Killer Constable Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Killer Constable 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

It's perhaps some indication of the regard in which Killer Constable is held that this is the only film in the third volume of Shawscope offerings to have three commentaries. While there are various referents for the film tossed around, including the fact that it's evidently a "kinda sorta remake" of The Invincible Fist, perhaps somewhat hilariously Tony Rayns mentions the influence of none other than Dirty Harry. That "connection" may highlight the fact the focal character Leng Tian-Ying (Chen Kuan-tai) may be prone to breaking the rules and at least figuratively challenging bad guys to make his day.

The narrative here is actually fairly basic and straightforward, with Leng Tianying tasked in his role as the court constable with retrieving some stolen royal gold booty. That sets him out on a quest to first find the thieves and then bring them to justice, all while the perceived chief villain has his own plans to get Tianying out of the way. While not pummeled to the point that he becomes yet another One-Armed Swordsman (so to speak), Leng still is regularly attacked and needs rescuing on more than one occasion. A late "reveal" as to who is behind all the mayhem may not be especially surprising, but it catapults the film into its frenetic climax.

Killer Constable Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Killer Constable 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.

A resplendent palette is once again one of the strong points of this transfer, though there are certainly variances on tap, with, for example, several scenes that can look skewed toward browns, and the opening court scene where flesh tones look a little florid and pink. Another point in this transfer's favor is a generally nicely organic looking grain field, which is immediately apparent against the scrim like white backdrop for the opening credits. This is another effort where a combination of both passing anamorphic oddities and just basic focus pulling can occasionally affect clarity and detail levels, but fine detail on another set of opulently designed costumes and sets can be commendable in well lit scenes. As with several other offerings in this set, this transfer can show some rather pronounced, sudden downturns in image quality, if frankly only for a second or two, as in a brief interstitial wide shot in a court at shortly before the 8 minute mark. Moments like these show not just downgraded clarity, but some distinct color timing changes.

Killer Constable Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Killer Constable features LPCM Mono tracks in either Mandarin or English. In this particular case, the Mandarin is both significantly louder and more full bodied than the English, though as with many of the offerings in this set, despite this being the "official" language, sync can still be noticeably loose. The English track is another pretty tinny and thin sounding option that has a particularly abrasive high end. Optional English subtitles are available.

Killer Constable Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentaries

  Commentary by Tony Rayns

  
  

  Commentary by Frank Djeng

  
  

  Commentary by Brian Bankston

• Added Scenes from Korean Version (HD; 34:15) offers extra footage as a standalone supplement (see the Bonus Disc contents in the main Shawscope Volume Three Blu- ray review for details). This is sourced from a pretty shoddy looking VHS copy, so is high definition in name only.


• Alternate English Credits (HD; 1:40) offer the Lightning Kung Fu title card.


• Theatrical Trailers

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #1) (HD; 3:17)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #2) (HD; 3:21)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer (English) (HD; 3:17)

Killer Constable Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This relatively late Shaw Brothers effort saw the studio attempting to move into what was then the nascent Hong Kong New Wave movement, as some of the commentaries get into, and that alone gives this effort a rather distinctive "flavor" in the entire Shaw Brothers catalog. The three commentaries are a high point of this disc, though I was kind of surprised that considering how venerable Tony Rayns and Frank Djeng are, I think I actually enjoyed the Brian Bankston one the most. Technical merits are generally solid, and Killer Constable comes Recommended.