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Shawscope: Volume Three

Product Description High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all fourteen films, including thirteen new 2K restorations by Arrow Films from the original negatives, and a new 4K restoration of One-Armed Swordsman by Celestial Pictures Original uncompressed Mandarin mono, plus Cantonese and/or English (where applicable) lossless mono options Newly translated English subtitles for each film Illustrated 60-page collectors' booklet featuring new writing by David West, Jonathan Clements and Dylan Cheung, plus cast and crew listings and notes on each film by Ian Jane New artwork by Tony Stella, Ilan Sheady, Tom Ralston, Jolyon Yates, Kung Fu Bob and Chris Malbon Hours of illuminating bonus features, including feature commentaries on each film, several cast-and-crew interviews from the Frédéric Ambroisine Video Archive, and the rare alternate Korean cut of Killer Constable Exclusive CD of music from the De Wolfe Music Library, as heard in The Avenging Eagle and other Shaw Brothers classics RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 26 2024 Read More Shaw Brothers Now enter Shout Factory, who also has a Shaw Brothers boxset in the works, set for release on June 13, 2023. They are releasing 11 titles, with special features yet to be announced. …

In my previous Shaw Brothers reviews, I mentioned that Arrow Video secured 26 titles from Celestial Pictures and they’ve exhausted all 26 titles in two “Shawscope” boxsets and a few single-only release like Come Drink With Me (which was not part of Shawscope Volume 1 or 2).

It would seem that the Shawscope sets were successful enough for Arrow that they’ve gone back to Celestial and licensed more titles. They’ve announced Volume 3 for release in November 2024, and perhaps a fourth volume is coming in November 2025.

Shawscope: Volume 3’s headlining title is the One-Armed Swordsman trilogy, the film that made “Jimmy” Wang Yu a star and solidify Chang Cheh as the main the director at Shaw Brothers Studio. The first One-Armed Swordsman was so successful, that almost all movies that came after followed that Cheh “Kung Fu” new style formula. Unfortunately, Jimmy Wang Yu had a falling-out with Shaw Brothers and broke his contract and went over to Golden Harvest and other smaller studios… that’s why David Chiang was brought to close out the One-Armed Swordsman saga.

Personally speaking, although I think One-Armed Swordsman is good, it’s probably not one of my favorite films to return to when I think of great Shaw Brothers-style movies. I would have to confessed that the best One-Armed stories (at least the most entertaining ones) was with Jimmy Wang Yu for One-Armed Boxer (from Golden Harvest) and its sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine (aka One-Armed Boxer vs the Flying Guillotine). Unfortunately the greatest One-Armed films weren’t done under the Shaw Brothers studio, so it’s not going to be included in Shawscope… but man, I would love a remaster of Master of the Flying Guillotine. I bought two version of the DVD, with the latter longer International or “Uncut” version had spliced in previously unseen footage. That version was hard to watch, because the longer version did not have the English dub and the video quality was not good.

Anyway, the rest of Shawscope: Volume 3 seems to be focused on wuxia films: Ho Meng-hua’s Lady Hermit, Cheng Kang’s The 14 Amazons, Taylor Wong’s Buddha’s Palm and Lu Chun-ku’s Bastard Swordsman … and lots of Chor Yuen’s wuxia films: Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger and The Sentimental Swordsman.

The only good titles that I see is Sun Chung’s The Avenging Eagle and Kuei Chih-hung’s Killer Constable (this one is fantastic!).

As you can tell, I’m only interested in the Kung Fu titles, basically four titles in this set… so I’m not really excited for Volume 3. Am I still getting it? Yes, of course, I’ll be buying Volume 3, but I’m in no hurry. Maybe I will wait for a sale or when I have extra cash, I just have no urgency to get this set.

It was certainly nice to save money after I last purchased the Shout Factory’s Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Four (literally “a grand” total of about $1,000).

Read more Shaw Brothers.

