Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Martial Arts of Shaolin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 22, 2022

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.

The Shaw Brothers were no slouches when it came to marketing, and if this film was produced in the waning days of the studio's "big screen" efforts, it didn't shy away from referencing that all important "Shaolin" that had been part and parcel of several of the studio's biggest hits, either in actual titles or at least in plot mechanics. As Simon Abrams gets into in his film notes included in Arrow's insert booklet, while the "historical" connection may be to entries like The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Martial Artists of Shaolin is more directly related to 1982's Shaolin Temple, which is not to be confused with 1976's Shaolin Temple, which was included in Shawscope Volume One. The 1982 Shaolin Temple starred Jet Li, and he's back in this film, which Abrams argues does feel like a remake of the 1982 opus in several key ways.

Li portrays a hothead named Zhi-ming, who, per longstanding Shaw Brothers tradition, is on a quest for revenge. Of course his lack of impulse control has to ultimately be modulated by Shaolin techniques, and once again there's an interesting aspect of northern and southern fighting styles (and schools) ultimately unifying, in this case under Zhi-ming's leadership. This is an interesting production from a somewhat fraught period in Shaw Brothers' history, and if it frankly doesn't break any new ground, it has a certain stateliness and formal technique that helps to elevate a somewhat hoary narrative.

Martial Arts of Shaolin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Martial Arts of Shaolin 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.

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.

This transfer struck me as one of the stronger from the "pre-existing" masters provided to Arrow by Celestial Films. The palette is beautifully saturated a lot of the time, and this film famously made use of mainland locations, all of which tend to look splendid throughout the story. There's a sense of space and breadth of scope in the production that offers some consistent visual allure that is not always part of some of the Shaw Brothers' more studio bound productions. The glut of wide vistas actually means that many framings in the film tend to be midrange or even wider, which may frankly not always redound to the benefit of fine detail levels, but that context aside, general detail levels are consistently commendable throughout much of the presentation. Grain resolution may have arguably been aided by more real estate for the compressionist on this "double feature" disc, but there is a general tightness to the grain field that gives things a nicely organic appearance.

Martial Arts of Shaolin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Martial Arts of Shaolin features Mandarin, Cantonese and English language options, all delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. As with several other films in this set, I didn't detect any huge differences between the three as I toggled between them during my viewing, but all three again have very bright high ends, and there is just the hint of crackling distortion in some of the louder music cues. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Martial Arts of Shaolin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged Martial Arts of Shaolin and The Bare-Footed Kid 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:

• Commentary by Jonathan Clements


• Tony Rayns on Martial Arts of Shaolin (HD; 29:40) is another informative piece with Rayns, done in 2022.


• Interview with Sze Yeung-ping (HD; 42:15) is another interview conducted by Frederic Ambroisine, this one from 2004. Subtitled in English.


• Unrestored Version (HD*; 1:37:32) is described as being "arguably a truer representation of the film's original cinema release". This offers either Cantonese audio with English subtitles or English audio.


• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer (HD*; 2:57)

  
  

  Japanese Theatrical Trailer (HD*; 1:52)

  
  

  Digital Reissue Trailer (HD*; 1:09)

  
  

  'Shaolin Temple' 1 & 2 Trailers (HD*; 6:58)

• Image Gallery (HD)

*720

Martial Arts of Shaolin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

According to some of the liner notes included with this release, Jet Li wasn't especially thrilled with the Shaw Brothers "machine", but he delivers a viscerally exciting performance here that makes good use of his inherent athleticism. The story is one that has been told countless times before in one version or another, but Lar Kar-leung was such a skilled artisan by this point in his career that he was still able to fashion an often compelling story with more than enough story to bridge the well staged action sequences. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements very appealing. Recommended.