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| Images courtesy of Eureka Entertainment |
Eureka Entertainment continues to work diligently with
Fortune Star and/or Celestial Pictures depending on whether or not it
represents a Shaw Brothers or Golden Harvest production in an ongoing effort to
publish and distribute Hong Kong titles throughout the 1960s up through the
1990s on Blu-ray disc and/or UHD disc in the United States or United
Kingdom. While some of their releases
are indeed region locked for British customers, a good number of them are
compatible with American consumers as well.
Among their efforts to try and bring together Hong Kong classics
overlooked in the West while tailoring the releases to a particular martial
arts star is the new Triple Threat: Three Films with Sammo Hung trilogy
of films ranging from 1974 through 1988 and 1990. A bit of an uneven mixed bag with the first
Golden Harvest panoramic widescreen effort The Manchu Boxer being a bit
of a dud with Hung in a supporting role while the later 1988 and 1990 films Paper
Marriage and Shanghai, Shanghai more than justify the purchase, Triple
Threat is far from being a definitive look at Sammo Hung’s many on and
offscreen talents but it’ll give you a pretty swell time by the end of it’s
unexpected journey.
In the first film directed by Wu Ma, The Manchu Boxer,
Sammo Hung worked as the film’s choreographer as well as serving up a
supporting role as an antagonist. While
an early fight sequence out by the river cribs Pink Floyd’s Time on the
soundtrack and has a wintry martial arts tournament fought out in the freezing
cold, this 2.35:1 scope widescreen effort feels like an undercooked Shaw
Brothers flick with often poor cinematography with blurred vision in many
shots. The grand finale is good but it’s
a sluggish effort unbecoming of what audiences were accustomed to from the Shaw
Scope and eventual Golden Harvest empire.
A curious if not skippable effort in the Triple Threat series. Such a weak start to this trilogy, I grew
leery the other two films would be just as soporific and torpid punctuated by
some occasional martial arts fare.
Thankfully that didn’t prove to be the case with the next film Paper
Marriage.
Directed by The Medallion actor Alfred Cheung and
co-starring Wong Kar-Wai favorite recurring leading actress Maggie Cheung in an
unlikely romantic comedy role opposite Sammo Hung, this one tells the story of
a Chinese boxer played by Hung who is living in the USA and is paid off to
marry an immigrant from Hong Kong played by Maggie Cheung. In trying to pass themselves off as a happy
go lucky couple with Cheung just trying to secure her American citizenship,
Hung finds himself relentlessly pursued by irate loan sharks keen on collecting
their longstanding debts. From there, the
twosome start developing feelings for one another and soon find themselves on
the run from gangsters in a caper chase action-comedy thriller of sorts when
they inadvertently apprehend a bag full of stolen drug money. A rare comedic turn from Maggie Cheung who is
otherwise known as the distant yearning women from In the Mood for Love and
2046 playing off of an equally rare screen turn from Sammo Hung as a
lovable romantic lead, it’s a fun and lively pickup from the first entry in the
Triple Threat set and further shows off Hung’s range as a
performer.
Lastly but not least in easily the standout film of the set
is 1990’s Shanghai, Shanghai by City on Fire composer Teddy Robin
Kwan in one of a handful of directorial efforts from the musician. Prominently featuring action star Yuen Biao
opposite Anita Mui, Sammo Hung (a villain again) and George Lam, it’s a colorful
and often musically oriented action-comedy period piece with tons of surprises
including but not limited to a flying carriage ala Young Sherlock Holmes or
Return to Oz and a musical dance fight number where you can’t always
tell if they’re kicking or punching each other mid-tangoing. Basically a story of a younger brother named
Little Tiger (Yuen Biao) who is residing with his cop brother Big Tiger (George
Lam), the period piece set in the early 1900s becomes a screwball action comedy
with more than a few kickass fights of strong female characters holding their
own, roundhouse kicking in between strutting across the dance floor.
Included in the Blu-ray set limited to 2,000 copies in
addition to the three films, there is a third disc featuring extended
international cuts for The Manchu Boxer and Shanghai, Shanghai. All three films have been restored in 2K and
the set comes housed with a collector’s booklet, reversible sleeve art and a
collectible slipcover. English dubs are
included but most viewers like myself are just going to listen to the Cantonese
tracks. Each film comes with an
audio-commentary, the first shared by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth while Arne
Venema, Dominie Ting and F.J. DeSanto make up the others. There’s also, a nice surprise, a newly filmed
interview with Alfred Cheung discussing Paper Marriage. Yes, as I said before, the first film in here
The Manchu Boxer might make you feel somewhat disappointed you bought
the set. But no matter, as the next two
films in it more than make up for its technical and creative shortcomings. No these are not what most would point too as
career highs for Sammo Hung but two of them conjure up enough entertaining Hong
Kong martial arts fun you find yourself forgiving The Manchu Boxer. Completists and collectors will surely eat
this up sight unseen.
--Andrew Kotwicki
