Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

The Magic Blade 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 Magic Blade may fall into what might be thought of as the "comfort food category" of the Shaw Brothers output: it's a film with frankly nary a surprise to offer, but it's often fast paced and provides enough action set pieces to probably satisfy those who also frankly probably come to a Shaw Brothers film for those fight scenes as much as any desire to get wrapped up in an overly convoluted plot. Fu Hongxue (Ti Lung) and Yan Nanfei (Lo Lieh) are the two best swordsmen going, with Fu being the ultimate champion, but one who has shown a certain "winner's grace" toward Yan. These two would be competitors ultimately find out they may have a common enemy in the form of a mysterious villain named Gong Ziyu. Suffice it to say that after manifold attacks and rescues, all is of course not as it seems with regard to this ostensible bad guy, which kind of hilariously then "returns to our story" of Fu and Yan as combatants.

This is a film that is arguably too stuffed full of needless sidebar characters and plot tangents, all as it careens toward an admittedly kind of fun "reveal" at the end that suddenly puts things in a new perspective. The film has a number of well staged action scenes, as befits its champion swordsmen focal characters, and it also benefits from an generally nice looking production design, and some of the wackier "magical" elements like the titular madly spinning sword can be engaging, but like a lot of "comfort food", while there is probably more than enough flavor here to satisfy, actual nourishment in the form of lasting impact may be a bit harder to find.

The Magic Blade Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Magic Blade 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.

The Magic Blade has an especially engaging palette which is noticeable pretty much from the get go, and some of the more bright tones in the red to purple ranges pop very vividly throughout the presentation. There are some other passing moments, though, where things can look a bit on the brown and dowdy side, with less fulsome suffusion. Detail levels are typically very good to excellent throughout, and as mentioned above, one of the film's strengths is its nicely appointed production design, with fine detail sets and costumes looking generally precise. The film has both a number of rather dark moments along with some old school composited effects, and grain can look a bit on the mottled side during some of these moments. My score is 3.75.

The Magic Blade Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Magic Blade features LPCM Mono tracks in either Mandarin or English. In this particular case, I could not discern much if any difference between the two. Both offer generally great if "era specific" boxy sounding accounts of things like the energetic brass cues in the score or some of the ambient environmental effects like the whistling winds in the film's opening moments. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Magic Blade Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Arrow provides even more supplements tied to this feature on their Bonus Disc included with this set. See the main Shawscope Volume Three Blu-ray review for details.

• Commentary by Samm Deighan


• Theatrical Trailers

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) (HD; 3:57)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer (English) (HD; 3:57)

The Magic Blade Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Magic Blade is never less than entertaining, but it simply doesn't have much "new" to offer despite a setup that would seem to promise an almost supernatural ambience. Technical merits are generally solid, and the commentary track a worthwhile listen, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.