Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Two
Product Description
This spectacular box set comprises 12 classic martial arts films from the famous Shaw Brothers' library, featuring some of their greatest stars—Cheng Pei-pei (Come Drink with Me), Lo Lieh (King Boxer), Sammo Hung (Wheels on Meals), Ti Lung (A Better Tomorrow), and David Chiang (The Boxer from Shantung). Many of these films are debuting for the first time on Blu-ray. Get ready for some exciting thrills and chills as heroes meet villains in a duel to the death!
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Although I purchased Shaw Brothers Classics Volume 1 on June 13, 2023 … I just haven’t had the time to watch them all. And looking at the aggressive schedule of Volume 2 to be released last month on August 15, 2023, and Volume 3 set for October 25, 2023… it’s become a really expensive hobby for me, at $160 a boxset.
Originally, I wasn’t going to buy Volume 2 until I fully watch enjoy all of Volume 1, but with the sudden free $260 money from the state of Minnesota… I thought why not order Volume 2 and be done with that.
So, the problem is that Amazon misdelivered my Volume 2 package! This is the second time that it happened for me in the past few months. It was so upsetting that going forward, I’m having everything deliver to an Amazon Locker.
Anyway, after getting a replacement shipped to a secured locker, I’m finally watching Volume 2.
Between Volume 1 and Volume 2, the first boxset focused on pre-1970 Shaw Brothers films, with the earliest titles from 1967 with The Assassin and The Thundering Sword.
Many of these late-1960s titles are of the wuxia / some fantasy and emphasis on martial weapons, such as darts in Killer Darts (1968), daggers in The Flying Dagger (1969), or swords in The Golden Sword (1969).
The majority of these films were never officially released in America, so it’s awesome to watch them for the first time (and in HD!), but unfortunately, many of these titles did not have the English dub… which is disappointing, but understandable, since these films were never marketed to America or the UK.
I do appreciate that we got audio commentary on many of these older films, and I think Shout Factory did a great job on the boxset… but, again, I did not really love many of these early Shaw Brothers titles. I’m sorry, the Shaw Brothers haven’t perfected their Kung Fu formula yet.
To me, the golden age of Kung Fu films didn’t happen until Five Fingers of Death in 1972, so I prefer films released after that time period.
The only film that I really enjoyed in Volume 1 is the revenge flick called The Bells of Death (1968). The film made the boxset worth it, as for the first time, we’re seeing this in Bluray format (at least in America).
I first saw the film on DVD when I visited the China town in Canada about 20 years ago. The plot is simple, it’s a story of a wood cutter who searches town to town for the killers of his family… wearing the bells bracelet of his family around his neck. I really like this one, mostly because, for the first time, to my ears, I’m hearing the English dub of the film.
Thankfully, Volume 2 collects early 1970s films, with The Dragon Missiles being the latest at 1976. This film is pretty delightful, with the Dragon Missiles clearly being inspired or ripped off from The Flying Guillotines (1975)… which is also included in this boxset.
I’m almost certain that the early Shaw films, collected in Vol 2, such as Lady of Steel (1970), The Crimson Charm (1971), The Devil’s Mirror (1972), The Bride From Hell (1971), were never released in America.
I haven’t watched those early films (in both Vol 1 and 2), so I can’t really say they’re good or not.
I’ve already own Brothers Five (1970), The Shadow Whip (1971), The Delightful Forest (1972), Man of Iron (1972), The Water Margin (1972), and Heroes Two (1974), but I would like to re-visit and check out the special features in this new release. Most of these titles have audio commentaries, so it should be interesting to see what critics have to say about these films.
As for Volume 3, it’s coming out in October… so I do have a little time to enjoy Vol 1 and 2 before Volume 3 comes out… based on the titles, such as The Shaolin Avengers, The Deadly Breaking Sword, Clan of the White Lotus, it’s going to be a mid-1970 to 1980 collection. This is my favorite era: 1972 to 1984, so I’m actually way more excited about Volume 3.
If you’re collecting Shaw Brothers films, as I am, I should also point out that there are two Shout Factory-exclusive releases: The Brave Archer Collection (2023-04-18), an Alexander Fu Sheng four-film set for $70, and The Ti Lung / David Chiang Collection (2023-09-26), a massive collection for $170.
If you didn’t know Ti Lung, David Chiang, and director Chang Cheh, became known as “The Iron Triangle”, due to their successful films, such as Have Sword, Will Travel (1969), Vengeance (1970), The Deadly Duo (1971)… and many others.
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