Comparison between the cut Hong Kong DVD by Joy Sales / Fortune Star and the uncut German DVD by Retrofilm

- 2 cuts
- Runtime difference: 177.4 sec (= 2:57 min)

A few additional master errors with a duration of less than 0.5 sec each were not listed in the report.

 

Made in 1975 as an Australian-Chinese co-production, The Man from Hong Kong is an interesting follow-up to the huge success Bruce Lee had in the West with Enter the Dragon. Shaw Brothers studios made a push with Shatter as well as The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, and Golden Harvest also had big ambitions. In 1974, Angela Mao, Betty Ting Pei and Sammo Hung were already starring with George Lazenby in A Man Called Stoner. Hung and Lazenby were paired again in The Man from Hong Kong, with Hong Kong legend Jimmy Wang-Yu in the lead role. The film was directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, who was also responsible for BMX Bandits.

According to IMDb, cuts were originally made in the US that involved two scenes with the Australian actor Hugh Keays-Byrne. Before he became internationally immortal with Mad Max as Toecutter (and a few years later in Max Max: Fury Road as Immortan Joe), he attracted the attention of Americans at the time primarily because of his strong Aussie accent. As a result, two of his more dialogue-heavy appearances were unceremoniously dropped entirely.

There are not too many digital releases, but while the DVDs in Germany and Australia, for example, are uncut, the film was only cut in Hong Kong by exactly these two scenes on DVD. After all, the material is also included here as deleted scenes in the bonus section, but it is missing from the film itself. By the way, it has already been announced by the German label Camera Obscura that a new 4K scan will soon be released in Germany. It remains to be seen if there will even be a UHD release alongside the Blu-ray. The entertaining movie would have deserved the deluxe product.

Runtimes are ordered as follows: Hong Kong DVD in NTSC / German DVD in PAL

The Hong Kong DVD has the old Golden Harvest logo to start.
Not included in cut duration/amount.

+ 20.8 sec

41:28 / 39:25-40:16

Fang pulls up at a gas station and is immediately nagged there by Grosse. He says that in Australia he can't afford to do this and that - which Fang of course counters with a threat. Grosse gives in and says that he will take them to the plane tomorrow.

50,8 sec

68:06 / 65:48-67:55

After Fang has been tended to a bit, Grosse is shown here stopping by Caroline's place. After a bit of a rough discussion at the door, she lets him in, after all she can't completely contradict a police officer. Grosse then mentions that she had been at a party with Fang over the weekend. Since Wilton was also there, Grosse wants to know how the trouble between the two came about. He says that three people were murdered afterwards and Fang was injured with an axe. Caroline asks where he is now and Grosse says that he wants to know from her. He again urges her to cooperate with him.

126.7 sec (= 2:07 min)

The German DVD has longer black screen with music after the credits, which explains the additional runtime difference.