Where can one stream or buy older Korean movies?  I am not talking about silent films, but those made after the Korean War up to the year 2000 or so.  There must be a market, but I haven't found it yet.  Thank you all.

The only few I have found have been on YouTube. There is a YouTube account called Korean Film Society, or something very similar. I can't remember the exact name but they have a collection subbed.

CherryBunny -- "Korean Classic Film?" -- They don't list the ones that I have been looking for, but they do have other items of interest.  It may also prove to be a launching point for other avenues to explore.  Thank you.  I imagine that, just as people in the West can find old Hollywood movies on dvd,  there are probably old Korean movies on dvd.  I have not been able to find any retailers.  The search continues.

Yeah, I was going to recommend the Korean Classic Film youtube channel, but clearly you've found it already.  I'm pretty sure that's about the best you can do for old Korean movies, especially if you want subs.

KMDb has a VOD service of their own, but it seems like you have to create an account.  I don't know the details.  It does look like at least some of the movies are listed as a price of free (0 won), but I don't know if you have to pay for an account separately from that?  Or if there are region restrictions?  Or subs? It might be only available in Korea.  (I'm so helpful, haha)

Maybe check it out if you're interested though.

Or if there's something specific you're looking for, maybe we can help find it?

Zeamays -- My wish to be able to access some older films comes up from time-to-time when I read about them in an article.  What set me off this time was reading about "City Hunter" (1979) on MDL.   It stared Shin Sung Il and Jung Yoon Hee (Jeong Yun-Hui).  They were major stars.  Is their work now lost?  Is that the equivalent of Toshiro Mifune's movies being unavailable?

Sadly, I do require subtitles. KMDb , if I had the right site, is all in Korean.   The search continues.



I received an email stating that there was a reply from "whateverlili," but I don't see it here.  Did it drop into the eather?

 spvz29:

I received an email stating that there was a reply from "whateverlili," but I don't see it here.  Did it drop into the eather?

There's a decent chance it was a spammer and the post was deleted.

 spvz29:
Zeamays -- My wish to be able to access some older films comes up from time-to-time when I read about them in an article. What set me off this time was reading about "City Hunter" (1979) on MDL. It stared Shin Sung Il and Jung Yoon Hee (Jeong Yun-Hui). They were major stars. Is their work now lost? Is that the equivalent of Toshiro Mifune's movies being unavailable?

Interesting.  Do you have a link to the article?  If it was an article here, you could potentially contact the author, who presumably watched it if they wrote about it.  

FWIW, I suspect that only one or two of those supposed watchers of your movie actually watched it.  Pretty sure most of them added it by mistake, thinking it was the drama of the same name.  Or not!  Some people have eclectic taste, haha.

 spvz29:
Sadly, I do require subtitles. KMDb , if I had the right site, is all in Korean. The search continues.

And yes, the VOD portion of KMDb is linked in my post above and it's in Korean.  The  movie description, credits, synopsis etc. used to be viewable in English, but they updated and made it pretty and now I don't think it's possible anymore.  Or at least I can't find the way to toggle the language for anything but KoFA.  Ack.  I found a lot of good info there in the past, so that's disappointing. I guess it's still there, though.  Just not in English anymore.

Hello Zeamays -- Here is the Details page for the 1979 "City Hunter."  https://mydramalist.com/14934-city-hunter  Who would have written this other than staff?

 spvz29:

Hello Zeamays -- Here is the Details page for the 1979 "City Hunter."  https://mydramalist.com/14934-city-hunter  Who would have written this other than staff?

Oh, I already found the movie page.  I was asking for the article link.  Was there an article that mentioned it?

Any user can submit the info for a movie to be added to the database here.  It doesn't have to be a staff member.  

Ah.  Well this detail page on MDL is what started it all.  I then searched the internet to learn about Shin Seong Il and Jung Yun-Hui.  Wanting to sample their work, I though that City Hunter would be a good place to begin.  I thought that it would be easy.  I wonder why Japanese classics are so much easier to access.  Anyway, I have bothered you kind people too much over this.  Thank you.

 spvz29:

Ah.  Well this detail page on MDL is what started it all.  I then searched the internet to learn about Shin Seong Il and Jung Yun-Hui.  Wanting to sample their work, I though that City Hunter would be a good place to begin.  I thought that it would be easy.  I wonder why Japanese classics are so much easier to access.  Anyway, I have bothered you kind people too much over this.  Thank you.

Oh, no problem!  I have spent some time myself looking for random old movies.

If you're just looking for movies with one or the other (I can't find one with both at the moment), there are some on youtube with subs.  Just searching quickly, I found these for Shin Sung Il:

There are probably more, I was just lazy and only checked the playlist for Im Kwon Taek, since I happened to see that there was some overlap there.  If you want me to check more thoroughly, I can!  I'm a nerd and this is fun for me :D

I have been accused of being too nerdy about Asian films.  Clearly, you are higher ranking than I.  Thank you.  I will check these out.

Try your local library. (Yes, I am a librarian.  :) They may be able to ILL (interlibrary loan) DVDs for you (i.e., borrow it from another library). Do mention that you need subtitles.  (You do not have to figure out where it is, just tell a librarian you would like to get/borrow a title and they have staff who look for it.)

Libraries have a few core vendors who sell especially to libraries. Even there, I found little beyond the most well-known (like  Handmaiden  or Old Boy).  When seeking non-English films, I have the best luck finding award winners and "new" movies that are 3-10 yrs old. If a film is a classic, the Criterion Collection or Kino Lorber (36 from South Korea right now) might have reproduced on DVD. 

Honestly the best luck I have had is ILL, because they can borrow from big universities.  And some universities have film schools. In fact one of the top SK films on MDL, Miracle in Cell No. 7,  I just received via ILL today. Looks like it came from a university in NC, USA.  

Melomane -- Thank you.  I will look into this.  What I am finding is that there is a major effort to preserve Japanese classics, but no effort to preserve Korean films.  I wonder why.  I also wonder if they are preserved inside Korea.  I hope so.

 spvz29:

Melomane -- Thank you.  I will look into this.  What I am finding is that there is a major effort to preserve Japanese classics, but no effort to preserve Korean films.  I wonder why.  I also wonder if they are preserved inside Korea.  I hope so.

Sure! Very anecdotally, my experience is like yours:  I run into more Japanese films than SK film.  And FRENCH films are even easier to find. LOL! 

At our libraries,  I am mostly just trying to fill the gaps in the most popular non-English films, as desired by primarily English speakers. So, titles like Das Boot, Amelie, or Old Boy suffice. And for those who like to dig deeper, we use ILL to try to get them what they want to watch.

I would guess with the pride SK has in hallyu that there are likely SK university programs that specialize in preservation. (That is a guess, I haven't research it.) For kicks, you might share your question  / observation with staff at the nearest university library or a metropolitan library.  Both often have 'reference' staff with specialized knowledge who may be able to share some info with you. Good luck!