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Ninjas ninjas ninjas

House of the Ninjas Read More Ninja Today, I found The Ultimate Ninja Boxset. Look, I already own all these movies (Venom of the Ninja and Ninja: The Final Duel), so what made me want to drop $3 on this? …

House of the Ninjas
netflix.com

Netflix’s latest hit show, House of the Ninjas, is show about a retired ninja family… and it’s pretty good!

Years ago, the Tawara lost a family member to another ninja clan, they put that lifestyle behind to become a normal family. Now the shinobi father is struggling with his brewery business. The mother is now a bored housewife and clepto. The older son is a shinobi who can’t kill. The daughter is an Instagram ninja. The deceptive grandmother. And, of course, the chubby ninja family cat.

The youngest son, who is about 10 years old, is a curious kid… who has the making of becoming a future ninja.

I love it, it has drama of a soap opera, with Game of Thrones secrecy and intrigue… and it’s all about family. You generally care about everyone in the family, and you don’t want to see them get hurt.

Of course, the family is threatened by another ninja group, the Fuma clan, who they thought were destroyed when their eldest son died. But that group went into the shadows, where they remained for years until they resurfaced as a new deadly cult.

Although the story is very Eastern, it does also have a Western feel, due to the show’s creator, American director and write, Dave Boyle. The soundtrack is very 60s inspired, like The Zombies’ “The Way I Feel Inside”. Even the show’s theme song is “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (but reimagined and performed by Tomo Nakayama).

Ninja Kamui Read More Shinobi Ninja They are stopping by next Monday with Brooklyn's Shinobi Ninja. Ninjas are just cool, everybody knows this. …

Ninja Kamui
adultswim.com

A new Japanese anime series called Ninja Kamui recently just premiered on Adult Swim’s Toonami. The series is E&H Production and Sola Entertainment with executive assistance by Williams Street.

It’s about a retired ninja named Joe Logan who went into hiding in the Midwest in America. He witnessed his wife and son get murdered by this weird techno ninja clan… and now Joe is on a revenge quest to destroy the people who murdered his family.

So far, there’s only two episodes, but this world is bonkers! We’re talking supernatural-level super powers. For example, an assassin ninja who split into a doppelganger. Our hero, he has this black cloud breath that can summon multiple limbs. The craziness reminds me of Ninja Scroll or Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls.

I do love a revenge story, and this series is starting off on a strong note. So far, fans and critics have been loving what they’ve seen.

Episode 3 will be airing this Sunday: Feb 25, 2024.

Description

After his family was brutally attacked by a gang of masked assailants, Joe Logan is approached by FBI agents Mike and Emma to help investigate the murder of his wife and son.

Higan learns that a string of recent murder victims were all former ninjas who had their covers blown. Higan goes after the boss ninja and swears to take revenge for his dead wife and son by crushing the organization.

Read more Television and Shaw Brothers.

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Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Four

Read More Shaw Brothers Now enter Shout Factory, who also has a Shaw Brothers boxset in the works, set for release on June 13, 2023. They are releasing 11 titles, with special features yet to be announced. …

As promised, here are my thoughts on the fourth, and final, Shout Factory’s excellent Shaw Brothers Classics boxsets. By far, in my opinion, this is the best set, because by the early/mid-80s the Shaw directors and writers have finetuned the kung fu movie genre.

Collected here is my favorite Shaw Brothers director Chang Cheh and his last film for the company, Five Element Ninjas (aka Super Ninjas). I’ve previously mentioned that this is my favorite Venoms film, although it’s technically not a Venoms film, as by this point in time, the Venoms have largely disbanded. Still, I considered it a Venoms, because it contains many of the tropes in a classic Venoms film.

The commentator, who described the film as Chang Cheh’s greatest hits remix, because it was. It was like Cheh knew this was his last film, so he made his greatest film… This film has it all. From his macho bare-chested heroes to wu-sha weapons (the Alliance heroes had these Swish Army Knife weapons!) to training film to epic final fight. In fact, the last 45 minutes of the film is just fight after fight after fight… until the hero sacrifices himself to take out the final boss. If you have to see one Shaw Brothers film, Five Element Ninjas is the one to see.

