Arrow Video: The Shaolin Plot (1977) – An Underseen Masterwork of Hong Kong Action Gets the Love it Deserves
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| All Images Courtesy: Arrow Video/Fortune Star |
For the past couple years Arrow Video has gradually been giving the swanky limited edition treatment to the filmography of master Hong Kong filmmaker and actor Sammo Hung. Their latest release, while not primarily directed by Hung, is a crucial stepping-stone in his career: 1977’s The Shaolin Plot was his last film as action director/stunt choreographer for another filmmaker (in this case, director Huang Feng) before fully taking over the director’s chair himself. While the film in general has a very different feel from most of Hung’s late-1970s and 1980s features (his films tend to lean hard into action/comedy, while The Shaolin Plot is much more of a serious martial arts epic), the numerous action sequences are classic Sammo, with highly kinetic and impactful fight choreography and cinematography. Hung and Feng make a powerhouse combo: this is an excellent film, which can hold its own alongside plenty of other better-known 1970s Hong Kong classics. In his commentary on this disc, Hong Kong film expert Frank Djeng introduces The Shaolin Plot as one of the best martial arts epics that you probably haven’t heard of, and there couldn’t be a more apt description: despite being a very underseen and underdiscussed film, this is an absolute gem that fans of martial arts movies and Hong Kong action in general are going to love. Arrow has done some excellent work by unearthing this diamond in the rough for a new era of fans.
THE FILM:
The cruel and sadistic Prince Daglen (Chan Sing, New Fist of Fury) is consumed by an obsession: he wants to obtain, by any means necessary, the rare and precious manuals detailing every martial art, so that he can become a master of them all, and be able to defeat any opponent. The heads of each martial arts school are naturally very reluctant to give up these rare tomes at the center of their arts, but through bribery, intimidation, or murder Daglen is able to get his hands on all but one – the heavily-guarded manual of Shaolin. With the help of his equally cruel henchman Golden Cymbals (Sammo Hung himself, fighting with his own spin on the Fatal Flying Guillotine), Daglen hatches a plan to infiltrate the Shaolin monastery and steal the text. The only one who can stop him is the son (James Tien, The Big Boss) of the Wu-Tang master who Daglen murdered to get his hands on the manual of Wu-Tang, now eager to get his revenge and bring his father’s killer to justice.
Daglen’s plot to obtain all the martial arts manuals is the backdrop for an epic tale of intrigue between political factions and martial arts schools, of an elaborate plot by the villain to infiltrate the heavily-guarded Shaolin fortress, and of righteous revenge by our orphaned hero. The plot is much more involved than I expected from the collect-the-macguffins premise, in a way that I really loved: the web of intrigue is very compelling, and the script, based on a novel by prolific author and screenwriter Ni Kuang (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, The Seventh Curse) is very good. The film balances plot and action extremely well, with its intrigue-filled plot keeping the viewer at attention while also never getting too bogged down in dialogue and exposition. There is a lot of action all throughout, and the action sequences are paced very well within the narrative. An hour and 45 minutes may seem like a relatively long runtime for a 1970s Martial Arts film, but it breezes by, thanks to the film’s pacing and rhythm of action scenes.
While the unexpectedly intrigue-filled plot kept me engaged on its own, the action sequences are where The Shaolin Plot really packs a punch, and absolutely defines itself as a should-be classic. Sammo Hung brings absolutely fantastic fight choreography to the film, choreographing both the actors and the camera movements in stunning ways. Given the premise of the film, with multiple martial arts schools factoring into the plot, there is quite a variety of martial arts action styles throughout the film. There is also a very cool mix of fast and intense hand-to-hand combat and touches of Wuxia-esque wirework elements here and there (including the highly stylized and fanciful spin on the Fatal Flying Guillotine that Hung’s villain uses). It is a very fun and eclectic mix of elements. There are great fights scattered all throughout, and a few major showstoppers – martial arts action fans should love what Hung has on offer here.
It is honestly mystifying to me that this film is so underseen and obscure, and not held in higher regard as a classic example of late-1970s Hong Kong martial arts action. It is very good – honestly much better than the last two Sammo Hung screeners I’ve reviewed for Arrow, Millionaire’sExpress (which I honestly thought was pretty bad) and The Prodigal Son (very good in its best moments, but uneven). Whether you’re here for a good story of period intrigue or just impressive martial arts action, this film delivers the goods. I really hope that Arrow’s disc helps the film to get rediscovered, and to finally achieve the classic status that it has clearly always deserved.
THE ARROW LIMITED EDITION:
As with all of their recent releases of Sammo Hung’s films, The Shaolin Plot comes in a limited edition package with a slipcase, poster, and book of essays. The physical extras look great. The disc, however, is fairly limited in a way that is pretty unfortunate, although I suppose that mainly just speaks to what an obscure movie this is. By Arrow’s standards it is very barebones: the only extras are two commentaries, both by pairs of Hong Kong action film experts (Frank Djeng & Michael Worth, and Mike Leeder & Arne Venema). With that said, however, both commentaries are very good, and absolutely packed with really interesting, detailed, and well-researched information about the film and the people who worked on it. Of the two, I think the Djeng and Worth commentary is definitely the better one – I found it more interesting and full of more valuable information, and I really liked their conversation style – but both are strong and worth a listen if you enjoy the film. Still, I really wish that they could have gotten some alums from the film – maybe even Sammo Hung himself – to sit down for new interviews, and the absence of any interviews at all is quite noticeable.
The film itself is presented in a new 2k restoration provided to Arrow by the film’s Hong Kong distributor, Fortune Star. It looks quite good, but it also has some noticeable flaws that probably wouldn’t be there if Arrow had gotten to do the restoration work themselves. Occasionally you can see the remains of some print damage, and there are also a couple odd jump-cuts where it appears a few frames are missing. The color grading also looks a tad erratic, with some shots being noticeably cooler or warmer than the shots on either side of them, as though they haven't been fully matched. However, none of this is too distracting, and for the most part the image looks very good. Detail is sharp, there is a healthy presence of film grain that makes the transfer look nice and filmic, and aside from those occasional weird shifts from shot to shot, colors mostly look very good and quite rich. Overall it is a good – in its best moments very good – transfer, but definitely not a great one.
Still, it seems a bit ludicrous to be too hard on a transfer when it is obviously a massive, massive upgrade over whatever low-quality version anyone who actually has seen the film before might have watched. This is a very obscure, lesser-seen film, and a beautifully shot 2.35:1 film at that, and to see it look this good is pretty mind-blowing. Fans should be quite happy, despite a few small flaws.
IN CONCLUSION:
While I may have been a bit underwhelmed by the transfer and limited roster of extras, I am nonetheless absolutely thrilled that Arrow has rescued this film from obscurity and given it their limited edition treatment. It is a very very good vintage Hong Kong martial arts film, and one that should have always been held up as a classic. I really hope that now people finally discover it, and it becomes the classic that it always should have been. I truly had a blast with it, and I suspect that other fans of this type of film will as well. And while there is definitely room for improvement, Arrow’s disc is nonetheless quite good, and a huge upgrade over the previous sad state of the film’s distribution. If you have any interest in this type of film, I would highly recommend picking it up.
- Christopher S. Jordan
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