Waiting in Line

     Hi, I've finally gotten out of Hong Kong and found my way to an auction in Sweden where I beleave the VHS copy to be. Soon, we have the final version of the film. This is the last update I'll be making in the next few months due to security here in Sweden.

Update 9-28-12

     Please excuse the recent hiatus, I was robbed on the streets of Hong Kong by a gang of gun-smuggling ruffians. I'm actually writting this at some public library right now. Anyways, back to King of Chess. It turns out the man who supposedly had the tape actually had sold it and an entire box full of old VHS tapes to his old landlord to pay his rent back in 1996. He did, however, give us a lead as to where that man could be, though. Hopefully I will soon find my passport agian so I can get out of here.

Update 9-14-12

After searching high and low, we have found that all copies on 8mm have been destroyed. This is because Golden Princess Films was so furious with the 8mm's distributor's edits made for the Americanization of the film that the ended the deal with them and ordered them to pull all copies off the shelves and have them never be seen again. However, this doesn't mean the film is totally lost. Most likely the higher-ups who were flabbergasted by the American Cut most likely saw it on a VHS, which would have been easier to ship over due to durability. This VHS, if it exists, is most likely the only copy left of this cut.

Suspicious Title in film catalog....

While searching through a 8mm collector's issues of a Castle Films Home Movies catalog, we came upon an interesting title in one of the last issues printed. The title?The Royal Standard. Is this perhaps a mistranslation of King of Chess? Perhaps, but it dose seem to be stretching it a lot. However, one can hope. We are currently tracking down former members of Castle Films, to see if this is true...

R.I.P. Johnathan Smith

Sadly, Johnathan Smith who was mentioned in the last post was caught in a fire yesterday. He and everything in his house was burned to an ash. This means that we may never find a copy of the American cut of King of Chess. However, we will continue to search until we find it.

Supposed Laserdisc Release of the Film

We were recently contacted by a Johnathan Smith about the possession of the American cut of the film. He claims that he doesn't have it on 8mm but rather laserdisc of all things. This is most likely a hoax as it would take around 6 laserdiscs to have a complete copy of the film on the format, but regardless, this film is so rare that we can't pass up the offer to try to find it. However, we are still negotiating a price out with him. Hopefully, we will have the film soon.

Some New Leads Regarding The Films Spliced Into King Of Chess

An anonymous source has given us a few possible leads as to what films were spliced into the original King of Chess for this release. Here are some possible examples:

It's a Drink! It's a Bomb! (1985)

The Cat (1992)

Little Hero (1978)

Devil Fetus (1983)

The Miracle Fighters (1982)

That's about all we know for now. We must also remind you that these are only possibly in the film, and there is probably more movies spliced into the final film. Sorry for not really having any more information to give out, but this is all we have for now.

Rumors On The Internet

About a week ago, I was asking around about this film. Finally, I got a reply:


I had a friend once who thought he'd found it, but it was only a three and a half hour excerpt. But on the packaging they had a lot of details about what was on the full version, there were eight different commentaries and the director's cut was seven hours long.

Later, he corrected himself saying the directors cut was actually nine hours long. Of this is true, this is the longest film to be released on 8mm. All I can say is that if this is true, its a big deal. I'll keep in contact with this guy. If I get any other leads, I'll let you guys know. 

Finding the Lost American Video Cut of This Obscure Film

     So, its probably no secret that barely anyone has heard of this film. Of course, I'm referring to the 1991 Ho Yim film King of Chess. However, there's another version of the film that's even more obscure then the original cut of this film. That would be the 1993 8mm dubbed U.S. re-cut of the film. It supposedly ran 363 minutes and had stock footage from other films spliced into it as well as original footage as well. No one is sure where this new footage was shot but it was presumably shot in Romania. However, there is no way to tell as this release has been assumed lost for years.

     Why? Well, due to copyright disputes with Golden Princess Film Productions (the original production company of this film) and the 8mm's distributor (who still to this day remains unknown) the item was pulled from the shelves not even a year after its release. People who have seen this cut claim that what they saw was victim to aspect ratio cropping and horrid dubbing. They also say that the original footage stuck out like a sore thumb and was incredibly cheap looking. No surprise, as the assumed budget was only 2,000 ROL, which equates to only $560.
     Well, what else do we know. Apparently, the credits have been completely redone, with the director being credited as Kei Wong. This is interesting because that is actually the Cantonese title of the film. Also, we do have the 8mm's cover art:

    
     Of course, there's no proof as to if this is the real thing or not. As for the films also spliced into the original King of Chess, details are sparse. We have absolutely no leads, and it seems as if the only way to find out what movies were added into this is to find the film. What's really interesting that any company was still making 8mm releases at this time, too. I assume that this is one of the last 8mms, if not the last. If anyone has any information about this cut, please email me at griffin.wanbaugh@gmail.com.