There’s a few other Venoms classics, like the “whodunnit” Masked Avengers and House of Traps (not my favorite film).

Unfortunately, Shaw Factory does not have the rights for Five Deadly Venoms or Crippled Avengers (aka Return of the Five Deadly Venoms), so you’ll need to get Arrow Videos’ Shaw Scope boxset.

I would love it if Shout and Arrow get together and co-release an ultimate Venoms Boxset. Boy, even though I already own all these films, I would definitely reconsider buy the Venoms set again!

I love these old kung fu films, so naturally, I had to get all the Shaw Brothers releases… For many years, we only had bootleg VHS, or had to important Region 3 DVD… but in the last five years, we finally started seeing some rare Shaw Brothers in proper Bluray 1080p full HD.

If you’re a big fan, as I am, and want collect everything (four Shout Factory sets, two Arrow Videos sets, plus a variety of single releases), you’re looking to spend around $1,000!

It wouldn’t be so bad if it was spread out in five or six years… but it is crazy that we’re getting all these films in two years (Shawscope in 2022 and Shaw Brothers Classics in 2023). If you’re a Shaw fan, what a moment to be alive!

Anyway, now that I’ve completed my Shaw Brothers set, I am very happy to have these films in my library… but my wallet is definitely lighter. If there are more Shaw releases in 2024… I’m probably not going to be first in line, but wait for a sale.

Five Element Ninjas

Read more Shaw Brothers, Bluray, Asian Invasion.

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Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Three

Read More Shaw Brothers Now enter Shout Factory, who also has a Shaw Brothers boxset in the works, set for release on June 13, 2023. They are releasing 11 titles, with special features yet to be announced. …

I own all four Shout Factory’s excellent Shaw Brothers Classics boxsets, volume one to four. The company have aggressively released each boxset, starting in June, then August, then October, and finally in December. I believe the fourth boxset is the last of this Classics boxset.

Each set contains about 12 films, so you’re getting a little under 50 titles … so many films, so little time! In total, at about $150 per boxset, you’re spending about $600 to complete this collection.

I have been meaning to talk about each set… so get ready for my breakdown of the third boxset.

Up until now, this is my favorite so far. My favorite Shaw Brothers era is the 80s, because by this time, the Shaw Brothers directors and actors have learned what works and what doesn’t work and refined their kung-fu movies to the best they can produce. So many good movies from this time period (much of it will be seen in the fourth boxset).

Most of the third boxset are Shaw Brothers from the late 70s. The only 1980 film on here is Clan of the White Lotus, by far, my favorite thanks to Gordan Liu.

There are some good ones in this collection, I have always loved Killer Clans, which is one of the early re-mastered releases from Celestial.

I am also a fan of Shaolin Avengers, only because it’s another Chang Cheh joint.

With all Shaw Brothers films, they’re shot on “Shawscope”, which is 2.35:1. What that means is if you are viewing the film on an Ultrawide monitor, like my Alienware monitor… it fits perfectly. Most modern Widescreen will have black bars on the side of the monitor when displayed on Ultrawide. So if you have an extra wide monitor, Shaw Scope was made for you!

These Shaw Brothers Classics are essential to get if you’re a kung fu fan. Many of these films have never been available on Bluray in America (some of these I already own via UK’s 88 Films), and if you want to support this kind of films, and if you can afford it, buy it and vote with your wallet.

Anyway, just a quickie, we’ll talk more Chang Cheh and Venoms in the four boxset (which is the best one to get).

Shawscope: Shaolin Avengers

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Shaw Brothers Presents...

Product Description Shaw Brothers Presents: Four Films by Chang Cheh Release date: ‎ December 12, 2023 Five Shaolin Masters Shaolin Temple Five Venoms Crippled Avengers Shaw Brothers Presents: Four Films by Lau Kar-Leung Release date: ‎ December 12, 2023 Challenge of the Masters Executioners from Shaolin Heroes of the East Dirty Ho Shaw Brothers Presents: The Basher Box Release date: ‎ December 12, 2023 King Boxer Boxer From Shantung Chinatown Kid Read More Shaw Brothers Now enter Shout Factory, who also has a Shaw Brothers boxset in the works, set for release on June 13, 2023. They are releasing 11 titles, with special features yet to be announced. …

Arrow Videos will be releasing three new Shaw Brothers collections… just in time for the Christmas holiday.

