Marco Polo Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Marco Polo Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 24, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Horrible History: Four Historical Epics by Chang Cheh collection from Eureka! Entertainment.

The back panel of the slipcover offered with this release states that Chang Cheh is "often described as the 'Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema',” and anyone who has seen any of the nearly hundred films Chang Cheh made during his long and storied career with the venerable Shaw Brothers would most likely be prone to agree. Chang's Shaw Brothers filmography is perhaps unexpectedly varied, at least given the renown his wuxia and general martial arts outings have achieved. Those include such well remembered opuses as The One-Armed Swordsman and The Five Venoms among scores of others (many of which are out in rather resplendent looking high definition transfers courtesy of a number of labels, including Arrow). This collection aggregates four of his so-called "historical epics", and rather interestingly two of the films in this set have at least one Hollywood (or perhaps more strictly accurately American) counterpart. Chang's Marco Polo can therefore be compared to a number of big screen efforts, including The Adventures of Marco Polo, Marco Polo and perhaps just slightly hilariously Marco (if you're unaware of this last one and have a taste for really bad musicals, check it out). Boxer Rebellion follows in a rather interesting tradition of depicting this epochal showdown in the annals of Chinese film (this fascinating article I found online in doing background research for purposes of writing this review suggests the Boxer Rebellion actually more or less gave birth to martial arts films), but might remind some trivia fans of the now largely forgotten Samuel Bronston production 55 Days at Peking. The title of The Pirate may unavoidably recall the Judy Garland film bearing the same name, with the last of the quartet, Four Riders , perhaps being the outlier, at least in terms of familiarity of plot machinations and recycled titles. That said, Four Riders is also distinctly different in terms of presenting a somewhat more contemporary story that may not seem quite as "historical" (at least in terms of how recent the era depicted is) than the rest of the films in this collection.

While Richard Harrison is on hand portraying the titular character, this Marco Polo is probably less of a perceived "biopic" than another entry in what might be called Chang Cheh's "traditional" kung fu filmography. If the ostensible focus is on Marco and his entry into China, the real story here actually involves four fighters caught up in the internecine court intrigue of the day. That at least allows Chang to stage several visceral fight sequences, which is where this film probably achieves its most lasting impact (in more ways than one). As a history lesson, this is pure hogwash, but as a colorful romp with a lot of nicely choreographed action, it's generally very enjoyable. Shaw Brothers regulars Alexander Fu Sheng and Gordon Liu, among others, help to keep things "familiar", at least for fans of the studio.

Marco Polo Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Marco Polo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. As usual with their releases, Eureka really doesn't provide any meaningful technical information aside from their arguably unnecessary "viewing notes" and calibration advice, but I'm assuming all of the transfers in this set are the result of the well publicized restoration efforts of Shaw Brothers material by Celestial. This is a great looking transfer for the most part, with a nicely saturated palette and some appealing detail levels in some relatively opulent sets and costumes. Color timing struck me as just a tad on the yellow side at times, something that can make reds skew slightly toward orange territory. Any age related wear and tear is minimal. Grain resolves naturally throughout.

Marco Polo Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Marco Polo features a nice sounding LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original Mandarin. The dubbing leads to that oft mentioned "loose sync", which can frankly be a little comical at times, but fidelity is fine, if slightly boxy, and both score and effects resonate well throughout. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Marco Polo Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Eureka has packaged Marco Polo and The Pirate together on one disc, with the following supplements:

• Audio Commentary on Marco Polo by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema


• Audio Commentary on The Pirate by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth


• History Making (HD; 21:14) is an interesting visual essay by Jonathan Clements looking at Chang Cheh's work in the seventies.

Marco Polo Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Marco Polo's life and travels may arguably still be awaiting an accurate film version, and this particular outing is certainly not going to win any award for historical authenticity. Still, it is filled to the brim with fun action sequences, and the production values are quite high. Technical merits are solid, and both the commentary and visual essay on this disc are enjoyable. Recommended.