 |
| Images courtesy of Eureka Entertainment |
Amid the ongoing battle between Shaw Scope and Golden
Harvest for being the top Hong Kong martial arts action entertainment empire with
each company doling out their respective subgenre iterations, a curious union
began among several of its top billing stars following the release of Chang
Cheh’s Five Deadly Venoms. Prominently
featuring Philip Kwok, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, Sun Chien, Lo Mang and Wei Pai,
the film sparked one of several collaborative efforts featuring aptly named
Venom Mob fighting together in unison as a Hong Kong and Taiwan based martial
arts quintet. Though they only made a
handful of films as a group before disbanding in 1982 following the release of Ode
to Gallantry, Eureka Entertainment saw fit to curate two of their most
notable efforts prominently starring Phillip Kwok in the lead role with The
Daredevils from 1979 and Ode to Gallantry both directed by Chang
Cheh and co-written by Kuang Ni.
In the first film known also as Shaolin Daredevils or
Daredevils of Kung Fu, set in Republic era China, the period martial
arts film follows Yang Ta-ying (Lo Mang) on his quest for vengeance following
his military commander father’s murder by conniving thief Han Pei-tsang (Wong
Lik). Determined to overthrow Yang’s
family and seize control of the estate and army, the only ones standing in Han’s
way are a small group of friends Chen Feng (Chaing Sheng), Fu Quanyi (Lu Feng),
and Xin Zheng (Sun Chien). Ordinarily
working together as a sideshow group of skilled martial artists, the trio now
sets out to turn their skills for entertaining into fighting with some astounding
physical feats that move so fast you can barely keep up with them. Scenes of them doing a mixture of flag
dancing and musical chairs amid powerhouse kicks and punches defy the eye and
dazzle our senses.
The next (or technically the last) film to emerge from the
Venom Mob team, director Chang Cheh and co-writer Kuang Ni with the help of
Louis Cha Ode to Gallantry features Phillip Kwok as a lone martial
artist dubbed ‘Mongrel’ who finds himself being thrust into the epicenter of a
battle between warring martial arts clans after inadvertently apprehending the
stolen Black Iron Token. Upon finding
the token, he is granted any wish of his choosing by ruthless Kung Fu master
Xie Yanke (Wong Lik). Soon after running
into his doppelganger who turns out to have a criminal history, he finds
himself being framed for a crime he didn’t commit and after running into Xie
Yanke discovers he has inherited a new superhuman ability to ward off physical
attackers though he requires a little extra training to hone his skills
better.
With both features shot in scope 2.35:1 panoramic widescreen
by Hui-Chi Tsao with original as well as library music by Eddie Wang that features
music from George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead across both movies, the
two Venom Mob period martial arts features are spectacles of physical acting. With fluid and graceful movement, physical
combat exchanges and a series of innovative group fighting, The Daredevils wows
with its story of a ragtag group of friends who take on an evil empire all by
themselves while Ode to Gallantry and its mashup of mistaken identity
and superhuman strengths shows off Phillip Kwok’s comic skills. While some of the cast members of the Venom
Mob didn’t all come together in Ode to Gallantry, the final official
film in the Shaw Brothers subgenre closes the series out on a high note after
more than a dozen films.
Eureka Entertainment’s new two-film disc features two 1080p
digital restorations supplied by Celestial Pictures with either the original mono
audio as well as English dubbing comes with a limited O-card slipcase with
original artwork by Chris Malbon and original booklet with essay writings by James
Oliver on the first 2,000 copies, four new audio commentaries by East Asian and
martial arts action cinema experts and a new interview with Wayne Wong on the storied
history of the Venom Mob. Though only
encompassing two films in the series as other labels have handled either
standalone or group releases of some of the others, this two-film set by Chang
Cheh nevertheless represent arguably the Venom Mob at their finest and most striking. Fans of Shaw Brothers, the Venom Mob and Phillip
Kwok will be delighted with this, another spectacular release from Eureka!
--Andrew Kotwicki
