Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Executioners from Shaolin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 28, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Shawscope Volume One.

If the Shaw Brothers' logo is intentionally reminiscent of the Warner Brothers' logo, there are a number of other connective tethers between the two sets of siblings. The Warners founded what would become one of the "Big Five" studios in the American filmmaking industry in 1923, after having had some success as exhibitors. They went on to create one of the crown jewels of the "studio system" in the United States, eventually matriculating pretty forcefully into the television side of things, even when some of their American competitors were not in such a huge rush to "help the enemy". Somewhat similarly, the Shaw Brothers formed the first version of their moviemaking empire just two years after the Warners, in 1925, though admittedly it took until 1958 for the organization to be called Shaw Brothers. Like the Warners, the Shaws had begun as venue owners, though in their case they dealt in both film exhibitions (courtesy of their father) and live theater. Kind of interestingly, given one of the Warner's technological triumphs, the introduction of sound with 1929's The Jazz Singer, the Shaws are credited with having brought the "talkie" era to Chinese cinema in 1932 and 1933. The Shaws took a while to develop what many think of as their stock in trade, the kung fu films that started appearing in the seventies, but there's little disagreement that their involvement in that genre massively helped to popularize it, much as the Warners had helped to make the so-called "gangster film" must see cinema in the 1930s. Again, understandably somewhat later than the Warners ventured into television in the 1950s, the Shaws ultimately actually forsook the bulk of their movie output to concentrate on productions for the small screen. But Arrow is concentrating on some of the studio's feature films from its perceived heyday, with the Volume One of this set's title hinting that fans may be just at the beginning of an exciting viewing adventure. As is often the case with these deluxe Arrow releases, the packaging is impressive and the supplemental features are bountiful and outstanding.

Tony Rayns makes an interesting case for paying attention to subtext in a film even as ostensibly "simple" as Executioners from Shaolin. In that regard, there is all sorts of material here to ponder, especially for those interested in things like "gender roles" and perceived aspects of masculinity and femininity, and/or any "combo platter" on the spectrum between the two extremes. The basic plot here, which is at least tangentially linked to actual historical events, involves two skilled martial arts parents, each with their own defined technique, who then have a son who is (of course) tasked with vengeance. Hong Xiguan (Kuan Tai-Chen) is that son, and he has to combine the "feminine" techniques of his mother with the "masculine" techniques of his father in order to overcome his main adversary (and perhaps to "fully integrate", to use modern verbiage). That main villain may or may not be a eunuch, just to add to the sexual identity confusion.

That aspect leads to one of the more memorable martial arts "moves" in the entire annals of this genre, and one which even Rayns seems loathe to describe in too much detail, where arch villain Bai Mei (Lo Lieh) is able to basically suck Hong's foot into his crotch, as if a vacuum resided there. Rayns attempts to allude to the "obvious" sexual imagery of such a moment, and while that may be one of the more graphic elements in the film, the entire story is suffused with a kind of "gender bending" aspect that makes it decidedly provocative, even if the surface narrative is almost laboriously rote.

Executioners from Shaolin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Executioners from Shaolin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.36:1. Arrow's nicely appointed insert pamphlet sized booklet contains quite a bit of information, though all of the films have been lumped together on one page, as follows:

All twelve films in this boxset are presented in their original 2.35:1 aspect ratios [sic] with their original Mandarin, English and Cantonese (where applicable) monoaural soundtracks. Every effort has been made to present these films in their original and complete versions using the best materials available.

Five Shaolin Masters, Shaolin Temple, Mighty Peking Man, Executioners from Shaolin, Heroes of the East and the shorter Alternate Version of Chinatown Kid were remastered by Celestial Pictures in 2003-2007, as part of an initiative to digitally restore the entire Shaw Brothers library. The High Definition masters of these restorations, which included the original Mandarin and English mono soundtracks, were supplied to Arrow Films by Celestial Pictures.

