please bring back the hk movie database sorted by year

[stooges0]

Before this site underwent renovation there used to be a section where you can go in and click into any year from 191x to I think it ended at 2000.

once you click the year (example 1966), It will link me into a screen with all the hk movie made for that year (here all movie made in year 1966) the title showing in Chinese & English.

Somehow this database which was one of the best feature in this site looks like it is now GONE!!!!! after the website underwent renovation.

It would be nice if it can be brought back adding in the following enhancement and additional information.
1. able to go in by year like before
2. while inside each year it should show all the hk movie made for that year (title) in both english & chinese, include the star name, bw/color, movie time length.
3. there is so much vcd & dvd out on old classic movies that it will be nice if this db is available to check the movie we like for reference because except for the company tien seng record all other vcd / dvd box I don't think it show the year.

It is appreciate if web host can bring back this feature and for all the member who visit this site please support us by also commenting this subject and ask web host to bring back this very nice feature that it was taken off while the site under went renovation about a year or 2 ago.

[Libretio]

I second that request!! Such a feature would be a huge help for anyone seeking a specific movie, and would also provide a one-click overview of titles on a year-by-year basis. It would be nice, for instance, to click on a list of movies from, say, 1970 and be able to explore titles from within that list. Also, without such a feature, many titles will be ignored by all and sundry for the simple reason that no one actually knows they're there! This is especially true of pre-1970 titles, many of which will be wholly unfamiliar to fans and novices alike.

As such, I'd like to back up Stooges' request, and ask that this feature be restored. Much appreciated!

[bkasten]

"By year" features will make a return...I promise.

Stooges, your participation in the forum is appreciated, but stick to posting in just one forum, please.

Libretio, nice you see you in the forum! Your review contributions are one of HKMDB's most valuable resources, IMNSHO. Thanks!

[Libretio]

Libretio, nice you see you in the forum! Your review contributions are one of HKMDB's most valuable resources, IMNSHO. Thanks!

(BLUSH!!) Many thanks for that, Guilao. I'll be contributing more stuff in due course, and it's nice to know it's appreciated. Besides, it's a small repayment for the wealth of information at HKMDB, which is without question the best resource - online or in print - for HK movies. You guys do a fantastic job, and I cannot stress enough how much I value the site. Great stuff!

"By year" features will make a return...I promise.

Excellent news! Look forward to seeing it.

[rarnom]

2. while inside each year it should show all the hk movie made for that year (title) in both english & chinese, include the star name, bw/color, movie time length.

I would also love to see the movie info include running times on films.

also is the review archive going to be accessible by alphabetical title search again?

I seem to remember some announcement a while back and something about how review listing by alphabetical letter wasn't going to come back, but I can't find that announcement at the moment...

It really isn't that big of a deal because the new DB search is quite nice , but it is helpful sometimes to be able to browse the whole list by letter.

thanks!

[bkasten]

2. while inside each year it should show all the hk movie made for that year (title) in both english & chinese, include the star name, bw/color, movie time length.

I would also love to see the movie info include running times on films.
also is the review archive going to be accessible by alphabetical title search again?
I seem to remember some announcement a while back and something about how review listing by alphabetical letter wasn't going to come back, but I can't find that announcement at the moment...
It really isn't that big of a deal because the new DB search is quite nice , but it is helpful sometimes to be able to browse the whole list by letter.
thanks!

I generally remove old announcements after a few weeks. But yes, that is correct, movie review listing by title will not be enabled--at least not the way it existed in the past.

And note that, at least initially, the "listing by year" will only be by title and year, which will be a link to the specific movie page.

[STSH]

Here's a link to another site, which lists by year, and has pretty good photo galleries per movie and actor.

Not sure how much info, if any, has been sourced from hkmdb

[graeme]

2. while inside each year it should show all the hk movie made for that year (title) in both english & chinese, include the star name, bw/color, movie time length.

I agree run time would be useful; although then we would need to consider which cut the runtime applies to. Nonetheless, I think runtimes could be useful to compare to a DVD release that is perhaps incomplete. Original aspect ratio could also be useful for the same reason.

Not sure where the list of 'useful' parameters would stop though or how many of us would be able to add the data with so few HK films screened in the west.

G

[Libretio]

Original aspect ratio could also be useful for the same reason.

I was actually going to make a suggestion about this myself, though Graeme beat me to the punch!

The only trouble is confirming the aspect ratio of any given film - believe me, this is much harder than you might think!! Everything prior to 1953 is fairly straightforward, as all sound movies were filmed in the Academy ratio (1.37:1) - silent movies were slightly narrower at 1.33:1. After various widescreen formats were introduced in the early 1950's, however, there was a period of transition during which many movies composed with 1.37 in mind were actually projected in a variety of aspect ratios, everything from 1.66 to 1.85. This happened in the west, and I'm assuming it wasn't so very different in Asian theaters at the time. From the late 50's onward, most movies were composed and projected in 'widescreen' formats from 1.66 to 1.85 (mostly the latter) - but it would be virtually impossible for anyone to know for sure which AR applied to individual titles from this period. It's much easier today, of course, because most movies shot with spherical lenses are projected at 1.85, and this has been the case for decades, but the period from 1953 - 1960 would be fraught with difficulties.

CinemaScope and all the other super-wide formats are something else entirely, and much easier to identify. To be honest, it seems that virtually every film produced in HK during the 1960's and 70's was photographed in the 2.35:1 format, though I've only been able to confirm about a quarter of them (perhaps less - there are so many!!). However, I'm sure there's more than a handful that were filmed in narrower guages, which is why I've always taken a cautious approach, taking care to confirm the AR of individual films before adding them to my own personal database.

One other item which should be added to any 'technical specs' credit is the sound format for individual films. This, along with aspect ratio details, would be helpful for DVD consumers who would be interested in knowing whether to buy a disc which features a cropped picture and mono soundtrack for a film originally released at 2.35:1, in Dolby Digital! Now, most HK movies produced to date have been released with an optical mono soundtrack, and I've only found one entry from the pre-Dolby era which was mixed in a multichannel format (INFRA-MAN, recorded in something called 'Infrasound', which I'm assuming was nothing more than 4-track magnetic stereo).

EDIT: It occurred to me that this post should really be in the 'Suggestions' forum, so apologies if this takes things a little off-topic here.