Shaw Brothers Presents: The Basher Box

Shaw Brothers Presents: Four Films by Lau Kar-Leung

Shaw Brothers Presents: Four Films by Chang Cheh

In my previous reviews of Shaw Brothers Blurays, I mentioned that the massive boxsets are too expensive. So, breaking up the boxsets to mini-collections, such as Four Films by Chang Cheh makes a whole lot of sense to me. And pricing is fair, at $50 (retail) vs the $200 asking price of the original boxset.

As a diehard Shaw Brothers fan, I would love to buy all of these, but since I already own the original two Arrow’s Shaw Scope Boxsets - there is really no good reasons for me to re-buy these films again.

If you didn’t buy the original boxsets, I think these three releases are a good value (especially the Chang Cheh set as it contains one of my favorites Crippled Avengers).

If you already own the boxsets and have the extra cash, I say go ahead and get them, as it’s currently being sold for $30 each.

The three Shaw Brothers collections come out December 12th, 2023.

Since we’re on topic, the Shaw Brothers Classics boxsets from Shout Factory will be getting all their films in four boxsets (each $170 retail) in 2023 (the last one drops December 19, 2023). I suspect that in 2024, Shout Factory may breakup some of these films in smaller collections. So if you can’t afford all four boxsets, you should wait it out. Me personally? I prefer to have all the films in the boxsets… but I would’ve liked them to space out the releases. Buying about 100 Shaw Brothers films in one year is a little too much for me… in terms of watching them all and spending too much money!

If money is a problem, some Shaw Brothers films are available for streaming for free on Amazon Prime … Current Prime prices are $139 a year. I have never considered paying for Prime, but since I’m on the family plan on my brother’s Prime account, I don’t think I can live without Prime now. Think about it, you get free two-day shipping (sometime same-day shipping) on all your orders… plus other perks like Prime Video. If my brother stops paying for Prime, I will have to pick up the tab, because I can’t live without it now.

Read more Shaw Brothers, Bluray, Asian Invasion.

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Black Friday 2023

Read More Black Friday With Black Friday coming up this Friday (November 25), we are already starting to see some really good deals on Bluray/UHD discs. Some of my favorite A24 films are on sale, including X, Everything Everywhere All At Once …

The annual shopping holiday, Black Friday, is this week, November 24, 2023. However, if you have been paying attention, Black Friday sales actually started as early as November 1st.

The best deal I’ve seen for the Xbox Series X is this Target with a $75 Gift Card and $110 off for the Diablo IV bundle. That’s about $200 off, making the cost roughly $360 for the whole thing. If you already own an X, like I do, I’ll have to pass on this… but man, it’s a good deal since I paid full price of $500 with no free games.

LG 48” 4k WebOS TV for $570 (Black Friday 2022)

I’m also in the market for an OLED screen. Like last year, the cheapest OLED Television is from Best Buy, who is selling their LG 48” 4k WebOS TV for $550, twenty dollars cheaper than last year’s Black Friday Deals. I do want the television… but last year I spent my entire time looking at my computer’s monitor, so I’m more interested in an OLED Monitor.

Unfortunately, despite sales, the cheapest OLED monitors are still around $800 to $1,200 (and that’s the sale prices). The main reason for wanting OLED on a monitor is that the response time on these monitors is less than .3 millisecond, have higher refresh rates, and they have NVIDIA or AMD video card support (meaning fast response and no screen tearing).

