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Uncut German Blu-ray 
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Comparison between the cut Hong Kong Laserdisc from Golden Cinema City and the uncut German Blu-ray from T&G Vision / Cargo Records
A few additional master errors each with a duration of < 0.5 sec were not listed in the report. After delivering a solid box office success with Aces Go Places Part 4 in 1986, Ringo Lam was given almost free rein in Asia at the production studio. A year later, he directed two of his most well-known works internationally, City on Fire and Prison on Fire. Chow Yun-Fat stars in both, having recently risen to superstardom with A Better Tomorrow. It was the golden era of Hong Kong cinema. Since February 23, 2024, the German Blu-ray premiere along with Part 2 has been available, but the image quality was disappointingly poor. Fortunately, the concurrently released Blu-ray of Hard Boiled used a much better HD master (as well as featuring several audio options with the original mono tracks and featuring the longer Taiwanese version as a bonus). But back to Prison on Fire: The film received the infamous Cat III rating in its home country. It's there that we took a closer look and examined the Laserdisc from Hong Kong. Although the versions there were generally presumed to be uncut, there were (alongside minor master errors) at least two missing scenes, which clearly hint at some censorship. However, all of this is now just a historical footnote. Runtimes:
Runtime indications are arranged according to the scheme 08:42 / 09:06
Master error: A few frames transitioning from the prisoners to the guards. 0.5 sec In the 18th/19th minute, there is another typical master-related missing bit of 0.5 sec. 22:56 / 23:57-23:58 During the scuffle in the yard, there's a shot where an inmate removes his glasses a moment earlier. 0.6 sec 24:41 / 25:48-25:57 Madly (Fui-On Shing) falls to the ground for a longer moment after being struck on the head, and there's a cut back to the guard or "Killer" Hung (Roy Cheung). 8.2 sec
34:44 / 36:26 Another template error during a scene transition: Chung goes to the table with the towels a bit earlier. 0.6 sec Throughout the rest of the film, several similarly inconsequential mini-moments are lost. 46:38 / 48:53-49:00 After Lo (Tony Leung) stabs himself in the abdomen with the glass shard, Chung (Chow Yun-Fat) holds him in his arms a bit longer and panically calls for Uncle Gao's help. 6.4 sec
89:33 / 93:48-93:49 Likely just another master error, but at a significant moment: As Chung gathers himself again, a shot from the side of him starts a small moment earlier. This shows more clearly the thread of blood from his mouth. 0.5 sec
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