8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
One of the most revered martial arts films of all time, this is the story of a young man who joins the Shaolin Temple when the Manchus kill his family.
Starring: Chia-Hui Liu, Lieh Lo, Ming-Wai Chan, John Cheung, Wilson TongForeign | 100% |
Martial arts | 48% |
Drama | 10% |
Period | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
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 | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: This version of 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 36th Chamber 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.There's little doubt this easily trumps the presentation of the Dragon Dynasty Blu-ray, and a even a cursory comparison of screenshots I uploaded to each review should reveal this transfer's strengths in both saturation and detail levels. This presentation is noticeably darker than the Dragon Dynasty offering (which frankly now looks artificially brightened by comparison), which actually may tend to mask grain a bit more. The palette is nicely suffused and detail levels are typically excellent, especially in close-ups in more brightly lit moments. This has some of the anamorphic oddities that are noticeable throughout this set, with some significant squeezing toward the edges of the frame. This was actually a 4K scan according to my sources at Arrow, the only 4K scan in this set, and that makes me wonder if this film is due for a future 4K UHD release from Arrow. My score is 4.25.
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.
One of the kind of fun things for those who pay attention to picayune things like how audio options are listed is seeing whether Mandarin or Cantonese gets the top spot in the films in this set which offer both dialects. This film offers Mandarin first, then Cantonese and finally English, all delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. While some of the films do show at least some discernable differences between the various languages, and in a couple of cases more than merely "some" differences, I really didn't notice any huge variations in either amplitude or general mixes as I toggled between the three tracks. All have the veritable "loose synch" at times, and all three can reveal somewhat boxy sounding dialogue and sound effects, as well as occasionally strident highs which are in fact a kind of recurring feature on many of the soundtracks of the films included in the second Shawscope volume. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.
- HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) (HD*; 3:54)
- HK Theatrical Trailer (English) (HD; 3:54)
- US TV Spot ( HD; 00:32)
- German Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:36)
- Digital Reissue Trailer (HD*; 1:08)
Shawscope Volume Two gets off to a fantastic start with The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. This Arrow release trumps the Dragon Dynasty release in technical merits, and the supplements included with this version are also very enjoyable. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Tang shan wu hu / 唐山五虎
1979
The Five Venoms / 五毒 / Wu du
1978
Feng hou / 瘋猴
1979
少林搭棚大師 / Shao Lin da peng da shi
1980
Pi li shi jie / 霹靂十傑
1985
Nan bei Shao Lin / 南北少林
1986
Nan Shao Lin yu bei Shao Lin / 南少林與北少林
1978
Jin bi tong / 金臂童
1979
Chi jiao xiao zi / Chik geuk siu ji / 赤腳小子
1993
Lie mo zhe / 獵魔者
1982
Guang Dong shi hu yu hou wu hu / 廣東十虎與後五虎
1980
Mai ming xiao zi / 賣命小子
1979
Zhang bei / 長輩
1981
Five Fingers of Death / Tian xia di yi quan
1972
龍門客棧 / Long men kezhan
1967
1984
Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms
1978
The Executioners of Death / Hong Xi Guan
1977
Su Qi-Er
2010
俠女 / Xia nü
1971