God of Gamblers (uncut version)
Information on the general release of this film can be found
here. This page
covers only the scenes not included in the general release.
For some inexplicable reason, a lot of the plot set-up of this film was cut
from the releases currently available for God of Gamblers. This page and the gallery attached
will touch only upon the deleted scenes.
Aside from a few moments here and there, the majority of the footage no longer included,
which runs to almost a half hour of the film, covers four main points. A lot of questions are
answered which were left hanging in the original, and some of the cutest scenes (mainly of the adorable Chocolate) were cut as well. One could perhaps argue that over
two hours was much too long for a film of this type, and if non-essential cuts were made I could agree but
take a look at these four points and see if at least two of them could possibly be considered "non-essential":
1. How Knife and Crawl exploit Chocolate's talents while testing his gambling prowess;
2. how Chocolate "helps" Jane by trying to impersonate Knife to impress her parents;
3. how Knife comes to owe Shing $37,000 and is unable to repay it and
4. how Ko Chun becomes aware of Yee's duplicity.
While the scenes covered in points 1 and 2 aren't really instrumental to the plot, they do
help set up the characters as people and also answer a few questions such as how did a cheap
hoodlum like Knife end up with such an expensive leather jacket? Just for the detail-oriented
amongst us. =)
Points 3 and 4 are extremely important to the film - why was Knife suddenly so far into debt with Shing?
That was a nagging question that was left unanswered in the current cut of the film. Basically, after Knife,
Jane and Crawl take Chocolate to a number of gambling dens and win tens of thousands of dollars, they go on a
huge spending spree, buying a jeep, nice clothes and of course lots of chocolate. Because of Chocolate's amazing
ability with cards, Knife feels that any game in which he enters Chocolate is a "sure win". Needing a large stake
to really make a killing at the tables, Knife turns to the usurer Shing. After convincing Shing that he has this
"sure win" all lined up, Knife takes Chocolate gambling again but makes one fatal mistake: he doesn't let Chocolate
have the Feodora candy that Chocolate so loves. To spite Knife, Chocolate loses all of the stake Knife had borrowed
from Shing - and thus the rest of the interplay between Knife and Shing is explained.
Point 4 is covered after Ko Chun regains his memory. Going back to the villa where he and Janet had shared so many happy
memories, he goes into her bedroom to grieve for her. While there he touches the very ashtray where Yee thought he had destroyed
the cassette tape with his incriminating confession on it. Though we do not see it, we are led to believe that Ko Chun finds
the tape and thus learns the entire sordid story of Janet's demise.
There are also other little shots here and there which were cut: lots of little glimpses of Chocolate eating rice, eating chocolate, eating
ice cream... well, you get the picture. Also a few shots of Knife, Crawl, Jane and a few of Ko Chun pop up now and then.
All in all, if you have seen God of Gamblers a few times you no doubt figured it out to the point that you might have had
questions about details but got most of the plot down. If you just enjoy the characters, and especially the character of Chocolate,
this is a lot of fun. Uncovering an extra 30 minutes of footage is like finding a $20 bill in your coat pocket left over from last
winter: you could have lived without it just fine, but isn't it fun to have found it!
By the way - Wong Sun, as Jane's father, had his role completely cut from the film. You'll recognize him as a veteran of many films and TV shows,
quite a number of them with CYF.
This story is loosely based on the life of a real person. For a small anecdote about this which was told to me by a friend from Hong Kong, click here.
go to the image gallery for the uncut version
nbsp;
go to film review index
nbsp;
return to top page
email the page maintainer