swords [Release: 29 July 2005]

2. The New One Armed Swordsman in NYC Chinatown, 1971

3. Magnificent Trio [1967]

1 - Probably AV (2005), but I might be wrong. Seven Swords was on theatres but I missed it. I'll get the DVD one of these days.

2 - Also one A Chinese Ghost Story but III on a film festival in the early 90's

3 - I guess it was The Kingdom and the Beauty (1959). It had to be some Shaw Bros Huangmei Opera. I have a few more from 1960 on.

I have no idea what was the first HK film I ever saw. Something I didn't care late night TV dubbed in English, that's for sure. In the late 70's/early 80's there were many martial arts films in theatres here but they were too violent and mostly rated M/18, I think. Back then I was more into childish or juvenile stuff like Spielberg and Star Wars. When I was 18 all gore trash exploitation martial arts films were removed from theatres! Not fair #$"&%$!

1--Either "Kung Fu Hustle" or "House of Flying Daggers"--both released in 2004, not sure which was released first. I know I saw "Daggers" before "Hustle"

2--"Fists of Fury"--Chicago, at one of the huge movie palaces that had seen better days.

3--"The Chinese Boxer" released in 1970.

1. Seven Swords (2005)

2. Tricky Master (1999)

3. Crimson Palm (1964)

1. Breaking News.
2. City Hunter
3. Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (this is the oldest I know; I'm sure I've seen older ones on TV but didn't know the names of the movies I was watching).

1- The Myth
2- Some Jimmy Wang Yu flick
3- Some black and white Cantonese opera film that my folks dragged me to.

1. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

2. Kung Fu vs Acrobatic (1990) - dubbed into Thai and without subtitles

3. Trail Of The Broken Blade (1967)

1. Myth
2. Don't quite remember - possibly Crouching Tiger. Here in Russia we don't have many HK movies in theaters.
3. 1967 - Assassin and One-Armed Swordsman (directed by Chang Cheh)
4. Royal Warriors (1986) - quite a high start.

1) Most Recent - One nite in Mongkok

2)First seen in cinema - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

3) Oldest film seen - Early Seventies Bruce Lee flicks like Big Boss and Fist of Fury.

Statistic update:

Number of participants: 17

Percentage of participants that have seen a HK film produced during the current calendar year (2005): 58.82%
Percentage of participants that have seen a HK film produced prior to 2005 but after 1999: 35.29%
Percentage of participants that have not seen a HK film produced from 2000 or after: 5.88%
Percentage of participants that have seen a HK film produced prior to 1980: 94.11%
Percentage of participants that have seen a HK film produced prior to 1970: 70.59%

As you may have guessed by now, the "seen a HK movie in the cinema" part of the equation doesn't factor in on the overall study -- but it's an interesting counterpoint for me personally as to how many people (even in a tiny study like this) have done so, as opposed to those that have either never had the opportunity or have never experienced HK cinema outside of the medium of home video.

Cheers and many thanks to all that have participated thus far!
Michael