This relatively early effort by Jackie Chan does not include any signature stunts and seems like an attempt to promote the young star as the new Bruce Lee. Still, the Chan charm is already in place. Set on Taiwan during the Second World War, Chan and cohorts are pitted against the Japanese occupation forces and a rival Japanese martial arts school. There are fights galore but little of the customary Hong Kong fancy. The view of the Japanese is extremely xenophobic, and would never pass politically correct muster in Hollywood. Still, the film is fun to watch even with its precipitous ending.

Chan gets his kicks. ©Simitar

      Transferred in a 1.33:1 cropped version, the composition of this originally widescreen film are often abominable. The fights are frequently confusing because of the the cropped image. Soft focus rules the transfer and color bleeding is common. Not what you'd hope for in DVD. Even the Mandarin soundtrack sounds wrong. The DVD interface is very awkward and it's difficult to turn the titles on and off. A filmed Chan interview is included as an extra. 

Burt Lancaster
A look at the career of a screen legend. Click on the image for a bio sketch and many poster images.

Nicebid.com is a well organized auction site. Movie fans can browse through the movie section for posters and star photos. 

 A love of movies drives this small DVD production company, Synapse Films,  currently specializing in horror and cult films. Watch for new DVD releases of film festival independents as Synapse branches out. 

DVD Verdict recently reached the 400 DVD Review milestone. Copies of Galaxy Quest on DVD are offered as prizes in their current contest. 
Click on the link to visit the judge's chambers.

Brad Lang continues to add more interesting to the extensive collection at Classic Movies.  Everything from actors and actress to your favorite directors is linked at the site.

Black DVD Online interviews Thomas Bennett,  DVD Quality Control technician for Henninger Interactive Media. Look for it starting 3/27/00.

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The  Movie Poster Archive include extensive poster images from the films of stars like Susan Hayward, Kirk Douglas, Katharine Hepburn and many more. This month's featured star is Cary Grant.

The Feature Archive has articles ranging from Akira Kurosawa to Blonde Bimbos and John Ford.

Vietnam: The Hollywood Pariah

During World War II, Hollywood pumped out war movies one after the other. Vietnam was was another story. As far as Hollywood was a pariah.