Alienware AW3423DW 34" 2K WQHD Curved OLED Gaming Monitor (Dell)

I think I have my heart set on the Alienware AW3423DW 34" 2K WQHD Curved OLED Gaming Monitor. It is an ultrawide curved 2K screen (3440 x 1440), and has support for NVIDIA G-Synch at 175Hz with less than 0.1 ms response time. The best part is that it’s QD-OLED, which stands for quantum dot organic light-emitting diode. It’s basically a better version of OLED, as the Quatum Dots widens the color palette even further: brighter lights, better saturations.

There are some concerns with burn-in that is common with OLED displays… but I’m not that worried about this since you need to have the same images in the same spot for long hours. The other concern is that it’s an ultrawide. I’ve been using a standard 4k monitor and have gotten used to the large resolution. Downgrading to 2k might be tough, but with that said, with the curve display, with HDR-support, and gaming might be improved (running at a lower resolution), it might be a good tradeoff.

In the past, I have complained that some games do not support UltraWide, so in those cases, the games have large black borders on the left and right of the screen. It’s very annoying, but I can’t fault the monitor for not being a 16:9… but I blame the game developers for not taking into account people’s displays (or more like they don’t care).

Most movies are shot on Widescreen (16:9), so you’ll get black bars on the sides. However, since I do enjoy Shaw Brothers films, they use “Shaw Scope”, which is basically UltraWide… so you can maximize Shaw Brothers films on these monitors.

Anyway, the Alienware monitor is normally $1,299.99, but it’s currently on sale for $900 at MicroCenter… which I may actually have to pick up this Black Friday. Also, I did notice that there were two returns, so you can get an open box for $650. I’m not sure if there are missing items, but if I can save even more, I will ask about it.

Update: It appears that MicroCenter has dropped the Alienware monitor to $800, making it a little more desirable than going with an open-box. Also worth checking out is the LG’s 48 inch OLED 4K Gaming Monitor is $700. That’s $800 off and seems like such a good deal. I think my problem is that 48 inches might be a little too large for a computer desk. I don’t know how close I want to sit next to the monitor... but at that size, it would make for a really good television. Of course, you have to factor in buying a speaker system to pair with the monitor. Still, that is something doable, since I do have audio solutions (or can look into buying a good soundbar).

I will be at MicroCenter this Black Friday to make my OLED monitor purchase. At the moment, I am leaning heavily towards the Alienware, but if I walk out with the LG Monitor, no one can blame me for going with a larger display for a cheaper price...

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

Read more Weekend Gamer and Technology.

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Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Two

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! Read More Shaw Brothers Now enter Shout Factory, who also has a Shaw Brothers boxset in the works, set for release on June 13, 2023. They are releasing 11 titles, with special features yet to be announced. …

As you know, I am a huge Shaw Brothers… particularly their martial arts/kung fu movies. While we have exhausted all of Arrow Videos and 88 Films (so far), Shout Factory has stepped in to release even more Shaw Brothers titles to the American market.

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.

Read more Shaw Brothers, Bluray, Asian Invasion.

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Coming soon: Shaw Brothers Classics, Vol. 1 (Shout Factory)

Product Description This spectacular box set comprises 11 classic martial arts films from the famous Shaw Brothers' library, featuring some of their greatest stars – Jimmy Wang Yu (One-Armed Swordsman), Cheng Pei-pei (Come Drink With Me), Lo Lieh (King Boxer), Ku Feng (The Five Venoms), 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! Read More Shaw Brothers As you know, I’m a big Shaw Brothers fan, and have personally own over 75 DVDs and Blurays. As I previously mentioned, unfortunately these movies don’t sell well in America, so many of these Shaw Brothers titles never made …

I know I’ve previously said that there just wasn’t enough fans in America to warrant more Shaw Brothers Bluray releases. This is just based on speculating on some companies were losing money on Shaw Brothers releases or no marketing or releases in America.

Then, exciting news, during the pandemic people were buying films again to watch at home. So in 2020 we got UK releases from 88 Films. It proved so popular with American audiences, that they started releasing domestic releases in 2022.

For the US market, Arrow Video announced they were releasing two boxsets (based on the company getting the rights to 26 films). So the company released the first boxset in Dec 2021 and the second boxset in Dec 2022.

