7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Three students and their teacher lose a fight against a martial arts expert. The three students split up to learn new styles so they can come back in 6 months to take revenge for their teacher.
Starring: Hau Chiu-Sing, Austin Wai, Jamie Luk, Hui-Huang Lin, Wan FatForeign | 100% |
Martial arts | 37% |
Action | 10% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Mandarin: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Shawscope Volume Two.
The good news is if you have a martial arts fan you've been worried about finding an appropriate holiday present for, your prayers have been
answered (for
the second year in a row in fact), by the thoughtful folks at Arrow Video, who are returning to the evidently bottomless well that gave lovers of a
certain Hong
Kong studio one of 2021's most impressive releases,
Shawscope Volume One. The bad news is, if you're a martial arts fan intrigued by this new release, you're going to have to
put the rest of your life on hold to make it through not just a glut of Shaw Brothers films, but an immense assortment of supplemental material. As
with the first volume of Shawscope, there's probably no doubt that some films will appeal to some viewers more than others, but the sheer
variety of films in this set, along with an authoritative set of bonus features, will almost certainly make this a marquee item for genre aficionados.
Five Superfighters is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet lumps all the films together on its page devoted to the restorations, as follows:
All fourteen films in this boxset are presented in their original aspect ratios (2.35:1 for all films except 1.85:1 for The Boxer's Omen and The Bare-Footed Kid) 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.This is by and large a very pleasing looking presentation, especially in terms of another at times amazingly vivid palette. Outdoor material offers some gorgeously saturated blue skies and green foliage, and a wealth of opulent costumes all provides all sorts of jewel tones and bright primaries. Some of the studio bound material probably doesn't fare quite as well in terms of overall saturation, and there are also a few passing but noticeable variances in color temperature as at around both the five and twenty minute marks, where things look a bit cooler (some of which can be ascribed to supposed nighttime). Detail levels are generally very good, but there are some ebbs and flows to clarity, some of which may be ascribed to actual focus pulling. As with many of the presentations in this set, there's noticeable anamorphic squeezing at the very edges of the frame, and at times even further in toward the middle of the frame. This presentation offers generally nicely tight grain resolution, but the film has an almost comically long credits sequence and my hunch is all of that material was optically printed whether or not there are actual credits on screen all of the time, and so the opening can look a bit chunky in comparison to the bulk of the presentation. My score is 3.75.
Return to the 36th Chamber, Disciples of the 36th Chamber, My Young Auntie, Martial Arts of Shaolin and The Bare-Footed 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, Cantonese and English mono soundtracks, were supplied to Arrow Films by Celestial Pictures.
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin was restored by Celestial Pictures and L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2020. Additional grading was completed at R3Store Studios, London in 2021.
Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Five Superfighters, Invincible Shaolin, The Kid with the Golden Arm, Magnificent Ruffians, Ten Tigers of Kwangtung, Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen have all been newly restored by Arrow Films in 2021 and 2022, in collaboration with L'Immagine Ritrovata, Hong Kong Film Archive and Celestial Pictures. The original 35mm negatives for these films were scanned at L'Immagine Ritrovata 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.
All original materials supplied for these restorations were made available from the Hong Kong Film Archive via Celestial Pictures.
Excerpts from vintage 35mm feature print elements for Return to the 36th Chamber, Disciples of the 36th Chamber and My Young Auntie and vintage 35mm trailer prints for Disciples of the 36th Chamber, Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen were scanned and graded in 2K resolution at American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and R3Store Studios.
Additional print materials were made available from American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), Harry Guerro, Scott Napier, King-Wei Chu and Howard Zinman.
Five Superfighters offers the same trio of options that many of the films in this second Shawscope volume do, Cantonese, Mandarin and English tracks all delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. This is another film where I frankly didn't hear any huge differences between the three tracks, and all feature more or less identical amplitude and overall mix levels. As with many of the soundtracks in this set, I found the high end to be a little too bright for my liking at times, especially at higher volumes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Arrow has packaged Mad Monkey Kung Fu and Five Superfighters together on one disc. However, after selecting Choose Film on the Main Menu, the Special Features then also change to reflect that choice. This film features the following supplements:
- HK Theatrical Trailer (HD; 3:26)
- UK VHS Promo (HD*; 2:37)
Five Superfighters may have made a structural error in trying to follow a trio of warriors who all set out in different directions and encounter different masters who train them in various techniques. That gives the first half or so of this film a kind of vignette driven feeling which may work against forward momentum. Still, the final showdowns are inventive and fun. Technical merits are generally solid and the interview with Hendrix and Pollgiali very enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Feng hou / 瘋猴
1979
Jin bi tong / 金臂童
1979
Chi jiao xiao zi / Chik geuk siu ji / 赤腳小子
1993
Nan bei Shao Lin / 南北少林
1986
Nan Shao Lin yu bei Shao Lin / 南少林與北少林
1978
Zhang bei / 長輩
1981
Lie mo zhe / 獵魔者
1982
Mai ming xiao zi / 賣命小子
1979
Guang Dong shi hu yu hou wu hu / 廣東十虎與後五虎
1980
Mo / 魔
1983
少林搭棚大師 / Shao Lin da peng da shi
1980
Pi li shi jie / 霹靂十傑
1985
Five Fingers of Death / Tian xia di yi quan
1972
少林三十六房 / Shao lin san shi liu fang
1978
The Executioners of Death / Hong Xi Guan
1977
Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms
1978
The Five Venoms / 五毒 / Wu du
1978
Shǎo lín sì / 少林寺
1976
1978
Liu A-Cai yu Huang Fei-Hong
1976