Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 22, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow's Shawscope Volume Three set.

It's maybe not even that much of a joke to state that lately it has felt like there's a new Blu-ray release of a venerable Shaw Brothers film coming out every week, and in fact there have been some weeks where my own review queue has had more than one Blu-ray release of a Shaw Brothers film in any given seven day period. That said, and even granting a two title per week release schedule, it would take literally years, and arguably maybe even a decade or more, for labels to get around to releasing the entire Shaw Brothers output. In that regard, then, this massive newest volume in Arrow's evidently ongoing Shawscope series may be thought of as something of a "shortcut", at least in terms of offering a veritable gaggle of films, even if wending your way through this gargantuan enterprise will hardly seem short in any way, shape or form, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Once again, as with the first two volumes in this series, Arrow has aggregated both better known and lesser known films, delivered with typically solid technical merits and some very appealing supplements. This set has been packaged to be a shelf mate with its two "siblings" (for more information on the packaging, see the supplements section in the main Shawscope Volume Three Blu-ray review).

For "rabid completists" interested in what's already been released by Arrow in the Shawscope department, the following review links may be of some assistance:

Shawscope Volume One Blu-ray review

Shawscope Volume Two Blu-ray review

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan was more than a bit controversial in its day, and while its explicit sexuality was no doubt part and parcel of that reaction, some viewers may have been responding to what they considered some bait and switch tactics, even if that "find and replace" strategy ended up delivering an overheated melodrama featuring lots of perversion and libidinous activities. That's because Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan perhaps rather slyly masquerades as a veritable "whodunit", which then allows a whole host of florid dramatics to suffuse a tale of a young woman named Ainu (Lili Ho Li-Li) who is forced into a life of prostitution and subservience to both males and at least one female who maraud through the story.

If a perhaps now almost quaint seeming lesbian angle involving Ainu's employer madam Lady Chung (Betty Pei-ti) may have raised the most eyebrows back in the days of the film's original theatrical exhibition, it may be in some of the actual activities either alluded to or outright displayed that some may still find provocative. That includes a scene that might be jokingly thought of as this film's "hold my beer (and/or sake)" response to the infamous butter scene in Last Tango in Paris .

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. Arrow's almost overwhelming insert booklet lumps all the films together on its informational page about the transfers, as follows:

All fourteen films in this boxset are presented in their original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, with their original Mandarin plus Cantonese and/or English (where applicable) monaural soundtracks. Every effort has been made to present these films in their original and complete versions using the best materials available.

One-Armed Swordsman was restored in 4K resolution by Celestial Pictures and L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2020. Additional grading was completed at R3store Studios, London in 2024.

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, The New One-Armed Swordsman, The Lady Hermit, Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, The 14 Amazons, The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger, The Sentimental Swordsman, The Avenging Eagle, Killer Constable, Buddha's Palm and Bastard Swordsman have all been newly restored by Arrow Films in 2024, 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. Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, The New One-Armed Swordsman, Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, The 14 Amazons, The Avenging Eagle, Killer Constable and Buddha's Palm were graded at R3store Studios, Lady Hermit, The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger, The Sentimental Swordsman and Bastard Swordsman were graded at Dragon DI, Wales. These restorations have used the entire film negative without resorting to the practice of "framecutting" 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 seem loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue and sound effects were recorded entirely during post-production, as per the production standards of the period.

All original materials supplied for these restorations were made available from the Hong Kong Film Archive via Celestial Pictures. The additional sequences in the uncensored version of Clans of Intrigue were sourced from a 35mm print held by Celestial Pictures. For the presentation of the alternate South Korean cut of Killer Constable, efforts were made to access original film materials for this version held at the Korean Film Archive, but this was not possible. A Korean VHS copy was used as a guide to reconstruct this cut in high definition, using the new 2K restoration of the original Hong Kong version for the bulk of the film and standard-definition inserts for the audio and unique footage. The original trailers were restored by Arrow Films from the original 35mm materials held at the Hong Kong Film Archive.

The production values of this film are particularly lush, and the good news is by and large this transfer preserves some commendable fine detail levels on costumes and props in particular, but also a generally well suffused palette, one that has some especially evocative pastel hues in various pink tones. This is another transfer that nonetheless can show pretty wide variances in grain thickness and resolution, and there are also several admittedly passing but still observable moments where image quality just generally degrades. As with many of the transfers in this collection, various anamorphic oddities can be spotted, not necessarily relegated to the edges of the frame. Some of the roughest looking material is in the kind of strangely graded pre- credits sequence, which might be jokingly referred to as being in green and white, since it almost resembles an old school tinted silent. Things burst into full color splendor after the credits.

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Intimate Confessions of Chinese Courtesan features LPCM Mono tracks in either Mandarin or English. There really isn't a whale of a lot of difference between these two in terms of overall mix and amplitude, though at times, especially during some of the moments featuring underscore, I might argue the Mandarin track has a slight edge in midrange. That said, I could detect just the faintest hint of distortion in some of those same moments in the Mandarin track at the very upper registers. These are pretty minor quibbles, and both tracks provide good fidelity and no major issues. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Arrow provides even more supplements tied to this feature on their Bonus Disc included with this set. See the main Shawscope Volume Three Blu-ray review for details.

• Commentaries

  Commentary by Tony Rayns

  
  

  Commentary by Samm Deighan

• Alternate English Credits (HD; 2:00)


• Theatrical Trailers

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) (HD; 3:21)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer (English) (HD; 3:21)

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jaded contemporary sensibilities may find at least some of what transpires in Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan to almost comically melodramatic, which is not to suggest in any way that the manifold tragedies that befall Ainu are in any real way funny. But what was downright shocking in 1972 may obviously not create the same umbrage in 2024. Still, the film has some genuinely stunning production values, and the performances, while sometimes playing to the veritable second balcony, are engaging. Technical merits are generally solid and the two commentaries on this disc especially interesting. Recommended.