King Boxer, The Boxer from Shantung, Challenge of the Masters, The Five Venoms, Crippled Avengers, Dirty Ho and the longer international cut of Chinatown Kid have all been newly restored by Arrow Films in 2021, in collaboration with L'Immagine Ritrovata, Hong Kong Film Archive and Celestial Pictures.

The original 35mm negatives for King Boxer, The Boxer from Shantung, Challenge of the Masters, The Five Venoms, Crippled Avengers and Dirty Ho were scanned at L'Immagine Rittrovata Asia and restored in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The Films were graded at R3Store Studios, London. These restorations have used the entire film negative without resorting to the practice of "frame cutting" resulting in the loss of film frames at each negative splice point.

The mono mixes were remastered from the original sound negatives at L'Immagine Ritrovata. Additional sound remastering was completed by Matthew Jarman/Bad Princess Productions. The audio synch will often appear loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue and sound effects were recorded entirely in post production, as per the production standards of the period.

A 35mm internegative of the International Version of Chinatown Kid was scanned at L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia and restored in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The film was graded at R3Store Studios, London.

The mono mix was remastered from the original sound negative at L'Immagine Ritrovata. Additional sound remastering was completed by Matthew Jarman/Bad Princess Productions.

An additional scene from Chinatown Kid missing from the original elements was scanned from a vintage 35mm print and graded in 2K resolution at American Genre Film Archive (AGFA).

All original materials supplied for these restorations were made available from the Hong Kon Film Archive via Celestial Pictures.

Executioners from Shaolin is another of the Celestial Pictures provided transfers that struck my eyes as looking just slightly filtered at times, though there is a noticeable grainfield that can pop a bit better in some of the outdoor material in particular. Also as with several of the other Celestial Pictures transfers, the palette here is probably one of its strongest assets. Things look beautifully warm a lot of the time, and reds, blues and purples in particular achieve some pretty remarkable suffusion. This is just one of several films in this set where the "scope" part of Shawscope is more than evident, with some kind of funny anamorphic squeezing on the edges of the frame at times (look at screenshot 14 accompanying this review for just one example). lens issues out of focus corners of frame

Executioners from Shaolin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Executioners from Shaolin features DTS-HD Master Audio Mono tracks in either Mandarin or English. I once again toggled between the tracks as I watched. This is just one of several films in this set where the Mandarin track starts off sounding much hotter during the Shaw Brothers masthead, but where the English track then picks up steam to more or less match the Mandarin track in overall amplitude. That said, I'd still give the edge to the Mandarin track in terms of its more full bodied midrange, which is particularly evident in some of the music cues. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Executioners from Shaolin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged this release with Challenge of the Masters and Executioners from Shaolin on the same disc. Arrow has rather nicely authored the disc so that when choosing either film, a specific set of supplements is accessible, albeit with some shared content (as with regard to the Rayns piece, below, which is available under both films' Special Features submenus).

• Tony Rayns on Lau Kar-leung (HD; 28:36) actually sports the title Tony Rayns on Challenge of the Masters and Executioners from Shaolin, and offers good background, as well as biographical and filmography information on Kar-leung from the always reliable Rayns.


• Interview with Chen Kuan-tai (HD; 17:30) was filmed by Frédéric Ambroisine in 2007 and also features Vincent Tze. Subtitled in English.


• Alternate English Credits (HD; 2:59)


• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer (HD; 3:55)

  
  

  US Theatrical Trailer 1 (HD; 1:07)

  
  

  US Theatrical Trailer 2 (HD; 1:05)

  
  

  Digital Reissue Trailer (HD; 1:08)

• Image Gallery (HD)

Note: All of the discs in this set feature some supplemental material that is in 720 rather than 1080, notably some of the trailers.

Executioners from Shaolin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even if "gender studies" aren't your thing, Executioners from Shaolin has some rather provocative content, at least if you look for it. Part of the fun of this disc, though, is watching Tony Rayns attempting to describe what's going on "beneath the surface". Technical merits are generally solid, and as usual with Arrow's releases, the supplements are outstanding. With caveats for some viewers noted, Recommended.