Enter the Dragon (龍爭虎鬥, Long xheng hu dou) is a 1973 live-action theatrical American-Hong Kong film directed by Robert Clouse, produced by Fred Weintraub, Paul Heller & Raymond Chow, and written by Michael Allin. The film starred Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Ahna Capri, Shih Kien, Roy Chiao, Bob Wall, Angela Mao, Betty Chung and many more, with music composed by Lalo Schifrin. It was theatrically released in July 1973 for Hong Kong followed by the United States in August 1973, and distributed by Golden Harvest (Hong Kong) and Warner Bros (Internationally).
Background:
“Bruce Lee’s final film, Enter the Dragon, stands the test of time as the most beloved martial-arts epic in film history. To avenge the death of his sister, Lee infiltrates the island fortress of criminal warlord Han and enters his brutal tournament. The result is a breath-taking visual feast of competitions fusing karate, judo, taekwondo, tai chi, and hapkido, staged by Lee Himself.”
Plot Synopsis via Warner Bros, September 2023.
Enter the Dragon is well-known across the world, not only for its martial arts action but is also the official final film for the late actor Bruce Lee, as he sadly passed away before the film was released in the theaters. It’s also an interesting one given it’s a co-production between Hong Kong and the United States with Robert Clouse, who eventually worked on another similar co-produced project with Game of Death, Bruce Lee’s unfinished project, and Battle Creek Brawl, also known as The Big Brawl which starred Jackie Chan.
For me, Enter the Dragon was the first Asian film I bought on Blu-ray and also the first Hong Kong film I watched, which was back in 2013 when I was just starting to get into the Asian Cinema medium. It was an entertaining film with great action and an intriguing story, but the release I owned was more-or-less the 30th Anniversary version rather than the recently-released (at the time) 40th Anniversary version which had a bit more content.
10 years have passed and now Warner Bros is celebrating the film’s 50th Anniversary and with Arrow Video bringing all of Bruce Lee’s films from Golden Harvest on the 4K Ultra HD format, Warner Bros has done the same for Enter the Dragon. Arrow Video did try to work on Enter the Dragon for 4K but they weren’t allowed to and instead they had to re-use the 40th Anniversary Blu-ray disc.
HMV Cine Edition Contents:
Now you may have noticed that this is called the HMV Cine Edition. UK retailer HMV have been producing special retailer exclusive versions for a number of films over the past few years with special artwork and additional physical items. The Enter the Dragon release that’s part of the HMV Cine line-up is actually the exact same as the Ultimate Collector’s Edition release which sold out immediately, but the main difference is the artwork used for the steelbook.
The rigid box includes a steelbook case that houses both the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs, and a mini envelope cardboard box that houses the art cards and poster. The art cards we have are an lenticular, 3 double-sided archival photos, 3 double-sided production notes and 3 double-sided Behind-the-scenes. The poster is double-sided and both sides include a theatrical poster artwork.
The SRP is £44.99 and was available in a 1000 print run, which sold out within the first few months of pre-orders. A standard edition Blu-ray was released first in August 2023 and the on-disc content is the same across both versions.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Steelbook packaging
- Lenticular Card
- 3 Double-sided Archival Art Cards
- 3 Double-sided Production Notes Art Cards
- 3 Double-sided Behind-the-scenes Art Cards
- Double-sided A3 Theatrical Posters
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Warner Bros
Released: 11th September 2023
The Warner Bros 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray release for Enter the Dragon presents the film in both the 1973 Theatrical Cut and 1998 Special Edition Cut. The audio options available is the main English language, with Mandarin audio, with newly translated English subtitles. The 4K Ultra HD disc also includes Dolby Atmos and HDR10 support.
The Blu-ray disc is the same one used for the 40th Anniversary Edition, which features multiple language options and subtitles. The disc is accessible to Regions A & B, and the white subtitles are unlockable during playback.
4K Ultra HD Specs:
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Castalian), Mandarin, Spanish (Latin), Czech |
| Audio | Theatrical & Special Edition Cut: English Dolby Atmos English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono French Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono German Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono Spanish (Castalian) Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono Spanish (Latin) Dolby Digital 2.0 Czech Dolby Digital 5.1 English Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 Special Edition Cut: Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | 2160p Ultra High Definition format 2.40:1 aspect ratio HDR10 |
| Region | All Region |
| Subtitles | English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Castalian), Netherlands, Korean, Spanish (Latin), Czech, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-100 |
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Castalian), Spanish (Latin), Polish, Russian |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 French Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono German Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono Spanish (Castalian) Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono Spanish (Latin) Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 English Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 2.40:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B C |
| Subtitles | English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Spanish (Latin), Greek, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Turkish |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
4K Ultra HD On-Disc Extra Features:
- Introduction by Linda Lee Cadwell
- Commentary by writer Michael Allin and producer Paul Heller
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Commentary by writer Michael Allin and producer Paul Heller
- Behind the Scenes: No Way as Way (26:28 runtime)
- Behind the Scenes: The Return to Han’s Island (10:25 runtime)
- Behind the Scenes: Wing Chun: The Art that Introduced Kung Fu to Bruce Lee (20:02 runtime)
- Behind the Scenes: Blood and Steel: The Making of Enter the Dragon (30:15 runtime)
- Short Feature: Bruce Lee: In His Own Words (19:22 runtime)
- Behind the Scenes: Linda Lee Cadwell Interview Gallery
- Love and Kung Fu (00:47 runtime)
- Into Hollywood Through the Back Door (00:26 runtime)
- Bringing the Classroom to the Camera (02:12 runtime)
- The Real Bruce (01:23 runtime)
- Mental Self-Defense (00:59 runtime)
- Enter the Dream (00:52 runtime)
- Planting a Seed: Growing a Film (02:31 runtime)
- Incidents on the Set (05:02 runtime)
- Setting the New Standard (00:43 runtime)
- Bruce’s Influence on His Family (01:34 runtime)
- Short Feature: 1973 Featurette (07:41 runtime)
- Behind the Scenes: Backyard Workout with Bruce (01:55 runtime)
- Bonus Feature: Curse of the Dragon (01:27:29 runtime)
- Theatrical Trailers
- Mysterious Island
- Champion of Champions
- The Deadly 3
- Island Fortress
- TV Spots
- Roper, Williams & Lee
- The Deadly 3
- The Island of Han
- Review Spot
- Champion of Champions
- Fury is Back
- The Crown Prince of Combat
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Enter the Dragon is available to own in a 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray combo pack by Warner Bros for the United Kingdom & Ireland. The collector’s edition and HMV Cine Edition releases are both sold out, while the standard edition can be purchased on Amazon UK.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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