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| Images courtesy of Arrow Video |
Back in 2021, Arrow Video unveiled the first of three major
boxed sets of specifically Hong Kong based martial arts action fighter flicks
with ShawScope Volume One: a twelve-film set of some of the Shaw
Brothers company’s finest actioners ranging from 1972 to 1979. A year later, Arrow Video returned with Volume
2 which consisted of four films ranging all the way from 1978 to 1993. Mixing things up once again for what
ultimately became the third volume of ShawScope, Arrow Video now two
years later have returned once more in producing their rectangular boxed set
consisting of fourteen more Shaw Brothers movies this time ranging from 1967 to
1983. Whereas the first two sets started
out in the 1970s and either stayed within that range or exceeded to the 1990s,
Volume 3 starts off earliest in the late 1960s before capping off the insanity
in 1983.
Though the checkered journey of these films seems similar
with the basic boilerplate plotlines of a wronged martial artist avenging
themselves through kick fighter punches and hand-to-hand combat, Volume 3
presents an interesting lineup beginning with the first three One Armed
Swordsman films, two female driven action fighters with Lady Hermit and
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan and a staggering nearly
all-female wartime film with The 14 Amazons. Next the series dives into four wuxias penned
by Gu Long entitled The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade
Tiger and The Sentimental Swordsman all starring Ti Lung. Following that quartet of films are The
Avenging Eagle and the white knuckled antiheroic actioner Killer
Constable. Last but not least, the
final two films Buddha’s Palm and Bastard Swordsman from the
1980s leapfrog freely into fantastical Taoist magic excesses in easily the most
bonkers and bizarre offerings in the package.
The crème de la crème of the set is definitely the first
film One Armed Swordsman which received a full top to bottom 4K
restoration whereas the other thirteen films only received 2K scans. No matter, qualitatively the image differs
from picture to picture as does the Shaw logo itself which starts to change
nearing the 1980s. In the first two One
Armed Swordsman films both starring Wang Yu of One Armed Boxer, our
hero is maimed by jealous rivals including a young woman who slices one of his
arms off. Soon however he takes up
training and soon is able to do battle with two-armed assailants and work them
over with the slightest of ease. Going
into retirement in the sequel The Return of the One Armed Swordsman, our
hero is coaxed out to face a group of masters intent on taking over the martial
arts school and community, resulting in massive bloodshed and stunning
choreography. Lastly the third film,
also written and directed by Chang Cheh but replacing Wang Yu with David Chiang
in easily the weakest entry of the trilogy but nevertheless sports its own
unique gothic horror patina.
Shifting gears with The Lady Hermit, we have Come
Drink with Me star Cheng Pei-pei as a master swordswoman who is tasked with
taking on a ruthless warlord, resulting in some climactic battles and stunning
physical feats that have to be seen to be believed. Next up is arguably the most salacious
naughty film in the set with the rape-prostitution-revenge actioner Intimate
Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan in which a woman forced into a life of
prostitution with brutal clients slowly outwits and turns the tables on those
who have wronged her. Think of it as a
postmodern action-adventure revenge feminist reworking of The Shape of Night
or later still Bad Guy in which the pimp gets his just
desserts. If you thought the female
driven Shaw Brothers martial arts actioner would boil down to these two films,
think again with the staggering nearly all-female wartime epic The 14
Amazons which dives deep into medieval warfare reminiscent of some of Akira
Kurosawa’s own war films.
After reaching such heights with The 14 Amazons, the
set shifts gears once again with the aforementioned quartet of films The Magic
Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger and The Sentimental
Swordsman. Starring Ti Lung as the
titular Fu Hung-hsueh, it tells the story of a formerly powerful warrior now
wandering aimlessly ala Yojimbo in search of purpose when he discovers a
plot to overthrow the martial arts world using the secret weapon dubbed the Peacock
Scale. A year later, the director and
lead star Ti Lung were back for Clans of Intrigue which saw him as Chu
Liuxiang drinking away with a friend of the Holy Water Palace when he is
accused of stealing the palace’s Heaven’s One Holy Water followed by a series
of murders. Characteristic for featuring
striking boat set pieces, its an action fighter flick where its hero is tasked
with clearing his name before the timeclock runs out.
Continuing onward with the actor-director-author
collaboration is Jade Tiger which sees the titular Ti Lung embarking on
a tragic journey full of intrigues determined to avenge his father’s beheading
by a traitor working for Tang on the eve of his son’s marriage. Following a century old grudge, the film’s
hero proceeds undaunted through the mire, plot surprises and double crossings
towards his goal of overthrowing the warring clan trying to kill him. Lastly in the foursome is The Sentimental
Swordsman which more than wears some gothic horror blankets including but
not limited to fog, dim lighting and most of it taking place at night ala And
God Said to Cain. It’s a refreshing
change in direction for the series and the individual quartet to veer closer to
creepy quasi-horror vibes.
