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Description
When former Shaw Brothers executive Raymond Chow founded rival studio Golden Harvest in 1970, he quickly teamed up with “Jimmy” Wang Yu – Hong Kong’s first kung fu superstar and formerly Shaw’s biggest box office draw. Bringing over his peerless talent for taking on all foes with one hand tied behind his back, Wang wrote, directed and played the title role in one of his most unmissable kickass classics. From the legendary star of One-Armed Swordsman and The Chinese Boxer comes… One-Armed Boxer!
Read MoreYu Tian Long (Wang) is the best fighter to come out of his local martial arts school, but when he crosses the ruthless leader of a local crime syndicate, the big boss’ brutal bevy of deadly killers make mincemeat out of the school and everyone inside. Now the only survivor of the massacre, and short of one appendage, Yu is gifted a powerful elixir that promises to give him the strength to take swift revenge on the army of assassins, each representing the most lethal forms of fighting from across the Eastern hemisphere. Proving once and for all that you only need five fingers of death to get the job done, Wang would later reprise his role in the infamous sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine, but it’s the dementedly inventive original where he’s arguably at the height of his powers. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
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ONE-ARMED BOXER (1972)
arrowvideo.com
For those not familiar with what’s going on with Shaw Brothers and their competitor, Golden Harvest, we are currently getting their movie back catalog released in Bluray to the English market (America or UK)… which is exciting, because for many of us, this will be the first time we are seeing these films in glorious HD.
Currently, the rights holder for Golden Harvest is Fortune Star, who licensed old Golden Harvest films to Eureka Entertainment in the UK. Eureka is releasing the classic Kung Fu films under their Eureka Classic line, which is on a budget pricing model with no special features… and no interests in bringing their titles to America.
Thankfully, Arrow Films will be releasing selected Golden Harvest films to the U.S. market, starting with One-Armed Boxer. So far, they’ve only released Shaw Brothers films: Shaw Scope Boxset, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, and Come Drink With Me… so seeing Golden Harvest on their release list is making me very happy.
One-Armed Boxer is one of the best film that Jimmy Yu ever made. I previous mentioned this title when I heard that Yu had died in April 2022.
Anyway, I finally bought the film earlier this week. I didn’t pre-order the title, so when it was released on May 24, 2022, it was out of stock. I wasn’t exactly sure it was completely sold out - given the limited run of these films due to lack of interests (I’m sorry but Americans don’t like to buy foreign films)… but thankfully, the Bluray was back in stock in July 2022.
So, I’m very happy to now own One-Armed Boxer. This film is amazing, given that it came out in 1972 (it was released in America in 1973). It had all the great elements that you see in later Kung Fu films, including really wacky villains… and it laid the groundwork for my favorite Jimmy Yu film, Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976).
The story of One-Armed Boxer can be broken into two parts. The first part is about the two rival martial arts school - the Hook gang and the good Ching Te school. When the two masters of the school meet and the Hook gang was defeated, they decide to hire professional fighters to take out their rivals. So enter “The Chinese Professionals” (which was the alternate title): a Karate champion and his two students, two Tibetian lamas/monks, two Muay Thai fighters, a Judo master, a Taekwondo master, and a Yoga expert.
The Karate champion looks like he is a vampire, based on his two fangs and his unusual fighting style (which does not look Karate-esque at all). But ultimately he was the person who chopped off Jimmy Yu’s arm, and destroying the entire Ching Te school.
The second part of the film is about Yu’s recovery and learning how to make his remaining arm a deadly weapon. Yes, there is a montage, but it’s done through still photographs. Once Yu finished his training, he sets out to kill each of the hired fighters to take his revenge. The fight sequences were very entertaining, and overall a very enjoyable movie.
The sequel, Master of the Flying Guillotine, is, in my opinion, the superior film. After Yu killed the two lamas from Tibet, their master, a blind monk with a pocket version of the flying guillotine seeks revenge for his students. Master of the Flying Guillotine has everything that One-Armed Boxer had, but throwing in even more “Street Fighter” characters and the guillotine.
arrowvideo.com
For those not familiar with what’s going on with Shaw Brothers and their competitor, Golden Harvest, we are currently getting their movie back catalog released in Bluray to the English market (America or UK)… which is exciting, because for many of us, this will be the first time we are seeing these films in glorious HD.
Currently, the rights holder for Golden Harvest is Fortune Star, who licensed old Golden Harvest films to Eureka Entertainment in the UK. Eureka is releasing the classic Kung Fu films under their Eureka Classic line, which is on a budget pricing model with no special features… and no interests in bringing their titles to America.
Thankfully, Arrow Films will be releasing selected Golden Harvest films to the U.S. market, starting with One-Armed Boxer. So far, they’ve only released Shaw Brothers films: Shaw Scope Boxset, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, and Come Drink With Me… so seeing Golden Harvest on their release list is making me very happy.
One-Armed Boxer is one of the best film that Jimmy Yu ever made. I previous mentioned this title when I heard that Yu had died in April 2022.
