Boxer Rebellion Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Boxer Rebellion Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 24, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Horrible History: Four Historical Epics by Chang Cheh collection from Eureka! Entertainment.

The back panel of the slipcover offered with this release states that Chang Cheh is "often described as the 'Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema',” and anyone who has seen any of the nearly hundred films Chang Cheh made during his long and storied career with the venerable Shaw Brothers would most likely be prone to agree. Chang's Shaw Brothers filmography is perhaps unexpectedly varied, at least given the renown his wuxia and general martial arts outings have achieved. Those include such well remembered opuses as The One-Armed Swordsman and The Five Venoms among scores of others (many of which are out in rather resplendent looking high definition transfers courtesy of a number of labels, including Arrow). This collection aggregates four of his so-called "historical epics", and rather interestingly two of the films in this set have at least one Hollywood (or perhaps more strictly accurately American) counterpart. Chang's Marco Polo can therefore be compared to a number of big screen efforts, including The Adventures of Marco Polo, Marco Polo and perhaps just slightly hilariously Marco (if you're unaware of this last one and have a taste for really bad musicals, check it out). Boxer Rebellion follows in a rather interesting tradition of depicting this epochal showdown in the annals of Chinese film (this fascinating article I found online in doing background research for purposes of writing this review suggests the Boxer Rebellion actually more or less gave birth to martial arts films), but might remind some trivia fans of the now largely forgotten Samuel Bronston production 55 Days at Peking. The title of The Pirate may unavoidably recall the Judy Garland film bearing the same name, with the last of the quartet, Four Riders , perhaps being the outlier, at least in terms of familiarity of plot machinations and recycled titles. That said, Four Riders is also distinctly different in terms of presenting a somewhat more contemporary story that may not seem quite as "historical" (at least in terms of how recent the era depicted is) than the rest of the films in this collection.

One of the coolest things that happened to me quite early in my online reviewing career was getting a completely unexpected email from the son of Samuel Bronston, who had read and evidently appreciated some of my writing about his father's epics like El Cid (note that the link points to a pretty problematic Region B disc I reviewed some time ago). 55 Days at Peking is still awaiting a Region A release on Blu-ray, but intrepid film buffs may want to seek it out to compare how a "Hollywoodized" (albeit filmed in Spain, per Bronston tradition) version of the Boxer Rebellion stacks up against a "native" Chinese one. I'd probably argue that the "history" in this film is more tethered to the actual record than some of the other films in this set, even if things are unavoidably fictionalized at times, and the film certainly is decidedly more nuanced than the Bronston epic in terms of attempting to provide context and especially the aspect of how Western intrusion into China exacerbated the political atmosphere of the time.

Boxer Rebellion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Boxer Rebellion is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. As usual with their releases, Eureka really doesn't provide any meaningful technical information aside from their arguably unnecessary "viewing notes" and calibration advice, but I'm assuming all of the transfers in this set are the result of the well publicized restoration efforts of Shaw Brothers material by Celestial. While color timing is just slightly variable here, occasionally tilting toward yellow or brown, on the whole things are really beautifully suffused, and this film has some of the most impressive sets and costumes in the Eureka collection. Detail on those sets and costumes is typically excellent. Outdoor material probably pops the best, but even set bound scenes offer a generally secure palette and commendable detail levels. Grain resolves without any issues and age related wear and tear is minimal.

Boxer Rebellion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Boxer Rebellion features LPCM 2.0 Mono audio in the original Mandarin. This is a slightly more brash sounding track than some of the others in this set, something that can make the high end of certain cues (like that inimitable Shaw Brothers masthead theme) sound a little bright. Otherwise, though, the track offers secure support for the bulk of the scoring and sound effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Boxer Rebellion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Eureka has packaged Boxer Rebellion and Four Riders together on one disc, with the following supplements:

• Audio Commentary on Boxer Rebellion by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema


• Audio Commentary on Four Riders by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth


• National Defence (HD; 19:13) offers Wayne Wong's thoughts on Boxer Rebellion.

Boxer Rebellion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This may be one of the more relatively accurate history lessons in the Eureka set, and it at least provides an "insider" view of a conflict that has probably been portrayed by Westerners without sufficient finesse. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplements on this disc very enjoyable. Recommended.