Down to the last four, our next film is The Avenging
Eagle again starring Ti Lung who is nearing death on horseback but is
rescued by another man who turns out to be not only a skilled martial artist
but a sworn mortal enemy whose paths will cross again later as the story goes
on. The one that will stop viewers in
their tracks who think they know this terrain by now is undoubtedly Killer
Constable which sort of plays like a Shaw Brothers riff on Dirty Harry as
well as the neo-noir. The plotline of
the ruthless and uncompromising Killer Constable posits us with
Constable Leng (Chen Kuan-tai) remorselessly murdering his way through criminal
adversaries. However, when tasked with
tracking a gang which robbed the imperial treasury he finds himself a newfound
outlaw with his sordid reputation coming back to haunt him. Meanwhile a shot at redemption comes when he
is asked to care for the blind daughter of a man he just slain. It proves to be a startlingly violent,
cynical and finally emotionally involved journey unbecoming of the usual Shaw
Brothers fare.
Now after such a powerful punch as Killer Constable,
why not go out with a profoundly bizarre weirdo bang with the final two films
in the set Buddha’s Palm and the slightly more grounded Bastard
Swordsman. For a boxed set that seemed
to be heading in an increasingly serious direction, Buddha’s Palm is
like a balls-to-the-wall Cannon Films explosion of wretched psychedelic surreal
excesses. Whatever the company was doing
with Taoist Black Magic and elements of the supernatural wuxia before, they
loaded it with dynamite here. Ostensibly
about a martial arts technique that can transform an ordinary human hand into a
deadly force, a blind man holds the key to its dangerous secrets which unleash
all manner of freakish mayhem. Largely
driven by optical effects including but not limited to characters flying
through the air like Superman or firing laser beams from their hands or
eyes, it is the very definition of berserk filmmaking spoken of the same wacky
breath as, say, Tobe Hooper’s genre-defying Lifeforce.
After drifting into near orbit with Buddha’s Palm
whose plotline is, let’s face it, secondary to the sensual excesses, the last film
Bastard Swordsman finds a curious and perhaps healthy union between the
Shaw Brothers martial arts films that came before and the pyrotechnics heavy
state the company was currently embroiled in.
In it, Norman Chui plays the ‘Spider Swordsman’ who has mastered the ‘Silkworm
Style’ of martial arts combat fighting, resulting in something akin to Dragon
Ball Z involving characters upgrading or leveling up into new kinds of superhuman
fighters. While starting out with the skeleton
of your typical Shaw Brothers film from the mid-1970s, it gradually takes a
turn towards the fantastical and outlandish including but not limited to
silkworm transformations and a final fight that has to be seen to be believed. Mixing in just a little bit of the psychedelia
of Buddha’s Palm without engulfing the whole endeavor in mania, Bastard
Swordsman is the perfect ending note to an already extensive but varied series
of Hong Kong martial arts films from the ShawScope empire.
Of course the set itself wouldn’t be rounded out without the
inclusion of plentiful extras including but not limited to a 60-page collector’s
booklet, newly commission artwork, hours and hours of bonus features including
another entirely different Korean cut of Killer Constable with VHS
inserts. Also included is a compact disc
consisting of music selections from the various films. While each disc comes with its own subset of
audio commentaries, Arrow Video saw fit to include a ninth disc entirely
devoted to the overflow of special features including newly filmed interviews
with many of the key performers involved as well as historians dedicated to
director Chor Yeun by both Tony Rayns and Sam Ho. All in all, the supplements are extensive and
will take almost as long to wade through as the films themselves.
It goes without saying Arrow Video have outdone themselves
once again with their rollout of Shaw Brothers offerings. While other companies like Shout! Factory are
doing their own Shaw sets while 88 Films have done standalone releases of both
Shaw and Golden Harvest titles, thus far Arrow Videos sets have been the most
comprehensive in terms of gathering a mass amount of kindred films together
into one place. The inclusion of compact
disc soundtracks for music from the films is a nice touch that sort of lets you
immerse yourself back into the world of those films and the extras are rich and
time consuming. That all of these
various film boutique releasing labels are giving such love and attention to
the Hong Kong actioner is cause for celebration and over the course of fourteen
films I’ve come to know and appreciate the opening Shaw Brothers logo greeting
every wild cinematic adventure ahead.
Fans already introduced to ShawScope will relish in these offerings while
newcomers unaccustomed to the lore are more than in for a treat, a gift that
keeps on giving.
--Andrew Kotwicki
