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Game of Clones Blu-ray box |
Comparison between the American Blu-ray from Severin Films (The Game of Clones box set) and the UK DVD from Vengeance Video
Along with The Clones of Bruce Lee, you can find Enter the Three Dragons (alternate title e.g. on the UK DVD: The Dragon on Fire). Bruceploitation at its finest: THREE doubles are united on screen in this one and behind the camera, with Godfrey Ho and Joseph Ko in the director's chair and Joseph Lai and Tomas Tang as producers, people have been at work who will send a shiver down the spine of every friend of high-quality productions, while simultaneously bringing tears of joy to the eyes of trash fans. As expected, the resulting film makes no sense from start to finish, but even alongside the Lee doubles, Phillip Ko and Bolo Yeung are big names for Eastern fans and at least keep you entertained with non-stop fight scenes. The version presented by Severin Films is exactly the same as it was released in Germany on VHS. Three rather boring scenes in the first 20 minutes were trimmed. You won't miss anything of relevance, but if you really want to see the complete film, the UK DVD has the uncut version. The label people who processed this master, which in itself looks quite ok, obviously didn't know exactly what they were doing: Unfortunately, the DVD has extreme ghosting effects and signs of interlacing. Apart from the fact that the viewer's enjoyment is thus somewhat diminished, it was an annoying affair to create ANY halfway usable screenshots of for the report. So, yeah: Stick with the new US Blu-ray.
Originally this comparison was created using the German VHS. There's some separate info for further mini-deviations on the US Blu-ray further down, but the three main cut scenes are exactly the same.
Credits DE-VHS 01:24-01:58 / US-Blu 01:29-01:52 / UK-DVD 01:24-01:46 Both versions are briefly edited at the beginning of the opening credits (not included in the editing time/amount). A French master was obviously used for the British DVD. It also starts earlier with actual footage including English credits. The rest of the shots are identical in both versions with English credits. German VHS 12 sec longer
DE-VHS 03:17 / US-Blu 03:27 / UK-DVD 03:05-03:22 More exterior shots and the Bruce clone (Chen Lee) runs through the streets for a while. 17.4 sec
DE-VHS 03:59 / US-Blu 04:11 / UK-DVD 04:04-04:51 Ditto: A few quiet shots of the city, with Chen and his sidekick walking to the harbor. There is only music and the dialog between the two is not audible. 47.1 sec
DE-VHS 15:34 / US-Blu 16:17 / UK-DVD 16:26-17:25 Sammy marches through a few dubious corridors in a house - it's obviously a flashback that explains how his failed diamond deal came about in the first place. In one room, we see Wang and Ko Fai doing some training, the former being praised for his progress. Sammy is now with them and asks why he was summoned. Ko Fai mentions a delivery of goods and hands over half a banknote, which is supposed to be his identifying mark at the handover. 58.3 sec
The UK DVD shows a French ending panel for just under 3 sec at the end, the German VHS and US Blu-ray show the last frame of Bruce frozen in pose for a correspondingly longer time. No time difference
Now a few comments on the US Blu-ray. The first shot of the movie starts a few insignificant frames earlier on the US Blu-ray (after black frame). + 2.1 sec 01:29-01:52 / 01:23-01:33 The opening credits also deviate here and only the US Blu-ray probably shows the original credits over the first shots of the city at night. From the mention of Samuel Walls onwards, the credits are identical, so they can also be seen on the British DVD in English over further evening shots. Blu-ray 12.1 sec longer
Also, here are a few more comparison images across the movie. The UK DVD shows a little more picture information at the top and bottom, but less on the sides. The picture on the US Blu-ray is of course clearly superior.
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