Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Kid with the Golden Arm 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.

What might be thought of as the "second act" of the second volume of Shawscope is comprised of an aggregation of so-called "Venom Mob" films, starting with this film's disc mate, Invincible Shaolin , but then continuing on with The Magnificent Ruffians and Ten Tigers of Kwangtung , both included on the next disc in this set. Kind of interestingly, though, some online sources state that The Magnificent Ruffians actually predated Kid With the Golden Arm in its theatrical exhibition, though not by very long. That said, while there are some arguable through lines for the Venom Mob films, they each are perfectly accessible as standalone entries, even if some of the overall context might be missing.

There's something kind of strangely a bit "ripped from the headlines" in this story set in long ago China, in that holiday airwaves I've been experiencing as this review is being written have been full of advertisements asking for donations to combat what some of these ads state is the biggest worldwide famine in history. There is in fact famine in this story, and an effort to get some ameliorative funds to the distraught area is the "McGuffin" around which the story revolves. Golden Arm Kid (Lo Meng) is actually one of several "Deadly Valley Fighters" who are obstacles to that goal, and a variety of battles ensue, along with a couple of probably predictable reveals involving supposedly secret identities. Despite the fact that this was just one of a glut of Venom Mob films churned out during this period (the liner notes Arrow provides state there were actually four directed by Chang Cheh in 1979 alone), the film has exciting action sequences and a generally briskly done narrative.

The Kid with the Golden Arm Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Kid With the Golden Arm 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.

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.

Once again as with so many of the transfers in this set the undeniable strength of this presentation is a nicely vivid palette, though I would say in this particular instance while some of the more vivid hues pop extremely well, there may be just the slightest skewing toward brown which may be most noticeable in flesh tones. This transfer looks generally just a bit softer than its disc mate, but detail levels can still be commendable on everything from fabrics on costumes to facial features. For some reason, the anamorphic squeezing I've mentioned in several reviews of the films of this set can be more pronounced at times in this film, and in fact can extend a bit further in toward the center of the frame. Grain generally resolves naturally, though it can attain a bit of a roughhewn appearance in lower light scenes.

The Kid with the Golden Arm Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Kid With the Golden Arm is a bit of an outlier in terms of soundtrack options, as this film offers only Mandarin and English language options, both delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. That said, I didn't notice any gigantic differences between the two tracks as I toggled between them, though the English language track has a somewhat more hollow, reverberant sound in dialogue. One way or the other, dialogue, effects and score are all delivered without any major problems. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Kid with the Golden Arm Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged Invincible Shaolin and The Kid With the Golden Arm 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:

• Interview with Robert Tai (HD; 23:59) is another Frederic Ambroisine piece, this one from 2003, and is accessible under the Special Features menus for both films. Subtitled in English.


• Poison Clan Rocks the World (HD; 26:28) is a new video essay on the Venom Mob by Terrence J. Brady, author of an Alexander Fu Sheng biography. This is also accessible under the Special Features menus for both films.


• Alternate Version (HD; 1:26:18) offers an alternate cut of the fight between Iron Robe and hai Tao which corrects a continuity error inherent to the original release. It's presented here "for posterity via seamless branching". This is available with either a Mandarin track with English subtitles or the English language version.


• Alternate Opening Credits

  Textless Opening Credits (HD; 2:03)

  
  

  English Opening Credits 1 (HD*; 2:13)

  
  

  English Opening Credits 2 (HD*; 1:45)

• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Audio Only) (HD*; 3:22) is actually "married" to at least some video, and comes with a really fascinating prefatory text about the provenance.

  
  

  US TV Spot (HD; 00:49)

  
  

  Digital Reissue Trailer (HD*; 1:21)

• Image Gallery (HD)

*720

The Kid with the Golden Arm Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is another colorful escapade that frankly doesn't break any new narrative ground, but which still offers the requisite bone shattering action sequences within a story that has more of a socioeconomic subtext than might be presumed. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements, especially the video essay, are very enjoyable. Recommended.