The Pirate Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Pirate Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 24, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Horrible History: Four Historical Epics by Chang Cheh collection from Eureka! Entertainment.

The back panel of the slipcover offered with this release states that Chang Cheh is "often described as the 'Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema',” and anyone who has seen any of the nearly hundred films Chang Cheh made during his long and storied career with the venerable Shaw Brothers would most likely be prone to agree. Chang's Shaw Brothers filmography is perhaps unexpectedly varied, at least given the renown his wuxia and general martial arts outings have achieved. Those include such well remembered opuses as The One-Armed Swordsman and The Five Venoms among scores of others (many of which are out in rather resplendent looking high definition transfers courtesy of a number of labels, including Arrow). This collection aggregates four of his so-called "historical epics", and rather interestingly two of the films in this set have at least one Hollywood (or perhaps more strictly accurately American) counterpart. Chang's Marco Polo can therefore be compared to a number of big screen efforts, including The Adventures of Marco Polo, Marco Polo and perhaps just slightly hilariously Marco (if you're unaware of this last one and have a taste for really bad musicals, check it out). Boxer Rebellion follows in a rather interesting tradition of depicting this epochal showdown in the annals of Chinese film (this fascinating article I found online in doing background research for purposes of writing this review suggests the Boxer Rebellion actually more or less gave birth to martial arts films), but might remind some trivia fans of the now largely forgotten Samuel Bronston production 55 Days at Peking. The title of The Pirate may unavoidably recall the Judy Garland film bearing the same name, with the last of the quartet, Four Riders , perhaps being the outlier, at least in terms of familiarity of plot machinations and recycled titles. That said, Four Riders is also distinctly different in terms of presenting a somewhat more contemporary story that may not seem quite as "historical" (at least in terms of how recent the era depicted is) than the rest of the films in this collection.

Chances are very few Westerners have probably ever heard of Cheung Po Tsai (Ti Lung), a real life pirate who was active in the 19th century. The historical accuracy of this depiction may be as questionable as that in Marco Polo, but the relative lack of knowledge in the West about Cheung Po Tsai may actually redound the this film's benefit, since my hunch is virtually no one will know or in fact care if this isn't "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth". The film posits Cheung Po Tsai as a virtual latter day Robin Hood, warring with "official" powers and attempting to aid those in need. The film offers some great action sequences both on land and at sea.

The Pirate Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Pirate is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.36:1. As usual with their releases, Eureka really doesn't provide any meaningful technical information aside from their arguably unnecessary "viewing notes" and calibration advice, but I'm assuming all of the transfers in this set are the result of the well publicized restoration efforts of Shaw Brothers material by Celestial. While there are occasional moments of either a wonky lens or actual trouble with focus pulling, leading to some slight blurriness at times, this is another great looking transfer, and I'd probably argue it has some of the most luscious palette hues of any of the films in the Eureka collection. The sea material is especially bracing, with some gorgeous aquamarine to teal coloring in the water. Detail levels fare best when the camera is stationary and close-ups are employed. Grain resolves without any issues.

The Pirate Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Pirate features a nicely boisterous LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original Mandarin. Explosive elements like the cannons that are fired from ships reverberate with good force, if as tends to be the case with this vintage of Chinese soundtrack things can sound just slightly boxy at times. Dubbing leads to more "loose sync", but that said, all dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Pirate Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Eureka has packaged Marco Polo and The Pirate together on one disc, with the following supplements:

• Audio Commentary on Marco Polo by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema


• Audio Commentary on The Pirate by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth


• History Making (HD; 21:14) is an interesting visual essay by Jonathan Clements looking at Chang Cheh's work in the seventies.

The Pirate Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The relatively unusual setting and historical milieu of The Pirate may make it one of the more interesting films in Eureka's set. The transfer boasts some really beautiful saturation and appealing detail levels, with secure audio and enjoyable supplements. Recommended.