Since I also own about 30 Shaw Brothers titles from 88 Films, I thought that truly that was the end of the Shaw Brother releases.

Now enter Shout Factory, who also has a Shaw Brothers boxset in the works, set for release on June 13, 2023. They are releasing 11 titles, with special features yet to be announced.

Titles:

THE ASSASSIN (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 112 min.)

THE THUNDERING SWORD (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 90 min.)

THE GOLDEN SWALLOW (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 104 min.)

THE JADE RAKSHA (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 91 min.)

THE BELLS OF DEATH (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 85 min.)

THE SWORD OF SWORDS (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 106 min.)

KILLER DART (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 84 min.)

THE INVINCIBLE FIST (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 94 min.)

DRAGON SWAMP (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 105 min.)

THE FLYING DAGGER (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 93 min.)

THE GOLDEN SWORD (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 101 min.)

Being a massive fan, I will, of course buy this. I just wish all the titles were licensed to one company, as now I know that among these various Shaw Brothers boxsets - they won’t fit together in uniform. We’ll have these super long Shaw Scopes, we’ll have all these single releases, and now a giant block. I know I shouldn’t complain, I should just be happy at least we’re getting these titles in HD. There’s never been a better time to be a fan of martial arts films.

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7 Grandmasters (film) at Trylon Cinema, Minneapolis (05 Feb 2023)

Jue quan (1977) An aging martial arts expert is gifted a plaque from the Emperor declaring him the Kung Fu World Champion. Unsure of whether or not be is deserving of this title, he embarks on a journey to defeat the 7 Grandmasters. Director: Joseph Kuo Writers: Da-Wei Kuo (story), Joseph Kuo, Ching-Kang Yao Stars: Yi-Min Li, Jack Long, Kuan-Wu Lung Read More Shaw Brothers As you know, I’m a big Shaw Brothers fan, and have personally own over 75 DVDs and Blurays. As I previously mentioned, unfortunately these movies don’t sell well in America, so many of these Shaw Brothers titles never made …

We caught the last showing for 7 Grandmasters, as part of the An Exploitation Extravaganza showcase, at the tiny 90-person non-profit Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis.

Turn out was terrific, although I heard Friday night’s showing was entirely sold out and there were talks that it might sell out based on pre-sales. Fans who showed up have never seen this independent 1977 production from Taiwan.

7 Grand Masters (DVD)

Of course, as an avid film collector, especially in the Kung Fu genre, I own the DVD release from Tokyo Shock (Media Blasters). The disc came out in 1999, and the video was taken directly from the source at Mei Ah Film Production Co., Ltd., which did a great job restoring the film for licensing. In many ways, the DVD copy is a better representation of the film, because it has the English dub (as well as original Mandarin with English subtitles).

According to film collector and programmer, Dan Halsted, he spoke to director Joseph Kuo, and said that what we’re about to see is the only 35mm print of the film. It’s a rare treat to see these films on 35… but unfortunately, due to time passage, the print has not aged well. Colors were washed out, in some area of the film, looks like it could be a black and white film.

Despite poor subtitle translations (and sometime impossible to read when there’s a white shirt in the shot…), you do get the general idea of the story. Speaking of which, the story is about a retiring Kung Fu master named Sang Kuan Chun who was challenged before his retirement. He takes his three students and his daughter to defeat the 7 Grandmasters to become the ultimate Grandmaster.

Along the way, an unknown young man begs the Grandmaster to take him as a student. It’s a fairly simple story, but they try and add in more plot, such as how the Grandmaster only knew 9 of the deadly Pai Mei strokes as a masked man stole the other 3 deadly strikes. It seems sometime that the filmmakers were making up the story as they started filming (since so many of these elements weren’t established early in the story).

Look, you don’t watch these films for the amazing stories, you watch them for the action… and this film delivers. The teacher has to fight 7 fighters, resulting in what seems like a super long fight after fight. In fact, during his fight with the Mantis Fist style, I was left wondering, “Is this number 5 or 6?” There were so many masters to keep track of!