Anyway, I finally bought the film earlier this week. I didn’t pre-order the title, so when it was released on May 24, 2022, it was out of stock. I wasn’t exactly sure it was completely sold out - given the limited run of these films due to lack of interests (I’m sorry but Americans don’t like to buy foreign films)… but thankfully, the Bluray was back in stock in July 2022.
So, I’m very happy to now own One-Armed Boxer. This film is amazing, given that it came out in 1972 (it was released in America in 1973). It had all the great elements that you see in later Kung Fu films, including really wacky villains… and it laid the groundwork for my favorite Jimmy Yu film, Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976).
The story of One-Armed Boxer can be broken into two parts. The first part is about the two rival martial arts school - the Hook gang and the good Ching Te school. When the two masters of the school meet and the Hook gang was defeated, they decide to hire professional fighters to take out their rivals. So enter “The Chinese Professionals” (which was the alternate title): a Karate champion and his two students, two Tibetian lamas/monks, two Muay Thai fighters, a Judo master, a Taekwondo master, and a Yoga expert.
The Karate champion looks like he is a vampire, based on his two fangs and his unusual fighting style (which does not look Karate-esque at all). But ultimately he was the person who chopped off Jimmy Yu’s arm, and destroying the entire Ching Te school.
The second part of the film is about Yu’s recovery and learning how to make his remaining arm a deadly weapon. Yes, there is a montage, but it’s done through still photographs. Once Yu finished his training, he sets out to kill each of the hired fighters to take his revenge. The fight sequences were very entertaining, and overall a very enjoyable movie.
The sequel, Master of the Flying Guillotine, is, in my opinion, the superior film. After Yu killed the two lamas from Tibet, their master, a blind monk with a pocket version of the flying guillotine seeks revenge for his students. Master of the Flying Guillotine has everything that One-Armed Boxer had, but throwing in even more “Street Fighter” characters and the guillotine.
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THE FLYING GUILLOTINE PART II (1977)
88-films.com
Speaking of guillotine, The Flying Guillotine Part II is coming out on August 8, 2022, via 88 Films. This Bluray is made available to the US and UK market and limited to 3,000 pieces. Naturally, I will be pre-ordering the title closer to the date, if I don’t forget.
I already own all the Flying Guillotine movies on DVD via Celestial Pictures (Hong Kong), but also some titles via Dragon Dynasty (USA). It’s weird that 88 films will release part 2 before they release the original, first film. I can speculate that they don’t have all the special features ready for the first film - maybe it needs a new artwork, maybe it needs a commentary … or perhaps they just don’t have the rights to it, seeing as, perhaps Arrow Films could have outbid them. Who knows? I just know that the first film is so important, that it needs to be released on Bluray.
Since I have already seen Flying Guillotine Part II, I can tell you that the main character developed an anti-guillotine defensive weapon… which is basically an umbrella! It’s a fun film, and I love the engineering to all the weapons.
88-films.com
Speaking of guillotine, The Flying Guillotine Part II is coming out on August 8, 2022, via 88 Films. This Bluray is made available to the US and UK market and limited to 3,000 pieces. Naturally, I will be pre-ordering the title closer to the date, if I don’t forget.
I already own all the Flying Guillotine movies on DVD via Celestial Pictures (Hong Kong), but also some titles via Dragon Dynasty (USA). It’s weird that 88 films will release part 2 before they release the original, first film. I can speculate that they don’t have all the special features ready for the first film - maybe it needs a new artwork, maybe it needs a commentary … or perhaps they just don’t have the rights to it, seeing as, perhaps Arrow Films could have outbid them. Who knows? I just know that the first film is so important, that it needs to be released on Bluray.
Since I have already seen Flying Guillotine Part II, I can tell you that the main character developed an anti-guillotine defensive weapon… which is basically an umbrella! It’s a fun film, and I love the engineering to all the weapons.
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MARTIAL CLUB (1981)
88-films.com
For some reason Martial Club was delayed to the US market… Amazon told me it was going to be mailed to me on July 30th, but somehow, they sent it to me today (July 24th). So I have not had a chance to watch it.
I did open the Bluray and admiring the nice slip case (matted, not glossy anymore), with a booklet and fold-out poster. I love all the extras, keep it coming.
Note: The spine number is #34, which is late, considering #35 already came out months ago.
I know there are a lot of Lau Kar-leung fans out there, I’m just not one of them. I think his film are more on the comedy-side, and I take my Kung Fu films seriously. That’s just my preference. As a martial arts film enthusiast, I don’t mind owning any Lau Kar-leung, but I just don’t go to his films when I recommend or want to watch an old film.
88-films.com
For some reason Martial Club was delayed to the US market… Amazon told me it was going to be mailed to me on July 30th, but somehow, they sent it to me today (July 24th). So I have not had a chance to watch it.
I did open the Bluray and admiring the nice slip case (matted, not glossy anymore), with a booklet and fold-out poster. I love all the extras, keep it coming.
Note: The spine number is #34, which is late, considering #35 already came out months ago.
I know there are a lot of Lau Kar-leung fans out there, I’m just not one of them. I think his film are more on the comedy-side, and I take my Kung Fu films seriously. That’s just my preference. As a martial arts film enthusiast, I don’t mind owning any Lau Kar-leung, but I just don’t go to his films when I recommend or want to watch an old film.
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