Thanks Pilgermann. After looking around for a bit, it seems that Dragon Dynasty is an offshoot of the Weinstein Company. I hope that's not a bad thing for the films as the Weinsteins are infamous when it comes to cutting Asian films for the American market.
No, the Weinsteins have finally turned it around when it comes to foreign releases. I own a number of the Dragon Dynasty releases. Universally, the transfers are excellent and there aren't any cuts or soundtrack modifications. In fact, if memory serves, they usually include both the original mono soundtracks and remixes (which is a plus, because in old school kung fu films the remixes often stink). Some of the extras are very nice - Shanghai Express (AKA Millionaire Express) has some very good interviews on it, for example. And Above the Law (AKA Righting Wrongs) has interviews, plus the VERY different Mandarin ending - though the film wasn't quite as good as I'd heard.
Just remember to buy them from a place other than Borders/Suncoast if you buy them at a brick and mortar store. They should retail for about $15. The newer ones come with a $3 off future purchases coupon, which is nice.
Oh, and if you like old school stuff, I HIGHLY recommend The One-Armed Swordsman (well, assuming you haven't seen it). I've had it for quite a while, but the older Celestial release has a conversion error which results in bad interlacing effects. Anyway, it is one of the best martial arts films (swordplay in this case) films made, well-deserving its reputation. Perhaps most astonishing, it actually has a solid storyline, some pretty good acting, character development, and visual composition. In addition, it is one of the films which started the ultra bloody swordplay film as a genre convention in Hong Kong. I don't know why, but it isn't very well-known in the west compared to many other older martial arts films. The Dragon Dynasty release is very, very good.
Hopefully, they'll release Return of the One-Armed Swordsman soon.
