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Thread: The Bund 《上海灘》

  1. #481
    Senior Member almo89's Avatar
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    Just finished rewatching the new DVD set I got for the Bund. The show is still just as good as before. One tid bit my buddy mentioned that I never noticed in the past. Hui Man Keung does a Marlon Brando Godfather imitation to make Ching Ching laugh. He was speaking in Fung Gung Yiu's perspective but the imitiation is definitely the Godfather, but the movie wasn't made yet in the Bund setting

    I think I like Ding Lik's character even more this time around. He has his moments of being super jealous and impulsive. But what I liked about his character is his loyalty to Hui Man Keung. No matter how much he hated him at times during the show, he never wanted to kill him. He was the only one to refer Hui Man Keung as "hing dai", but Man Keung never really said the same back to him. Even after what they have gone through, before they kill Lip Yan Wong, Ding Lik says that if they are successful, they should be brothers again. I'm such a sucker for bromance type scenes and Ding Lik was always a good bro.
    "If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put it in a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friends.

  2. #482
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by almo89 View Post
    Just finished rewatching the new DVD set I got for the Bund. The show is still just as good as before. One tid bit my buddy mentioned that I never noticed in the past. Hui Man Keung does a Marlon Brando Godfather imitation to make Ching Ching laugh. He was speaking in Fung Gung Yiu's perspective but the imitiation is definitely the Godfather, but the movie wasn't made yet in the Bund setting

    I think I like Ding Lik's character even more this time around. He has his moments of being super jealous and impulsive. But what I liked about his character is his loyalty to Hui Man Keung. No matter how much he hated him at times during the show, he never wanted to kill him. He was the only one to refer Hui Man Keung as "hing dai", but Man Keung never really said the same back to him. Even after what they have gone through, before they kill Lip Yan Wong, Ding Lik says that if they are successful, they should be brothers again. I'm such a sucker for bromance type scenes and Ding Lik was always a good bro.
    Hui Mun Keung was always the less verbally communicative of the duo...that was one of Hui Mun Keung's defining characteristics and character flaws (as seen in the earlier episodes when his reticence caused misunderstandings between himself and Ah Lik and Ching Ching). Hui Mun Keung saved Ding Lik's life on at least three occasions, though, and helped to make Ding Lik everything he would become.

  3. #483
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    THE CROWN JEWEL IS FINALLY ON TVB'S OFFICIAL YOUTUBE CHANNEL! IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME!!!


  4. #484
    Senior Member almo89's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    THE CROWN JEWEL IS FINALLY ON TVB'S OFFICIAL YOUTUBE CHANNEL! IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME!!!

    TVB's official youtube channels have been a major hit or miss. Sometimes complete scenes are muted with no audio. Some shows don't include the themesong. Some really strange editing choices.
    "If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put it in a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friends.

  5. #485
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by almo89 View Post
    TVB's official youtube channels have been a major hit or miss. Sometimes complete scenes are muted with no audio. Some shows don't include the themesong. Some really strange editing choices.
    I encountered that problem with THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER 1984 (scenes without audio). I wonder if that's due to TVB not having copyright clearance for some of the background music, as they stole liberally from music that didn't belong to TVB for BGM during the 1980s. I noticed that the credits for these BUND uploads include copyright information for all music heard in the episodes.

  6. #486
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Been checking out Episode # 1. I think TVB has done some remastering work with the original film/video. The resolution is higher than it's ever been, including on my DVDs from a decade ago. Granted, THE BUND was filmed on a combination of 16mm film and videotape over forty years ago, and its noirish atmosphere really doesn't require high-definition resolution, but it looks to my eyes that TVB has run the masters through some kind of filter that's really cleaned up the picture.

  7. #487
    Senior Member almo89's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    Been checking out Episode # 1. I think TVB has done some remastering work with the original film/video. The resolution is higher than it's ever been, including on my DVDs from a decade ago. Granted, THE BUND was filmed on a combination of 16mm film and videotape over forty years ago, and its noirish atmosphere really doesn't require high-definition resolution, but it looks to my eyes that TVB has run the masters through some kind of filter that's really cleaned up the picture.
    They definitely remastered it. The best version they released though was the HK version DVD that was released a few years back. The youtube upload is most likely based off of this edition as the color grading looks similar. The downside is that the youtube version is heavily compressed compared to the DVD set. Was skimming through the first episode and realized they made a MAJOR cut. The whole part of Ding Lik's attempt to kill Hui Man Keung was completely cut out. So TVB is at it again lol. So far the HK DVD set I bought a few years back is the best version of this series.
    "If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put it in a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friends.

  8. #488
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by almo89 View Post
    They definitely remastered it. The best version they released though was the HK version DVD that was released a few years back. The youtube upload is most likely based off of this edition as the color grading looks similar. The downside is that the youtube version is heavily compressed compared to the DVD set. Was skimming through the first episode and realized they made a MAJOR cut. The whole part of Ding Lik's attempt to kill Hui Man Keung was completely cut out. So TVB is at it again lol. So far the HK DVD set I bought a few years back is the best version of this series.
    I know exactly how and why that happened. That entire scene was set to Pink Floyd's "Time" from their DARK SIDE OF THE MOON album, which would have tripped the YouTube alarm with Universal Music Group, which holds the rights to Pink Floyd's music. Licensing rights for music are prohibitively expensive, and even huge companies (such as Universal itself in releasing some of its older TV series on DVD or streaming) have been having issues with it. Several episodes of the CBS TV series AIRWOLF from the 1980s were not included in its streaming package because those episodes featured songs by Foreigner ("I Want To Know What Love Is") and Dire Straits ("Money For Nothing"). One thing that I, as a viewer, miss from the 80s was how relatively freewheeling copyright laws were in those days.

