Hot War

Starring:Ekin Cheng, Jordan Chan, Kelly Chen, Terence Yin, Vanessa Yeung, Asuka Higuchi, Matthew Ha
Director: Jingle Ma, Ma Chu Cheng
Studio: Tai Seng Entertainme
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

The Hot Snow
Director: Gavriil Yegiazarov
Manufacturer: RUSCICO
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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World War II | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

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Product Features:

Extras Interview with actor B. Tokarev
Photo Album "In memory of G. Zhzhynov
Philmographies
English Dubbing and Subtitles
French Dubbing and Subtitles

ASIN: B000NPQ0GA

Product Description

A Heroic drama based upon the novel by Yuri Bondarev. The film recounts the story of battle of the World War 2 the battle on Volga.

Average customer rating:

A Polish Birth of a Nation
A MASTERPIECE...BUT ONLY JUST
Magnificent Restoration Of A Long Lost Epic.
Chess and Revolution

The Chess Player
Starring: Pierre Blanchar , Charles Dullin , Édith Jéhanne , Camille Bert , and Pierre Batcheff
Director: Raymond Bernard
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00009Q4W8
Release Date: 2003-07-29

Amazon.com

In his landmark history of silent filmmaking The Parade's Gone By..., Kevin Brownlow praised "the imaginative and powerful historical dramas" of Raymond Bernard and regretted their neglect. Now Brownlow has restored Bernard's The Chess Player, a truly epic film in the Abel Gance tradition. Its allegory of Poland's 18th-century struggle for independence from Russia also aspires to a Gance-like dynamism in the camerawork--occasionally handheld, it would seem--and editing, which in two sequences reaches for nothing less than visual music. Still, the film's most audacious, and enduringly weird, dynamics involve one character's penchant for constructing automatons. These include a Turk in a box "who" can beat anybody in Europe at chess--to the royal pique of Empress Catherine the Great. The final reels pose the question, "How many Polish automatons does it take to unscrew a tyranny?" The haunting answer must have made this film a favorite with the Surrealists. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

This powerful drama of patriotism, betrayal and suspense combines gorgeous decors and thousands of extras. In 1776 Poland, nobleman Boleslas Vorowski heads a secret liberation movement against Russia and learns his childhood sweetheart, Sophie, loves his friend, a Russian officer. When Vorowsky is wounded in battle, his mentor, the inventor Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen, constructs a marvelous chess- playing automaton which, when summoned by Catherine the Great, holds the fate of Polish independence by a single, suspenseful chess game. Like Abel Gance's Napoleon, director Raymond Bernard "Demands a veritable ovation: the cavalry charge reaches heights never before reached in film. So magnificent... So splendid!" - Cinemagazine

Customer Reviews:

A Polish Birth of a Nation.......2004-04-16

This French silent movie was apparently discovered and refurbished by a group of British computer scientists fascinated by the automaton chess player from which the film gets its title. However, The Chess Player is a magnificently patriotic film chronicling an 18th Century Polish revolution against Russian occupation. The soundtrack has been constructed by someone who knows the old revolutionary songs of the Polish nation. There is one scene where the Poles are losing the battle, but the heroine, at a site remote from the battle, goes to her piano plays variations of Boze Cos Polska (God Save Poland) and sees above the piano the split screen reality she wishes, namely a victorious charge of Polish cavalry sweeping away the Russians. (There is simultaneous viewing of the grim reality, where the Poles without artillery are being blown to pieces.)There may be an earlier version in cinema of the split screen dual reality, but I am unaware of it. In some ways, The Chess Player, though purely a French production, could be considered a Polish "Birth of a Nation." No doubt the French screenwriter profited from Griffith's epic shot 12 years earlier. There are a number of scenes which have a good deal of resonance with those familiar with the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. For example, there is the portrayal of an old Polish couple being stood against a wall and shot by a Russian firing squad. An event repeated countless times during the 200 plus years of Russian occupation. This is the best edited, reconstructed, and soundtracked silent movie I have viewed. A truly magnificent contribution to world cinema.

A MASTERPIECE...BUT ONLY JUST.......2004-02-18

Of the three accessible masterpieces of French silent cinema (the others being Napoleon and The Passion of Joan of Arc) this film is the weakest - but in such exalted company that is by no means a fatal flaw!

For various reasons the film reminded me of Griffith's Orphans of the Storm. Superficially one of the central themes is that of "sibling" affection and the heroine (Edith Jehanne) bore a striking resemblance to Lilian Gish. More substantively, as with Orphans, The Chess Player somehow seems to add up to less than the sum of its parts. For me this was largely due to the fact that I found the central love story mostly unengaging (perhaps because in his attention to detail the filmmaker retained for his actors the pleated sidelocks presumably worn by Polish officers of the period and consequently in several scenes the hero looks decidedly like a woman!)

