Shawscope: Volume Three
Details by Film
Before Hong Kong's mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion.
The iconic One-Armed Swordsman trilogy, directed between 1967 and 1971 by wuxia cinema godfather Chang Cheh, made household names of stars Wang Yu and David Chiang and set the gory template for many of the films to come. Contrary to Chang's tales of loyal brotherhood, many wuxia films focused on female protagonists, three very different examples of which we see next: Ho Meng-hua's The Lady Hermit, with the great Cheng Pei-pei (Come Drink with Me) as a virtuous swordswoman called upon to stop a vicious warlord; Chor Yuen's scandalous Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan in which the titular lady of the night masters every deadly skill she can to get revenge on those who enslaved her; and Cheng Kang's all-star epic The 14 Amazons, in which Shaws' finest starlets play the real-life women of the Yang dynasty, avenging their fallen menfolk in battle.
Next, Chor Yuen adapted several beloved novels by consummate wuxia storyteller Gu Long to the big screen, four of which are collected here: The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger and The Sentimental Swordsman, all starring the redoubtable Ti Lung. As kung fu overtook wuxia at the box office, the genre evolved into unexpected new
Technical Specifications
Supplements
- Illustrated 60-page collectors' booklet featuring new writing by David West, Jonathan Clements and Dylan Cheung, plus cast and crew listings and notes on each film by Ian Jane
- Exclusive CD of music from the De Wolfe Music Library as heard in several Shaw Brothers classics
- Brand new commentary for One-Armed Swordsman by David West, author of Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film
- Newly filmed appreciation of the One-Armed Swordsman series by film critic and historian Tony Rayns
- Interview with actor Wang Yu, filmed in 2001
- Interview with actor Chiao Chiao, filmed in 2005
- Interview with actor Ku Feng, filmed in 2004
- Appreciation of director Chang Cheh's work by film historian Sam Ho, filmed in 2003
- Interview with Daniel Lee, director of the remake What Price Survival, filmed in 2004
- One-Armed Side Hustles, a brand new video essay by Brandon Bentley on Wang Yu's career playing amputee protagonists
- Theatrical trailers for One-Armed Swordsman
- Trailers for other films by Chang Cheh
- Brand new commentary on Return of the One-Armed Swordsman by critic Samm Deighan
- Brand new commentary on The New One-Armed Swordsman by martial arts cinema expert Brian Bankston
- Theatrical trailers for Return of the One-Armed Swordsman
- Theatrical trailers for New One-Armed Swordsman
- Brand new commentary on The Lady Hermit by critic James Mudge
- Brand new commentary for Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan by critic and historian Tony Rayns
- Brand new commentary for Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan by critic Samm Deighan
- Alternate English export credits for Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan
- Theatrical trailers for The Lady Hermit
- Theatrical trailers for Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan
- Brand new commentary on The 14 Amazons by Jonathan Clements, author of A Brief History of China
- Interview with stuntwoman Sharon Yeung, filmed in 2004
- Interview with film historian Bede Chang, filmed in 2005
- Interview with film critic Law Kar, filmed in 2005
- Theatrical trailers for The 14 Amazons
- Brand new commentary on The Magic Blade by critic Samm Deighan
- Brand new commentary on Clans of Intrigue by critic James Mudge
- Alternate version of Clans of Intrigue via seamless branching, featuring four extended scenes previously censored for explicit material
- Theatrical trailers for The Magic Blade
- Theatrical trailers for Clans of Intrigue
- Brand new commentary on Jade Tiger by critic Ian Jane
- Brand new commentary on The Sentimental Swordsman by David West, author of Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film
- Theatrical trailers for Jade Tiger
- Theatrical trailers for The Sentimental Swordsman
- Brand new commentary on The Avenging Eagle by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng
- Brand new audio commentary on Killer Constable by film critic and historian Tony Rayns
- Brand new audio commentary on Killer Constable by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng
- Brand new audio commentary on Killer Constable by martial arts cinema expert Brian Bankston
- Additional and alternate scenes from the South Korean version of Killer Constable (in standard-definition)
- Alternate English-language title sequences for both films
- Theatrical trailers for The Avenging Eagle
- Theatrical trailers for Killer Constable
- Brand new commentary on Buddha's Palm by critic and translator Dylan Cheung
- Brand new commentary on Bastard Swordsman by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng
- Alternate English title sequence for Buddha's Palm, as Raiders of the Magic Palm
- Theatrical trailers for Buddha's Palm
- Theatrical trailers for Bastard Swordsman
- High Definition (with standard-definition VHS inserts) presentation of the rare Korean version of Killer Constable with newly-translated English subtitles, featuring over half an hour of exclusive alternate footage never released outside South Korea before
- Newly filmed appreciation of director Chor Yuen by film critic and historian Tony Rayns
- Interview with stuntwoman Sharon Yeung on Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, filmed in 2005
- Appreciation of Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan from 2003 by academic Sze Man-hung, musician Kwan King-chung, and filmmaker Clarence Fok (Naked Killer)
- Interview with actor Ti Lung, recorded in 2004
- Archive interviews with director Chor Yuen, actors Yuen Wah and Li Ching on The Magic Blade
- Appreciation of Chor Yuen's career by film historian Sam Ho, filmed in 2003
- Interview with screenwriter On Sze-to on The Magic Blade, filmed in 2003
- Interview with actor Ku Feng on The Avenging Eagle, filmed in 2004
- Interview with actor Eddy Ko on The Avenging Eagle, filmed in 2004