  9. #489
    Senior Member almo89's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    I know exactly how and why that happened. That entire scene was set to Pink Floyd's "Time" from their DARK SIDE OF THE MOON album, which would have tripped the YouTube alarm with Universal Music Group, which holds the rights to Pink Floyd's music. Licensing rights for music are prohibitively expensive, and even huge companies (such as Universal itself in releasing some of its older TV series on DVD or streaming) have been having issues with it. Several episodes of the CBS TV series AIRWOLF from the 1980s were not included in its streaming package because those episodes featured songs by Foreigner ("I Want To Know What Love Is") and Dire Straits ("Money For Nothing"). One thing that I, as a viewer, miss from the 80s was how relatively freewheeling copyright laws were in those days.
    Yeah kind of expected it to be a copyright issue, but man it's tough to watch lol. I wonder if the TVB anywhere service the offers these old shows all uncut. I still have a few shows that I don't have on DVD yet.
    "If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put it in a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friends.

  10. #490
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by almo89 View Post
    Yeah kind of expected it to be a copyright issue, but man it's tough to watch lol. I wonder if the TVB anywhere service the offers these old shows all uncut. I still have a few shows that I don't have on DVD yet.
    Yeah...unfortunately, since TVB set many of THE BUND's best fight scenes to Pink Floyd's music, viewers are losing out on many of the series' best action-oriented scenes, a number of which are important to the plot. Using Pink Floyd's music was an inspired idea that really worked well in creating the proper atmosphere for the scenes, but nobody could have foreseen it would bite TVB in the *** decades later when they released the series for streaming on YouTube.

    What I don't understand is why TVB's CHOR LAU HEUNG (1979) YouTube release wipes out the sound on the playing of the theme song during the opening titles. TVB commissions the theme songs that they use for their series. What kind of Mickey Mouse arrangement did they make with Crown Records (did that somehow get bought out by Universal Music Group too?) wherein TVB can't even use the theme song for its own series?

  11. #491
    Senior Member almo89's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    Yeah...unfortunately, since TVB set many of THE BUND's best fight scenes to Pink Floyd's music, viewers are losing out on many of the series' best action-oriented scenes, a number of which are important to the plot. Using Pink Floyd's music was an inspired idea that really worked well in creating the proper atmosphere for the scenes, but nobody could have foreseen it would bite TVB in the *** decades later when they released the series for streaming on YouTube.

    What I don't understand is why TVB's CHOR LAU HEUNG (1979) YouTube release wipes out the sound on the playing of the theme song during the opening titles. TVB commissions the theme songs that they use for their series. What kind of Mickey Mouse arrangement did they make with Crown Records (did that somehow get bought out by Universal Music Group too?) wherein TVB can't even use the theme song for its own series?
    Yep Pink Floyd music was used very tastefully in the Bund. I'm glad that I have the DVD and I hope future generations can watch these shows uncut somehow.

    Yeah Chor Lau Heung was unusual. Chor Lau Heung and Luk Siu Fung are two shows I still haven't watched in its entirety yet because I'm still looking for a good version. The best bet would be to subscribe to their streaming service platform.
    "If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put it in a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friends.

  12. #492
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by almo89 View Post
    Yep Pink Floyd music was used very tastefully in the Bund. I'm glad that I have the DVD and I hope future generations can watch these shows uncut somehow.

    Yeah Chor Lau Heung was unusual. Chor Lau Heung and Luk Siu Fung are two shows I still haven't watched in its entirety yet because I'm still looking for a good version. The best bet would be to subscribe to their streaming service platform.
    It's funny, because THE BUND got me into Pink Floyd. I wasn't a fan of the Floyd until I watched THE BUND, but when I discovered that the series' fabulous background music actually came from a great British rock band, I was hooked.

  13. #493
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    One of the overlooked strengths of THE BUND were the location shots for outdoor scenes. We frequently saw vintage buildings and vintage streets that really looked like old Shanghai, circa 1920-1940. Now Hong Kong and Macau during the late 1970s and early 1980s still had a limited number of older buildings and streets around that could serve as proxies for old Shanghai, but I never thought that Macau and Hong Kong, even in 1980, had enough such locations for the shooting of the series. Nor could that be easily reproduced at TVB's studios.

    Turns out that Shanghai has a film park similar to Hollywood's Universal Studios called Shanghai Chedun Film Park. It was first opened in 1949, shortly after the Communist takeover of mainland China, and included a studio area that very convincingly replicated the streets and buildings of old Shanghai from the 1920s-1930s era. The Communist takeover meant the studio facility could not be immediately be put to use, but thankfully, the Communist authorities did not destroy the facility. By 1980, after the end of the Mao era and Deng Xiaoping initiated a new era of opening up, TVB was able to gain permission to film some outdoor scenes at the facilities at Chedun (which includes a replica of a Shanghai public park from the prewar era). The availability of this facility helped to give THE BUND an authentic Old Shanghai look.

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