the REAL godfrey ho thread

[jiujitsu77]

i have so many questions about these films, and instead of looking through countless threads and interviews, why don't we try to post as many links as we can (videos, pictures, etc...) so that we can get the real scoop. If anyone disagrees, that is fine. we can move the thread somewhere else or delete it all together. i just wanted to put all the info into one place. Eventually, when the bruce li biopic is done, i would love to start something on godfrey ho.....and eventually do a piece concerning james mitose.

ok....question number 1

According to Asian Cult Cinema, it could very well be that godfrey ho IS thomas tang, and that tang never really died in the studio fire since he never existed. has anyone else heard of such a thing?i see that many on this board still think of them as two separate people.

question 2. Who is Joseph Lai? I have seen countless interviews with Ho, but never ANYTHING with Lai. Has anyone seen anything regarding him? Hell, not even a picture!

question 3. Outside the US video market, where did these films play? Coming soon to this screen was always in the trailers, however, i couldnt remember as a kid ANY theater these movies played in. How did these films do outside of asia, and did they ever play in theaters at all? these films are a mystery to so many people. as awful as they are, many people find them intriguing.

hey it's a start. just thought we could unravel the mystery behind these films

here are some links (some have been posted, some have not)

ho himself http://www.nanarland.com/interview/interview.php?id_interview=godfreyhovo&vo=1

stuart smith http://www.nanarland.com/interview/interview.php?id_interview=stuartsmithvo&vo=1

and the infamous richard harrison interview http://www.nanarland.com/interview/interview.php?id_interview=richardharrisonvo&vo=1

[ThunderScore]

i have so many questions about these films, and instead of looking through countless threads and interviews, why don't we try to post as many links as we can (videos, pictures, etc...) so that we can get the real scoop. If anyone disagrees, that is fine. we can move the thread somewhere else or delete it all together. i just wanted to put all the info into one place. Eventually, when the bruce li biopic is done, i would love to start something on godfrey ho.....and eventually do a piece concerning james mitose.

I think you know how I feel about this thread - I'm curious, is there a connection between Godfrey Ho and James Mitose?

According to Asian Cult Cinema, it could very well be that godfrey ho IS thomas tang, and that tang never really died in the studio fire since he never existed. has anyone else heard of such a thing? i see that many on this board still think of them as two separate people.

Who is Joseph Lai? I have seen countless interviews with Ho, but never ANYTHING with Lai. Has anyone seen anything regarding him? Hell, not even a picture!

Outside the US video market, where did these films play? Coming soon to this screen was always in the trailers, however, i couldnt remember as a kid ANY theater these movies played in. How did these films do outside of asia, and did they ever play in theaters at all? these films are a mystery to so many people. as awful as they are, many people find them intriguing.


I think it's safe to assume the Nanarland interviews are accurate. I believe Ho and Tang are/were two different people. I doubt any of the Ninja titles had any kind of U.S. theatrical release, but I have an English language one-sheet of Filmark's NINJA IN ACTION, so I guess they played outside the States. Lai is still around - Here's a link to IFD's site:

www.ifdfilms.com

[Knetan]

hey,

several tapes from Greece are widescreen tranfers from cinema prints so there's a territory that didn't mind! :D

[jiujitsu77]

i definitely had you in mind thundersore when i started this thread

as for the ho/tang connection...im not too sure. there have been several accounts from various sources (and i know im not doing you any good by not citing anything right now....im digging for these articles...one in ACC and the other in a cult fims mag i have somewhere) that ho used this name to avoid taxation and so on. im not saying that this is the truth. im sure alot of people that worked with him would love to discredit him. But i think that is a definite mystery.

what puzzles me is that in some interviews, people have been asked if they remember meeting thomas tang. Some have said they do, while others have said they might have met someone "that may have been" and in some instances, they have said they doubt he even existed.....merely for a scapegoat

hell...who knows. maybe we will find out eventually

[jiujitsu77]

and they played n theaters i believe in japan too...now that i have seen some of the trailers on youtube. if not japan at least in some parts of asia. i think it was taken form a laserdisc. it was widescreen as well.

[Markgway]

Outside the US video market, where did these films play? Coming soon to this screen was always in the trailers, however, i couldnt remember as a kid ANY theater these movies played in. How did these films do outside of asia, and did they ever play in theaters at all? these films are a mystery to so many people. as awful as they are, many people find them intriguing.

They played theatrically in many non-Chinese Asian countries and had a strong western export market for video. They weren't intended for Hong Kong and were never shown there.

[jiujitsu77]

i guess that makes sense seeing as most of the films were cut and paste jobs of unfinished HK films

[Mike Leeder]

Joseph Lai, Thomas Tang & Godfrey Ho were three very different people, sadly Thomas is no longer with us....the majority of disinformation came courtesy of Garajan/Wanchai Transient/Frank lakatos whatever he was calling himself depending on the mood...

Sadly a lot of stuff was made up and posted on the web under a variety of names, often contradicting itself and outlandish in the worst possible way

Joseph Lai is still running IFD, i did interview him a few years back and Falkor did post the itnerview here at one point, not sure if anyone still has the jpegs/scans

Thomas Tang was Joseph's business partner but they parted company and Thomas formed Filmark

Godfrey Ho worked for IFD as their main director for a long tiem before setting up his won production company

If you go to http://www.nanarland.com/interview/

There are interviews with Godfrey ho, Mike Abbott, Stuart Smith, Richard harrison etc talking about their work

[teako170]

Props to Big Mike for the straight 411. As he mentioned, lots of misinformation floating around.

[AbeRudder]

IFD produced a couple of Bruceploitation flicks with Dragon Sek recently havent they? They've been sticking to their guns lol.

[kungpowmaster]

Godfrey Ho is God. His is the supreme Ninja Master.
His Ninja brothers, Tang and Lai created the greatest masterpieces of Ninja action.
Stuart Smith is the Ultimate Ninja!
Hails go to Richard Harrison Ninja Master too. And all the others that gave the world Ninja greatness!

[Markgway]

http://www.ifdfilms.com/DEFAULT1.HTM

[jiujitsu77]

thank you guys for all the info so far