"Enter the Dragon" 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray
This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the Bruce Lee classic Enter the Dragon. To celebrate, Warner Bros. is putting out a 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition on June 11th (click here to pre-order). If you’re wondering what kind of supplemental material you can expect, here’s a sneak peak:
New Featurette – No Way As Way: Judging from the title, this new feature can be one of the following: 1) A documentary centering on Bruce Lee’s philosophy 2) A documentary along the lines of I Am Bruce Lee (interviews with famous people who were influenced by Lee) or a new “making of” featurette. Whatever it is, let’s cross our fingers that it’s something fresh and new.
New Featurette – The Return to Han’s Island: Personally, this is the one I’m most curious about. It’s always nice to see a “now and then” of filming locations in classic movies. But then again, The Return to Han’s Island can mean anything. For all we know, it could be an Enter the Dragon retrospective.
New Featurette – Wing Chun: The Art that Introduced Kung Fu to Bruce Lee: With the popularity of Ip Man, this new featurette should come as no surprise. After all, Lee’s time with the Wing Chun Grandmaster was an important milestone in his life.
New Goodies: Looks like the new edition comes with a number of photos, a sticker (?), diagrams and/or maps that are packaged in some kind of fancy envelope. Very cool, if you’re into these kinds of things.
Commentary by producer Paul Heller: Huge disappointment. Instead of recycling Paul Heller’s dull commentary, I would have rather seen an insightful one by Bey Logan or even one of the film’s co-stars like John Saxon or Jim Kelly. Heck, I’ll even take a commentary by one of the film’s extras over Heller’s snooze fest.
More recycled features from previous Blu-ray and DVD editions: Here are more recycled features from the current Blu-ray edition: Interview Gallery featuring Lee’s wife, Linda Lee Caldwell; Vintage pieces; Backyard Workout with Bruce Lee; Curse of the Dragon (1993 documentary); Location: Hong Kong with Enter the Dragon; Blood and Steel: The Making of Enter the Dragon; Personal Profile Bruce Lee: In His Own Words; Five trailers; and Seven TV spots. Good stuff, but we’ve seen it all before.
Don’t go throwing away your old Blu-ray, DVD or VHS copy just yet. John Little’s 2001 documentary A Warrior’s Journey (featuring Game of Death footage) seems to be missing from this release. Additionally, the original theatrical cut of the film, which hasn’t seen the light of day since VHS, is still absent. Also, there’s no word if this new edition is an all-new remaster or not (if they don’t mention it, we doubt it).
If you’re a Bruce Lee library completist, this is good news. If you’re looking for something new, this so-called “40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition” is not so ultimate. But hey, things can change between now and the street date, so don’t lose all hope. In the meantime, you can pre-order it from Amazon.com.
gotta have this gotta have this gotta this
Thanks for the details!