Anyone get the new Flowers of Shanghai disc who can comment on picture quality, etc? I want to pick it up, but Fox Lorber no longer gets my money without some assurance that they haven't completely f**ked up the disc.

...yeah, I know what you mean... this review of the movie has certainly whetted my appetite for the/a DVD version...

http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/flowshang.shtml

...but, like you, I'm rather leery of Fox Lorber discs...

. . . . . .

http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/sho...w.php3?ID=1484

Brief summary: not great, but not as bad as Fox Lorber often has done.

Bear in mind there's also a region 0 disc (available from Poker Industries) that's pretty decent, although the subtitles are teensy.

Any reviews of the Puppetmaster DVD quality?

um, what?

Anyway, Flowers of Shanghai is in the next batch of dvds i'm getting to review for this here site, so I'll let you know what I think of it.

I guess you're not familiar with Hou's works, then.

Both the Puppetmaster and Flowers of Shanghai are part of Fox Lorber's restrospective discs on Hou Hsiao-Hsien. The next batch of DVDs will be Hou's "Good Men, Good Women" and "Goodbye,. South, Goodbye", to be released on 9/11/01.

Apparently, the Puppetmaster has been given a full-frame transfer, but I've heard nothing about the quality.

And I won't be any help, because I no longer buy Fox Lorber discs sight unseen. Not after Yi Yi. Not even for Hou.

I'm aware that Puppetmaster is full-frame, but the other three ("Good Men, Good Women", "Goodbye, South, Goodbye", and "Flowers of Shanghai") are all widescreen, albeit non-anamorphic. I have no idea why Fox Lorber releases this on full-frame, since that's not the OAR. I won't be buying it, but I'm still curious about the transfer quality. So at least I can gauge the quality of GM,GW and G,S,G.

Ah-ha, forgive me my sleepiness. I know a little about Hou. i just briefly read your post and thought you were referring to that puppets-come-alive-and-kill-people horror movie. Now it all makes sense.