Comparison between the cut Japanese theatrical version on the Japanese Blu-ray and the uncut original version on the German Blu-ray by Splendid.

- 4 cuts
- Cut duration: 331.1 sec (= 5:31 min)

 

Fans might know that in Japan one could often come across longer film versions of the Hong Kong star Jackie Chan. His early movie Shaolin Wooden Men is one of the exceptions though as the Japanese cut is shorter in this case. It was tightened by 5.5 minutes. A pattern is not directly recognizable, even though especially the penultimate cut smells a bit like censorship. What's special about the Japanese Blu-ray is primarily that the scanned movie version is available in real HD, while the German Blu-ray (as well as other Blu-rays worldwide until at least 2020) only contain an SD upscale. However, due to the burned-in subtitles on the right side of the picture and the cuts, this is only of limited use.

Runtimes are ordered as follows: Japanese theatrical version Blu-ray / German FSK 12 Blu-ray

The Japanese Blu-ray has its own logo to start with. The German Blu-ray has various logos for this.
Not included in cut duration/quantity.

German Blu-ray 30.7 sec longer

Japanese Theatrical Version	German Blu-ray

After about 6.5 minutes, the credits deviate. The title insertion is quite unique, afterwards, the Japanese features only the Chinese credits. In the regular version, there are at least sporadic English translations.

Japanese Theatrical Version	German Blu-ray

16:11 / 16:42-18:28

The water fetch scene starts much earlier: Jackie is not progressing as fast as the others. A few students torture him for it until a master comes along. He also notices that Jackie hasn't even reached the halfway mark and has to make more effort. Jackie gets down on his knees because he does not want to be expelled.

106,4 sec (= 1:46 min)

37:27 / 39:44-40:02

After the training session with the imprisoned master, you actually see a tracking shot of the studying monks outside, before Jackie does his exercises here, too.

17,3 sec

72:38 / 75:13-78:10

Jackie, Kim and the master stop at another ally. The master demonstrates that he is not such a nice guy. The last meal is prepared for him, but out of skepticism against traitors he immediately kills a passing Shaolin monk. This one, however, is the brother of the landlord, who reacts very angrily. The master brutally beats him to the ground, whereupon his wife and child join in. He pushes them against a post and since the child has bitten his leg, he kicks it away, too. With this, the paths with Jackie and Kim separate, to whom the master just quickly throws the things from the house he now occupies.
Afterwards we see Jackie and Kim walking around the temple earlier and find out that nobody is here anymore.

177,7 sec (= 2:58 min)

101:37-101:49 / 107:09-107:57

The last shot of the field can be seen a little longer in the Japanese version and an end fade-in appears here. This can also be seen briefly on a black background.

In the regular version, we go inside the temple again instead. Jackie gets her hair shaved off with the words "Buddha protect him" and is accepted into the temple. Here's then also another end fade in. The following Fortune Star note was not included in the cut duration mentioned above.

Regular version 36.3 sec longer