With these films, it’s always better to watch it with an audience. The audience would laugh at some scenes… which you wouldn’t know it was funny if you watched it alone. Also, when the film ended, everyone was clapping in approval. I love that kind of experience; it tells me that there are many fans who appreciate these films.

Dan Halsted at Trylon Cinema, Minneapolis (05 Feb 2023)

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Shawscope: Volume Two Review

Product Description Picking up where Volume One left off, this sophomore collection of Hong Kong cinema classics draws together many of the best films from the final years of the Shaw Brothers studio, proving that while the end was nigh, these merchants of martial arts mayhem weren’t going to go out without a fight! Armed with stunning special features and ravishing new restorations, this boxset is even bigger and bolder than the last one. We begin with kung fu master Lau Kar-leung’s instant classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, in which his adoptive brother Gordon Liu achieved overnight stardom as the young man who unexpectedly finds spiritual enlightenment on the path to vengeance; Lau and Liu followed the original with two comically inventive sequels, Return to the 36th Chamber and Disciples of the 36th Chamber, both included here. Already established as a genius at blending dazzling action with physical comedy, Lau himself plays the lead role in the hilarious Mad Monkey Kung Fu, coupled here with Lo Mar’s underrated Five Superfighters. Next, we once again meet Chang Cheh’s basher boy band the Venom Mob in no less than four of their best-loved team-ups: Invincible Shaolin, The Kid with the Golden Arm, Magnificent Ruffians and culminating in the all-star Ten Tigers of Kwangtung, co-starring Ti Lung and Fu Sheng. After Lau brings us perhaps his best high-kicking comedy with My Young Auntie, a playful star vehicle for his real-life muse Kara Hui, we see Shaw Brothers fully embracing Eighties excess in our strangest double feature yet: Wong Jing’s breathtakingly wild shoot-‘em-up Mercenaries from Hong Kong, and Kuei Chih-hung’s spectacularly unhinged black magic meltdown The Boxer’s Omen. Last but certainly not least, Lau Kar-leung directs the last major Shaw production, Martial Arts of Shaolin, filmed in mainland China with a hot new talent named Jet Li in the lead role; it is paired in this set with The Bare-Footed Kid, a reverent remake of a Chang Cheh classic with Johnnie To (Running Out of Time) in the director’s chair and Lau back on fight choreography duties, in arguably the ultimate filmed tribute to Shaws’ everlasting cinematic legacy. Read More Shaw Brothers As you know, I’m a big Shaw Brothers fan, and have personally own over 75 DVDs and Blurays. As I previously mentioned, unfortunately these movies don’t sell well in America, so many of these Shaw Brothers titles never made …

I’m so happy that Arrow Video finally released Shawscope: Volume 2 boxset. It’s been a long road… I pre-ordered the boxset in August 2022, so I can make sure it arrived for my birthday… unfortunately, the release was delayed. While I’m happy to finally get my hands on it, this is probably the last time I do pre-orders. It was such a long time, and, in addition, I paid full price. When the boxset was released, Arrow Videos did a sale on the item, punishing me for pre-ordering. Sure, Amazon refunded the difference, but next time, I think I’ll just wait for the product to come out.

This Volume 2 may actually be the last Shaw Brothers release from Arrow. I read the rumor that they only secure 26 titles from Celestial Pictures (the current license holder), and Arrow has released all 26 title through these two boxsets and two single releases (for Come Drink With Me and The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter).

The highlight of Volume 2 is clearly the The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin trilogy: The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin (aka Master Killer), Return To The 36th Chamber, and Disciples Of The 36th Chamber. Every film is unrelated to the previous film, they are only tied together by the title and also its star Gordon Liu and directed by Lau Kar-leung… sort of like how the Dollars Trilogy was tied together by its titles (even though none of the films were related but all were directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastman). With that said, you can enjoy and treat each of the 36th Chamber film as a stand-alone film.

For the price, I did have a little disappointment in Volume 2. Mainly I was really disappointed in the commentary for My Young Auntie, which only comes up on some selective scene, and not throughout the movie. If you are to do this, have other commentaries filling in the gaps, or maybe just hire someone who can talk throughout the whole film.

