High Road to China

Goonie

New member
I've been pondering something and that is; why hasn't High Road to China been released on DVD or Blu-Ray yet?

I know I have an old VHS of it kicking around somewhere but would love to get a better copy. I know it was released over seas, but apparently the transfer sucks. Any idea why it hasn't been released on DVD or Blu in North America yet?

:confused:
 

TheMutt92

New member
Possibly rights issues or just laziness on the part of the company? The African Queen didn't hit DVD until its Blu-Ray release and Blu-Ray was already the dominant form of home video entertainment. The film probably never would've been put on DVD if it wasn't for the slow transition to Blu-Ray. Its the one movie I can think of that could've had the unusual home video path of appearing on VHS, then skipping DVD, only to appear on Blu-Ray.
 

Goonie

New member
April 17 2012!

On Blu-Ray.com: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=192746
Finally coming to Blu-Ray and DVD.

HighRoadtoChinaAd.jpg
 

Montana Smith

Active member
At long last. I haven't seen this lost 'Indy' movie for quite a while.

...but it already exists and is available on DVD, albeit in 4:3.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Rocket Surgeon said:
I'd like to see this flick, apparently it sucks so hard it's not worth a cycle on crappy cable TV!

No worse than KOTCS or The Mummy films. Possibly better. Not every adventure film is Raiders of the Lost Ark level.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Rocket Surgeon said:
Why have they forsaken it then?

Does it suck it so hard?

Could be any number of reasons. There's tons of films (for example, SECRET OF THE INCAS) which are regarded as good films which have yet to make it to DVD or Blu-Ray. Look at older posts in this very thread: The African Queen didn't make it to DVD until it's Blu-Ray release. Yet that's regarded as a classic.
 

phantom train

New member
Looking forward to seeing HRTC when it finally hits DVD this April. I've heard about the film for years, but have never seen it. It seems to be "inspired" by the IJ films, similar to some TV shows that came out after ROTLA, i.e. Tales of the Gold Monkey & Bring 'Em Back Alive.

Also I wanted to completely agree with the above post; just because a Movie/TV show has never been put on Region 1 DVD (or takes forever to be put on DVD) doesn't mean these movies/shows are bad or poor. There are still a number of good (though obscure) TV shows/film that haven't hit DVD yet for whatever reason; I also believe issues involving licensing may be one of the reasons some material isn't on DVD. Here is a partial list:

- Looking for Mr. Goodbar; classic '70's film starring Diane Keaton.

- Until the End of the World; excellent 1991 sci-fi/road-trip film starring William Hurt & directed by Wim Wenders.

- Kafka; bizzare pseudo bio-pic about Franz Kafka starring Jeremy Irons & directed by Steven Soderbergh.

- King of the Hill; not the TV cartoon, this was an early '90's drama about a kid growing up in the Great Depression - also directed by Steven Soderbergh. I've never seen this due to it's unavailability, but from all accounts it's a great film.

- City of Hope; also never seen this, but from the reviews it's a very good '90's urban drama - directed by John Sayles.

- Ewoks/Droids 1980's animated TV shows - underrated cartoon, and the only SW TV shows (outside of the '70's Holiday special) not on DVD.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
phantom train said:
Ewoks/Droids 1980's animated TV shows - underrated cartoon, and the only SW TV shows (outside of the '70's Holiday special) not on DVD.

There's at least one Droids DVD (in both Region 1 and 2), and at least one Ewoks. Maybe some things are just too bad to warrant a complete release! (Droids was lame when it was on TV originally, though I do have that DVD for old time's sake).

swdroidsewoks.jpg


However, High Road To China always seemed a credible adventure movie.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Rocket Surgeon said:
Does it suck it so hard?
No. While it's not the greatest the film ever made, it certainly doesn't suck and has actually grown better with age. Both Tom Selleck and Bess Armstrong fill their roles well and there are plenty of exotic locations to feast your eyes upon. Not to mention those 2 beautiful biplanes that are major stars of the movie.

PLUS, Abner Ravenwood is in it!

