Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Avenging Eagle 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

I've joked for years that love of musicals must skip a generation, as evidenced by the fact that a long time ago in a galaxy far away I attempted to get my then young sons to watch Oliver!, only to have them run screaming from the room before the second "food" of Food, Glorious Food. They may well have preferred this tale of a band of orphans taken in by a criminally minded type, since The Avenging Eagle substitutes a lot of action in the place of songs and dances, while presenting a maybe surprisingly similar underlying tale of (in this case) an adult orphan named Qi Mingxing AKA Black Eagle (Ti Lung), raised by this tale's version of Fagin, Yue Xihong (Ku Feng), to be a part of a criminal gang called the Iron Boat Clan. Now all of the foregoing is hopefully obviously said with tongue planted firmly in cheek, but kind of interestingly all of the above information is actually imparted kind of disjunctively, after an introduction that sees Qi Mingxing rescue another figher named Zhuo Yifan (Alexander Fu Sheng).

Unsurprisingly, the backstories of these two characters end up having tethers, though it takes a while to "get there", narratively speaking. Some elements of this film are decidedly "standard" in a way, including a variety of weapons and/or techniques given to each of Qi Mingxing's potential combatants (all of whom are also "Eagles", other orphans recruited by Yue Xihong for a life of crime). But there's an appealingly wending if maybe slightly over convoluted story that manages to deliver both regular action elements and a few unexpected twists and turns before a kind of bittersweet wrap up. While Ti Lung is once again front and center and typically compelling, as the quasi-liner notes in Arrow's insert booklet mention, this film may be of equal interest for a nice showcase role for Alexander Fu Sheng.

The Avenging Eagle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Avenging Eagle 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 a great looking transfer for the most part, one that benefits from some actual, honest to goodness, outdoor location work, as in the kind of comically hyperbolic opening vignette in the "desert" where Qi Mingxing rescues a parched Yue Xihong with a handy dandy canteen of water. A lot of the outdoor material in particular pops incredibly well, and detail levels are generally excellent, especially in midrange and close-up framings. There can be slight downgrades in clarity and an increase in the roughness of grain at times (in fact, the very next scene after the introduction is a good example), but on the whole the palette is really nicely vibrant and suffused, grain is tightly resolved, and detail levels remain nicely intact. This is yet another presentation that can display passing anamorphic oddities.

The Avenging Eagle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unlike many of the films in the third volume of Shawscope offerings, The Avening Eagle features three rather than two audio options, with LPCM Mono tracks in either Cantonese, Mandarin or English. I'd rate the Cantonese as overall strongest, though there isn't as much difference between the Mandarin and Cantonese as there is between those two and a rather thin and tinny sounding English track. The differences between the two Chinese tracks can be less discernable, to my ears the Cantonese is just slightly louder and more full bodied in the midrange. It sure sounded to me in toggling between the tracks that some of the foley effects were different. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Avenging Eagle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Frank Djeng


• Alternate English Credits (HD; 2:30)


• Theatrical Trailers

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Cantonese) (HD; 3:46)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer (English #1) (HD; 3:46)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer (English #2) (HD; 3:53)

The Avenging Eagle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Avenging Eagle is both predictable and surprising at various moments, as odd as that may sound, but it's hugely engaging as the interwoven stories become clearer. This has one of the more pleasing transfers in the set to my eyes, with decent audio and yet another mile a minute commentary from Frank Djeng. Recommended.