Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

King Boxer 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.

Enter the Dragon may be the best remembered of the glut of so-called "kung fu" movies that erupted across global movie screens in 1973, but rather interestingly, King Boxer beat the Bruce Lee film to the punch (pun unavoidable) in terms of a release date, and it actually fared almost as well at the box office in several markets as Enter the Dragon did. It's kind of odd, then, that the film seems not to be as generally well recognized and/or remembered as Enter the Dragon, but there may be some understandable reasons for that, not the least of which is the absence of Bruce Lee (who reportedly at least had some contact with the Shaw Brothers before he signed with Golden Harvest, the studio which would give the Shaw Brothers a run for their box office money in the general martial arts genre).

If King Boxer doesn't tread any new territory, it's exciting and involving on its own terms as it follows the adventures of Chi-Hao (Lo Lieh), who, much like Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon, finds himself pitted against all sorts of nefarious enemies, with dueling "schools" providing much of the conflict. As with many martial arts extravaganzas, what initially is a mission of vengeance becomes more complicated, and this film is interesting in that it works in more of a romantic angle (actually angles) that can often be the case.

If Enter the Dragon may be better remembered today, historically at least King Boxer is probably at least as important in terms of how the "kung fu craze" actually swept global cinema. The fight scenes are well staged, and if they don't quite have a Bruce Lee level of visceral athleticism, they're still often very exciting.

King Boxer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

King Boxer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. 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.

Additionally, the kind of "widescreen" DigiBook holding all the discs states that this was sourced from a "brand new 2K restoration by Arrow Films from a 4K scan of the original negative". This is certainly the strongest, most consistent, looking presentation of this film that I've personally seen, with a really beautifully suffused palette virtually the entire way through, and with typically superb detail levels as well. There are some slight variances in color temperature, with flesh tones occasionally skewing toward slightly green territory (something that can be spotted in some of the other transfers in this set as well), but on the whole things look natural and generally speaking things pop extremely well. Grain resolves naturally and whatever restoration gauntlet the element was put through has all but eliminated any signs of age related wear and tear.

King Boxer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

King Boxer features DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mixes in either Mandarin or English. Toggling between the two tracks revealed that the mixes are relatively similar, but to my ears the Mandarin sounded more full bodied, especially in the midrange. There's a bit of stridency in some of the underscore and effects, but dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

King Boxer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by David Desser


• Tony Rayns on King Boxer (HD; 42:56) features the always enjoyable Rayns discussing not just the film, but also some history of the Shaw Brothers studio.


• Interview with Chung Chang-wha (HD; 39:54) stems from 2003 and 2004 interviews conducted by Frédéric Ambroisine. Subtitled in English.


• Interview with Wang Ping (HD; 25:51) stems from a 2007 interview conducted by Frédéric Ambroisine. Subtitled in English.


• Interview with Cho Young-jung (HD; 33:24) stems from a 2005 interview conducted by Frédéric Ambroisine. Subtitled in English.


• Cinema Hong Kong: Kung Fu (HD; 49:36) is the first of a three part documentary on the Shaw Brothers' influence on the kung fu genre. This was produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003. Subtitled in English when needed (voiceover is in English).


• US Opening Credits (HD; 1:26)


• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer 1 (HD; 3:51)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer 2 (HD; 3:24)

  
  

  German Theatrical Trailer 1 (HD; 3:20)

  
  

  German Theatrical Trailer 2 (HD; 3:47)

  
  

  US Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:57)

  
  

  US TV Spot (HD; 00:28)

  
  

  US Radio Spot (HD; 00:55) plays to key art.

  
  

  Digital Reissue Trailer (HD; 1:06)

• 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.

King Boxer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're a martial arts film fan, you've seen a lot of the elements of King Boxer before, so this is not some radically innovative piece of filmmaking. That said, it's kind of relentless in its own way, with a kind of feral aspect that's often quite visceral. Technical merits are generally excellent (especially video), and as usual with Arrow's releases, the supplements are outstanding, for those who may be considering making a purchase.