That said the film is sumptuous to look at, the locations are beautifully shot and the editing is technically inventive throughout. Definitely a production far superior to the average fare offered to moviegoers in 1927.

Magnificent Restoration Of A Long Lost Epic........2003-08-03

In his book THE PARADE'S GONE BY Kevin Brownlow mentions THE CHESS PLAYER and other films by Raymond Bernard as being among the treasures of late silent cinema so it's no surprise that his Photoplay Productions was responsible for this magnificent restoration. What is surprising is that the restoration was done in 1990 and is only now coming to DVD. At least four different 35mm prints were used to create this complete version which also features a modern recording of the original Henri Rambaud score done by Brownlow's longtime musical partner Carl Davis. As for the picture itself, I wish I could say that I was totally bowled over by the film as I have waited a long time to see it, but I wasn't. The sets and costumes are the equal of NAPOLEON, the cinematography is a striking combination of Eisenstein and Gance, and part of the story is based on historical fact (there really was a Baron von Kempelen in the late 18th century who created a mechanical chess player called the Turk) but Bernard is no Abel Gance. At 140 minutes the film seemed far too long for the story it had to tell. The pace flags from time to time especially in the romantic scenes which seem to interrupt the flow of the movie. Nevertheless THE CHESS PLAYER is chock full of startling images thanks to the automaton subplot. The final sequence inside the inventor's house will stay with you for a long time afterwards. The performances for the most part are subservient to the overall look of the film but Charles Dullin as the Baron makes the most of the film's best role. The film is definitely worth having as there is so little of late European silent cinema available on home video. One only hopes that Brownlow's restorations of Gance's NAPOLEON, Rex Ingram's FOUR HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE, Stroheim's GREED, and many others will soon make it to DVD (the original 1925 PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is coming out in September '03). While THE CHESS PLAYER may not be a film for the ages, it's still a mighty good one and an epic of true proportions as well. We all owe Kevin Brownlow & Co our heartfelt thanks for making these movies available to us once again.

Chess and Revolution.......2003-08-03

The Chess Player is set in 1776, but rather than being a story of Americans fighting to gain independence, it is a story of Poles struggling to regain their independence from Russia. Dashing Polish nobleman Boleslas Vorowski leads the resistance using both his skill as a fighter and as a chess player to undermine the Russians. Eventually he has to go into hiding and the resistance movement devises a scheme to deceive his pursuers. Vorowski is hidden inside a mechanical chess-playing automaton called the Turk. He uses his skill at the game to defeat all comers, but this success leads him into danger. When an invitation arrives to play chess with Catherine the Great in Saint Petersburg, he must journey to the heart of the Russian empire and face a chess player who doesn't like to lose.

The Chess player is a spectacular film with many stunning scenes. It is beautiful to look at with lavish sets and costumes. The acting is good and the direction is often inspired, displaying impressive filmmaking technique with its use of unusual camera angles and inventive camera movement. The editing at times resembles the fast, creative style of filmmakers like Eisenstein and Pudovkin. But The Chess Player, although well worth seeing, is rather a flawed film. The story is slight and at times rather ludicrous. It does not have the depth to justify the epic scope of the film. The biggest problem is that the story of the chess-playing automaton fits uneasily into a story of the Polish struggle for independence. The focus on chess and various automata tends to trivialise momentous events. While it is a feast for the senses, the film does not engage the emotions as much as it should. It includes a love triangle, but the potential of this aspect of the story is not fully developed. The fate of the characters should be much more moving than it is.

The tinted print on the Image DVD is generally very good. There are some scratches and occasionally the picture is rather soft especially in close-ups. Generally though, the print looks wonderful and the restoration by Photoplay productions is first rate. The orchestral score by Henri Rabaud works well. It fits the action and the mood of the film and is a joy to listen to. The DVD includes as extras a radio interview about the historical chess-playing automaton, some stills from the film, a reproduction of the original programme and a text interview with the director. I was pleased to obtain this DVD for it is a very good presentation of an interesting film. While The Chess Player may not be a great film, I enjoyed watching it and found much to admire even as I was aware of its faults.

Hot War
Average customer rating:

Cool Idea, Suffers from Lack of decent Script

hmm......this is not what expected....

cooooollll

THE UNEXPECTED

Cool

Hot War
Starring: Ekin Cheng , Jordan Chan , Kelly Chen , Terence Yin , and Vanessa Yeung
Director: Jingle Ma , and Ma Chu Cheng
Manufacturer: Universe Laser & Video Co.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Chinese | By Original Language | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video
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Chan, Jordan | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
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ASIN: 6305621489
Release Date: 1999-10-26

Customer Reviews:

Cool Idea, Suffers from Lack of decent Script.......2003-03-11

Tango One (Ekin Cheng), Blue (Kelly Chan), and C.S. (Jordan Chan) are scientists working for the CIA's 'subliminal message division.' When an enemy terrorist (Terence Yin, sporting a bleached- dye job gone wrong) called Alien, begins kidnapping scientists throughout the globe, the CIA is alerted.

