6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The disciples of a temple conspire with a group of rebels to bring down an out of control Warlord.
Starring: Jet Li, Qiuyan Huang, Chenghui Yu, Chunhua Ji, Jiankui SunForeign | 100% |
Martial arts | 38% |
Action | 8% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Mandarin: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
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.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.
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.
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.
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:
- 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)
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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Feng hou / 瘋猴
1979
Zhang bei / 長輩
1981
Tang shan wu hu / 唐山五虎
1979
Nan Shao Lin yu bei Shao Lin / 南少林與北少林
1978
Chi jiao xiao zi / Chik geuk siu ji / 赤腳小子
1993
Pi li shi jie / 霹靂十傑
1985
Lie mo zhe / 獵魔者
1982
Mai ming xiao zi / 賣命小子
1979
Guang Dong shi hu yu hou wu hu / 廣東十虎與後五虎
1980
Jin bi tong / 金臂童
1979
少林搭棚大師 / Shao Lin da peng da shi
1980
Mo / 魔
1983
1978
少林三十六房 / Shao lin san shi liu fang
1978
The Executioners of Death / Hong Xi Guan
1977
Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms
1978
Five Fingers of Death / Tian xia di yi quan
1972
Liu A-Cai yu Huang Fei-Hong
1976
Lan tou He
1979
5 Masters of Death
1974