The 14 Amazons Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The 14 Amazons 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

The Generals of the Yang Family is a celebrated collection of Chinese tales that were actually kind of "multimedia" before multimedia was even a thing, being offered throughout literally centuries as everything from lore and legend, to, later, plays, operas, and then of course films and television properties. Some of the "liner notes" included in Arrow's immense insert booklet accompanying this latest volume of Shawscope offerings in fact points interested viewers to The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter for another take on elements of the source stories. That might actually be a bit of "product placement", so to speak, since that particular film was put out on Blu-ray by Arrow, but I also reviewed Legendary Amazons, which was released by Well Go USA, but which is a more or less remake of this very film, which all goes to say the legacy and influence of those source stories evidently continues to resonate in Asian cultures rather significantly to this day.

The ostensible "difference" between this Shaw Brothers outings and innumerable other historical epics from the venerable studio would supposedly be its focus on female warriors, though of course lovers of Shaw Brothers productions can probably point to many examples of at least lone women fighters who populate any number of films. That said, as even the accompanying notes to the film suggest, there's really no nascent "feminism" on tap here, and instead the emphasis is on an almost fanatical loyalty to country, here repeatedly under threat from various interlopers. That emphasis on women at least gives wonderful (and at times just slightly scenery chewing) opportunities for a glut of female performers, including Lisa Lu Yan, Ivy Ling Po and Lily Ho Li-Li. The production boasts an impressively large cast, and equally epic production design elements, and manages to work in the requisite number of high energy combat scenes into what is admittedly a pretty trite revenge scenario.

The 14 Amazons Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 14 Amazons is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. 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.

This is another largely very pleasing looking transfer, though the palette actually looks rather bland for the first half hour or so, with a production design that intentionally tends to emphasis a lot of neutrals in the beige tone range. And in actuality it's probably arguable that the palette doesn't really start to pop with considerable authority until around the 50 minute mark, in one of several outdoor sequences. All of this said, even in the early going, when the frame is almost completely filled with wan hues, pops of red in ceremonial flags can be quite vibrant. I found flesh tones to be a bit too pink for my personal liking throughout much of the presentation. Detail levels are typically excellent, providing precise renderings of some of the elegantly designed costumes in particular. There are once again some anamorphic oddities, including some brief examples of what I've called "parallelogram syndrome", where the rectangle of the frame looks like its been "bent" in that other geometrical shape. Very minor signs of age related wear and tear can be spotted. Grain occasionally can be just a bit variant, but on the whole resolves very nicely .

The 14 Amazons Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 14 Amazons features LPCM Mono options in either Mandarin or English. While I tend to be an "original language" proponent, in this case, I actually preferred the English language version. It's louder and more full bodied and doesn't have the same slight distortion that can attend the Mandarin track. That said, both tracks offer generally problem free fidelity and good representations of both fight sound effects and ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The 14 Amazons Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Jonathan Clements


• Interview with Sharon Yeung (HD; 12:40) is a 2004 piece by Frederic Ambroisine. Subtitled in English.


• Interview with Bede Cheng (HD; 10:34) is a 2005 piece by Frederic Ambroisine. Subtitled in English.


• Interview with Law Kar (HD; 16:04) is a 2005 piece by Frederic Ambroisine. Subtitled in English.


• Theatrical Trailers

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #1) (HD; 3:30)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin #2) (HD; 4:03)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer (English) (HD; 3:30)

The 14 Amazons Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The 14 Amazons may frankly disappoint some wanting a more powerful representation of women warriors, but it's still an action packed revenge saga that offers some really fun performances and some elegant production design flourishes. Technical merits are generally solid and the commentary and interviews are all interesting. Recommended.