John Ary here with a look at the new Bruce Lee Legacy Collection.
Shout Factory has attempted to put together a definitive set of Lee's films, documentaries, exclusive interviews, commentaries, images, and more. I had the opportunity to comb through all of the discs and the book that make up the collection and found much to get excited about, along with a few drawbacks.
This set was to release on Tuesday, August 6, but Shout Factory has pushed back that date to September 17. The company had to recall the set due to a labeling error on two of the discs. If you got an early copy of the set, I understand that Shout will replace the mislabeled discs for you if you contact them.
Also, there was some question as to the quality of the source material used for the Blu-rays. I spoke with a company representative on Thursday about the masters used for this set and was assured the original content provided by Fortune Star Entertainment was the best available and the same used for the Bruce Lee Blu's released a few years ago in Hong Kong.Unfortunately, we may never get the beautifully restored, pristine versions of Lee's Hong Kong films that his legacy deserves. The master reels simply haven't been properly archived and preserved.
Even worse, some of the unused footage from Game of Death has vanished, probably never to be seen again. I hope someone eventually ponies up the big bucks to give these films a proper frame-by-frame remastering, to clean up their visual imperfections, but I doubt fans of the Dragon will ever be that fortunate. Even with less than perfect Blu's, I still recommend the set. It's packed with a ton of great info. Here are ten new fun facts that I gleaned from the Legacy Collection's documentaries, interviews and commentaries...
Bruce Lee has made an indelible mark on my life as a performer and I'm curious how his legacy has touched others. Feel free to share your favorite memories of watching his films in the Talkbacks below or hit me up on Twitter (@john_ary). Also, for more AICN video content, please subscribe to our kick-ass YouTube channel.