The worst special feature is the single-disc for My Young Auntie which features a full length “VHS copy”. What the heck? Why would you want or care for an inferior version of the film? The VHS copy of My Young Auntie is absolute garbage. You guys couldn’t put on a 1080p version of the film (from the original Celestial DVD release) or a 2k scan?

There were a few special features, mostly some made-for-television documentaries from 2003 called Cinema Hong Kong. If you’ve seen them in 2003, it’s somewhat disappointing.

Not really a terrible thing, but disc 5 and 7 has the same name when you put it in your disc in your bluray drive. Disc 7 does have the correct content (Mercenaries From Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen), but it was very confusing when your computer pops up with the wrong titles.

Otherwise, I’ve been enjoying the Venoms-films, Invincible Shaolin, The Kid With The Golden Arm, Magnificent Ruffians, and Ten Tigers Of Kwangtung. The latter is not one of my favorite, as the film is told through flashbacks.

It’s also been a long time since I saw Magnificent Ruffians, and I thought I hated the film, but re-watching it on Bluray, it’s like seeing it for the first time. This is not a bad Venoms film. The film is about some homeless kungfu experts who befriended a fellow fighter. It’s like a series of misunderstanding, like Invincible Shaolin.

The most enjoyable film so far has to go to Five Superfighters. This plot is absolutely terrible, but it’s so entertaining. The story is a Kung Fu expert walks into town and beats up everyone for “their bad kung fu”. He runs into a teacher and his three students and kicks the snot out of them. So the students decides to seek out new masters and agreed to meet back in six months so they can take their revenge.

The last movie disc of this set has two films, which I don’t really consider as part of the heyday of the Shaw Brothers. They are Martial Arts Of Shaolin, starring a young Jet Li, and The Bare-Footed Kid, a 90s film, directed by Johnny To. You see, in the mid-80s, Shaw Brothers shifted to television production through their TVB production. Some films, such as Martial Arts Of Shaolin already began as a series, with Shaolin Temple in 1982, and Kids From Shaolin in 1984 (this film is awful)… so I can see that it could signal the end of the Shaw Brothers era.

The Bare-Footed Kid (aka Professional Fighter), to me, wasn’t even a Shaw Brothers film. It was produced by Mona Fong for Cosmopolitan Film (which is tied to Shaw Brothers somewhat). You can argue that it is a sequel or remake of Chang Cheh’s Disciples of Shaolin… but I still don’t even consider Bare-Foot as part of the Shaw Brothers. It’s a shame, because I would have prefered that they included a real Shaw Brothers film, like Bewitched, which was the prequel to The Boxer's Omen.

Speaking of which, The Boxer's Omen, is pretty gruesome. I’ve seen it before, on DVD, and I praised director Kuei Chih-Hung previously for his amazing Killer Constable. I love his Hex films, but perhaps did not love The Teahouse.

Rounding out the rest of the boxset are two soundtrack CD. If you love these films, you’ll really appreciate and recognize many of these background music. Hearing these songs will conjure up images of these Shaw Brothers films.

While this Volume 2 of the Shaw Scope boxset is worth it to me… I find it hard to recommend these boxsets to casual Shaw Brothers fans. It’s very expensive… owning both sets will set you back about $300, which is not cheap (especially if you might not enjoy half the films). For a diehard fan and collector, I don’t mind the price, because, let’s face it, some of these films won’t get a single release. I can see Arrow Videos re-visiting and re-releasing some of these titles in a standalone. For example, they could easily rake up some money if they release the 36th Chamber of Shaolin trilogy set or a Venoms set. I would re-buy it again!

I am hopeful that Arrow Videos will get more license and release a Volume 3 in this Shaw Scope series… but my heart tells me that there are not enough Kung Fu fans out there to justify a third set. For those interested, I suggest buying the Volume 2 to send a message to Arrow Video that we want a third volume!

Shaw Brothers Boxset (Arrow Video)

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