Criterion Announces Bruce Lee Box Set

By
Garth Franklin
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The Criterion Collection has announced a special seven-disc Blu-ray box set titled “Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits” which will include five of Lee’s landmark films form the 1970s along with a truckload of extras.

The set includes 4K digital restorations of “The Big Boss,” “Fist of Fury,” “Game of Death”, and “The Way of the Dragon” with uncompressed original monaural soundtracks.

There’s also a 2K digital restoration of the rarely-seen 99-minute 1973 theatrical version “Enter the Dragon” and a 2K digital restoration of the 102-minute ‘special-edition’ version. along with the uncompressed original monaural soundtrack and original English-dubbed tracks and a 5.1 surround soundtrack for the special-edition version.

There’s also six audio commentaries. “The Big Boss” has Bruce Lee expert Brandon Bentley, “Enter the Dragon: Special Edition” has producer Paul Heller, and the four non ‘Enter’ films have Hong Kong-film expert Mike Leeder.

There’s an HD presentation of “Game of Death II” and “Game of Death Redux” which offers a new presentation of Lee’s original footage. Multiple programs and documentaries are included about Lee and the films including “Blood and Steel,” “Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend” and “Bruce Lee: In His Own Words”

Interviews galore including Lee biographer Matthew Polly, Lee’s widow Linda Lee Cadwell, author Grady Hendrix, producer Andre Morgan, dubbers Michael Kaye and Vaughan Savidge. There’s also interviews with many of Lee’s collaborators and admirers including actors Jon T. Benn, Riki Hashimoto, Nora Miao, Robert Wall, Yuen Wah, and Simon Yam and directors Clarence Fok, Sammo Hung, and Wong Jing.

Finally there’s new English subtitle translations and subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, promotional materials, and an essay by critic Jeff Chang.

The box-set hits shelves on July 14th.

Source: Criterion