The trio, close friends, have been working on a way to subliminally program the world's first 'super soldier'. Using this technique, they have been able to alter the programming of CIA agents minds to become effective'combat' agents. When Alien target's C.T., a tragic accident occurs and Tango and C.T. undergo the 'virtual' training to rescue Blue.

I enjoyed Hot War, and I'm a real fan of Ekin Cheng, but I found Hot War to be only only an "Okay" movie. Mostly, because the dialog was awful, and the script/subtitles poorly handled. The English speakers delivered their lines poorly and almost incomprehensibly, and with the emotional quality of corpses. Some of the computer sequences were badly handled, and really unrealistic, and overall the scenary and costumes were very drab and gray.

What I DID like about Hot War, was the topic. Subliminal messaging: How far would the government go with this? What REALLY is reality? Or is it just what Uncle Sam tells us it is? Also, the past history of the three major characters from the orphanage days, would've been interesting to explore. As usual, Ekin Cheng was excellent, but this movie suffered from a slow start and the lack of a decent script.

I'd say this was rental fare, rent it, and if you like it, buy the video.

hmm......this is not what expected...........2002-03-06

Ekin Cheng became the next badboy after making movies like ' young & dangerous' ' Meanstreet Story' and such. i guess he is like the next andy Lau( BECAUSE EKIN CHENG HAS LIKE MARTIAL ART MOVIES WUXIA PEIN STUFF AS WELl) the other actor is very famous also. but i forgot his name..sorry

what happens in the movie is that these 3 scientists invent a program tat can make people like the ultimate fighting machine. and the evil terrorist, Alien kidnaps one of them and kills one of them's fiance.

filled with anger, ekin and fung(ill jus call him that) test out the program on themselves. so they can rescue their friend Kelly.
the program domake them super fighter. but there are side effects.....and.....

this movie dissapointed me because Hong Kong cinema in the late 90's has not made a well-made masterpiece yet.( maybe the young & dangerous, and storm riders....) Ekin cheng still is the man.

cooooollll.......2001-12-26

really i have spend 1 week just to see this film again and again.. it's really interesting.... everyone like the 2 VR warriors but i like Alien most.... he makes the film better than it is. i see that he is diferrent from any tetorrists i have ever seen before.. he so cool.. and i like the way he fight.
however this film is so alike the Matrix.. i dont like that point.. that's why its only 4 stars ;) any one who know ab the actor playing the role of Alien please tell me.. thank u

THE UNEXPECTED.......2000-01-09

THIS IS THE KINDA FILM THAT CONSTANTLY HAS YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT AND WHEN YOU THINK THINGS JUST CAN'T GET WORSE THEY DO. IT WAS A GREAT MOVIE AND I NEVER GET TIRED OF WATCHING IT. EKIN GIVES A GREAT PERFORMANCE. IF YOU ARE AN ACTION FAN THEN I PROMISE YOU WON'T BE DISAPOINTED.

Cool.......1999-12-06

A good,well acted movie with interesting characters.C.S.(Jordan Chan),Tango(Cheng Kee Yin),and Blue(Kelly Chan) are 3 agents working for the C.I.A.,(who also have been friends since they were very young)specializing in a virtual reality training program that turns ordinary people into great fighters.When C.S.'s fiance is killed and Blue is kidnapped by an international terrorist named Alien,who brings her to Hong Kong,C.S. and Tango decide to train in the v.r. program to rescue Blue.After they rescue Blue,they still have to find Alien because he has his own plans of causing riots around the world by using subliminal messages.Blue and Tango learn from their superiors that the v.r. training has a side effect on some of the trainees.The side effect is violent outbursts,and C.S. expiriences this while searching for Alien.C.S. kills off a bunch of Aliens henchman during a fit of rage.When the three agents are ordered back to the U.S.,the C.I.A. tries to handcuff them and bring them back to be brainwashed.C.S. while escaping accidentally shoots Blue dead.This eventually leads to a showdown between C.S.,Tango(now brainwashed and ordered to kill C.S.),and Alien.A good all around film.The gunfights and fistfights are not the best ever put on film,but are still good and refreshingly original.Kelly Chan is one fine looking lady.

Average customer rating:

Strike Force: Hot Flying
Starring: Strike Force Series
Manufacturer: Madacy
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00004REG2
Release Date: 2001-12-10

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