The Bare-Footed Kid Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Bare-Footed Kid 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.

My review queue has been beyond full with martial arts offerings for the past couple of years, not just because of releases like Shawscope Volume One and this new second volume, but a series of releases by the new(ish) US branch of 88 Films. One of the 88 Films offerings I reviewed last year was Disciples of Shaolin, and as the liner notes for the film state, The Bare-Footed Kid is for all intents and purposes a remake of the 1975 film. Once again, there's a wide eyed naif named Guan (Aaron Kwok) who finds himself in the middle of a war between textile factories. One is run by Miss Huo (Maggie Cheung), while the other is under the martinet thumb of Ke-hu-pu (Kenneth Tsang), and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where Guan's sentiments reside, though kind of interestingly the story ultimately provides its "romantic angle" in a way not involving Guan.

This is a film that may not in fact be a "real" Shaw Brothers production, as is discussed in some of the film notes included in the insert booklet, but as Simon Abrams mentions, it has earned an identity as an "honorary Shaw Brothers" film. It hits many of the same points of some of the best remembered "classic" Shaw Brothers films, including an emphasis on honor (even to the point of self sacrifice), and it manages to combine a somewhat goofy comedic ambience with some rather touching emotion as the story wends its way to a bittersweet conclusion. Kwok was at the height of his pop stardom when this film was made, but he acquits himself extremely well in a kind of thankless role as a rube who may or may not have "a particular set of skills".

The Bare-Footed Kid Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Bare-Footed Kid is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.87:1. 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.

Along with its disc mate Martial Arts of Shaolin, The Bare-Footed Kid is probably one of the better looking "pre-existing" masters that Celestial Pictures provided to Arrow for this set. Once again a beautifully vivid palette is a strong point, and some of the warmer tones in particular in this presentation pop with considerable energy. There's a very slight tendency toward orangish hues that can slightly affect flesh tones at times, but this is an intermittent issue. Detail levels on costumes and props is typically excellent, and this presentation has some of the most consistent clarity, with few if any of the focus issues that sometimes beset the earlier films in this set. Grain resolves naturally.

The Bare-Footed Kid Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with many of the other films in this second Shawscope volume, The Bare-Footed Kid features Cantonese, Mandarin and English language options, all delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. Once again my ears discerned no really huge differences between the three tracks, though the Mandarin track may have just a tad more energy in the midrange and low end, discernable in some of the music with electric bass. As has been the case with many of the soundtracks on the films in this set, the high end can sound a little brash, as in the Shaw Brothers masthead music. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Bare-Footed Kid 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 Frank Djeng


• Tony Rayns on The Bare-Footed Kid (HD; 16:28) is another fun history lesson with Rayns, done in 2022.


• Alternate Opening Credits (HD*; 3:11)


• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer (HD*; 3:39) **DISC FREEZE**

  
  

  UK VHS Promo (HD*; 2:06)

  
  

  Digital Reissue Trailer (HD*; 1:12)

• Image Gallery (HD)

*720

The Bare-Footed Kid Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This film might serve as a good trivia stumper for "when is a Shaw Brothers film not a Shaw Brothers film", or perhaps just as accurately, "when is a film that is not a Shaw Brothers film a Shaw Brothers film". As Simon Abrams mentions in his film notes, this is an homage of sorts to what made the classic era of the Shaw Brothers so appealing, and if there are unavoidable repetitions here stemming at least in part from the fact that this is a remake, there's a more contemporary feeling to the presentation here that is quite interesting and even captivating. Technical merits are generally solid and the Rayns featurette is especially well done. Recommended.