In April, you can watch the film thinking it will suck eggs and then might end up being pleasantly suprised that it doesn't.:p
Raiders112390 said:
There's tons of films (for example, SECRET OF THE INCAS) which are regarded as good films which have yet to make it to DVD or Blu-Ray.
"Secret of the Incas" has never been commerically availabe for home viewing in ANY format. (Legitamately, that is.)
phantom train said:
Looking forward to seeing HRTC when it finally hits DVD this April. I've heard about the film for years, but have never seen it. It seems to be "inspired" by the IJ films, similar to some TV shows that came out after ROTLA, i.e. Tales of the Gold Monkey & Bring 'Em Back Alive.
Well, sort of. The idea for "Tales of the Gold Monkey" was conceived pre-"Raiders" but didn't premiere until a year after. "High Road to China" was originally supposed to star Roger Moore so it might have been floating around before 1981, as well.

Other than being a period, adventure movie, it's not really Indy-ish in any way. Of all the flicks/TV shows that seemed to cash-in on the success of "Raiders", this one is the least similar.

Anyway, knowing your tastes, Phantom Train, I think you'll enjoy it.:)

P.S. As Montana pointed out, there is a DVD of "Droids" but it's only a few episodes edited into "films" and ALL the Stewart Copeland music has been replaced.
 

phantom train

New member
Montana Smith said:
There's at least one Droids DVD (in both Region 1 and 2), and at least one Ewoks. Maybe some things are just too bad to warrant a complete release! (Droids was lame when it was on TV originally, though I do have that DVD for old time's sake).

However, High Road To China always seemed a credible adventure movie.

Yeah, I should have clarified the Ewoks/Droids DVD comments. I do know that some of the episodes have been released on those 2004 DVD's, but they were heavily edited into TV "movies" & the quality was sub-par - and, as Stoo noted in the next post, the introduction & theme song ("Trouble Again") by S. Copeland (as well as the rest of the music he composed that was originally on the show) has been removed from the "Droids" DVD. Also, the original Ewoks theme song has also been removed from the Ewoks DVD.

So, what I meant was that these shows have never seen a definitive DVD release that includes all of the unedited original episodes & original music. Sound familiar, YIJC fans?! ;)

Re: HRTC, from all accounts this is a decent film - I remember seeing the trailer for it on TV way back in the day, and though I wanted to see it at that time I never got around to it. In any case, I'm glad it's finally making it's way to DVD after so long.
 
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Montana Smith

Active member
Unusual for an American film to be available in different Region 2 versions, yet not in Region 1:


English:

HRTC_1.jpg


Spanish:

HRTC_.jpg


Swedish:

HRTC.jpg
 

NickTurner

Active member
Dang that English cover looks like an Indy DVD!

I *ahem* downloaded the droids original shows, but despite loving SW I found it rather embarrassing to watch. I don't think I was EVER so young that I would have actually liked the ham-fisted juvenile humor. It was WAY too dumbed down for my tastes I'm afraid. Maybe if I had seen the originals when I was little I would have liked it better? It kinda makes Scooby Doo look like high drama!
 

Stoo

Well-known member
NickTurner said:
Dang that English cover looks like an Indy DVD!
Indy's brother said:
As a marketing technique to appeal to Indy fans, this is having the exact opposite effect than the one intended on this Indy fan.
Don't be fooled, dudes! The English version isn't legitimate. It's bullsh*t and obviously pulled together & modified from the 2003 Indiana Jones DVDs.

Some PIRATE, (who can't even properly align the bottom blurb to match with the rest of it) tried to to make a fake cover. It's badly done. Not to mention the attempt at the sh*t title on top. Look at it! It's garbage!(n)
 

Stephen Jared

New member
Thanks so much for posting! I love this movie. Have been waiting forever for a good version. It's not a perfect movie at all. Some of what was supposed to come off as humorous banter gets a little nasty. Brian Blessed, who's an amazing actor, is a little hard to buy as an Afghan. But it's still great.

It's probably more of a romantic movie than an adventure. Anyone looking for Indy-type action adventure might look elsewhere.

John Barry's score is another element that makes this film such a pleasure.

Also, sorry for the name-dropping, but I had the great fortune of meeting Selleck a little over a year ago, and I told him what a fan I am of this, and asked why it's not available in the US. He said he's very proud of the film -- but also seemed to sincerely not realize a US version had yet to be made available.

Robert Morley's in this. He goes back to The African Queen, and one of my other favorite adventure films -- the TV movie Around the World in Eighty Days with Pierce Brosnan.

Anyway, thanks again for posting. I'll be buying this in April.
 
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