Many of us love Kung-Fu movies, and if you’re like me you have a particular affinity for the infamous Shaw Brothers Studios. Unfortunately, for years the picture quality of these movies was terrible. This is because SB never released or licensed their films for home viewing- NO officially released VHS, Laserdisc or DVD ever. Until recently.
Around 2004 a film company out of Singapore named Celestial Pictures bought the entire back catalog of SB and began re-mastering the bulk of them. Not limited to the Kung-Fu and swordplay films so many of us love, but also the opera, romance, horror and drama produced by SB. Celestial painstakingly restored 760 films for DVD release with many now available. Here are some notes on finding and buying the right ones.
the (re)masters have arrived
At $10-$18 a pop it is well worth with the extra couple bucks.
760? which ones to get?
English Language: If you’re like me you, like your old school flicks replete with English dubs- it’s part of the charm. Also, it should be noted that none of the Chinese films of this era were filmed with audio, everything was done post-sync, hence the cheesy sound effects. As such, there is no such thing as “original Chinese soundtrack,” even the Chinese was a dub, so I prefer the English since that’s how I came to know the films. This is a fairly complete list of those currently available formatted for Region 1 (US) players, with English language soundtracks.
For the uninitiated, here are a few of my favorites in no particular order. Most SB movies have two names- the original and the one US theater owners and bootleggers made up to sell them to US audiences. Where applicable I have put the second, US title in parenthesis:
36th Chamber of Shaolin (Master Killer), King Boxer (5 Fingers of Death), Invincible Pole Fighter (8 Diagram Pole Fighter), Legendary Weapons of China, Heroes of the East (Shaolin Challenges Ninja), 5 Deadly Venoms, Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms (Mortal Combat, Crippled Avengers), Dirty Ho, Mad Monkey Kung-Fu, 5 Element Ninjas (Chinese Super Ninjas), Abbot of Shaolin (Slice of Death), Clan of the White Lotus (Fist of the White Lotus), Martial Club (Instructors of Death), Treasure Hunters (Master of Disaster), The Chinatown Kid, The One Armed Swordsman, Come Drink with Me
There are tons more, many of which I’ve never seen…explore! There are also plenty from other companies such as Tai Seng, Seasonal and Golden Harvest that are yet to see the light of re-mastery, so for now it’s bootlegs. Look for: Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, the Mystery of Chessboxing, Leg Fighters, Born Invincible, 36 Deadly Strikes, Guards of Shaolin and Dreadnaught.
some useful links:
http://www.hkflix.com/home.asp
HK Flix is probably the best stocked site available, plus, no tax and if you spend $50 you get free shipping. As well, they have detailed information on their movies and good reviews and summaries. At the least it’s a good place to find out what’s available.
Otherwise, ebay works great- plenty of stores selling brand new region free DVDs there for good prices.
www.celestialpictures.com
Celestial Picture’s own site where you can read about the history of SB, look up star bios or download the entire catalog
http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8
A useful forum site if you wanna really nerd it out and discuss online. Lots of helpful info
http://www.shaw-brothers-reloaded.com/
A German based website with tons of info and collectible items/posters/etc. from SB
www.youtube.com
When it doubt, check YouTube- there’s plenty of fight scenes from movies as well as random documentaries and behind the scenes footage
the (re)masters have arrived
Several companies have bought distributor rights to the movies- producing and selling official SB DVDs. Unfortunately, most US stores still stock bootleg DVDs and most American viewers aren’t even aware of the availability of the re-masters. All the DVDs that have a true re-mastering have the Celestial Pictures emblem (pictured above) somewhere on the box.
I strongly urge you to stop buying bootlegs. I personally owned about 75 bootleg VHSs back when that was all there was, but now real companies are putting out real editions. There are two principle reasons you should buy the real thing:
- Support this effort: SB movies are the forgotten treasure of international cinema. Often disregarded as fluff, we need to encourage those companies that are putting SB on the market for the first time to help ensure their place in cinematic history. Unfortunately some titles have already gone out of print.
- They are so much better: It is incredible how much better the picture quality of these films is; it really is like watching a whole new movie. Aside from being many times sharper, they are the original letterbox including the whole picture (and hence all the action) that bootlegs miss out on. Finally, most of the re-masters have extras such as behind the scenes footage, interviews, trailers and alternate endings that are very illuminating.
At $10-$18 a pop it is well worth with the extra couple bucks.
760? which ones to get?
English Language: If you’re like me you, like your old school flicks replete with English dubs- it’s part of the charm. Also, it should be noted that none of the Chinese films of this era were filmed with audio, everything was done post-sync, hence the cheesy sound effects. As such, there is no such thing as “original Chinese soundtrack,” even the Chinese was a dub, so I prefer the English since that’s how I came to know the films. This is a fairly complete list of those currently available formatted for Region 1 (US) players, with English language soundtracks.
For the uninitiated, here are a few of my favorites in no particular order. Most SB movies have two names- the original and the one US theater owners and bootleggers made up to sell them to US audiences. Where applicable I have put the second, US title in parenthesis:
36th Chamber of Shaolin (Master Killer), King Boxer (5 Fingers of Death), Invincible Pole Fighter (8 Diagram Pole Fighter), Legendary Weapons of China, Heroes of the East (Shaolin Challenges Ninja), 5 Deadly Venoms, Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms (Mortal Combat, Crippled Avengers), Dirty Ho, Mad Monkey Kung-Fu, 5 Element Ninjas (Chinese Super Ninjas), Abbot of Shaolin (Slice of Death), Clan of the White Lotus (Fist of the White Lotus), Martial Club (Instructors of Death), Treasure Hunters (Master of Disaster), The Chinatown Kid, The One Armed Swordsman, Come Drink with Me
There are tons more, many of which I’ve never seen…explore! There are also plenty from other companies such as Tai Seng, Seasonal and Golden Harvest that are yet to see the light of re-mastery, so for now it’s bootlegs. Look for: Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, the Mystery of Chessboxing, Leg Fighters, Born Invincible, 36 Deadly Strikes, Guards of Shaolin and Dreadnaught.
some useful links:
http://www.hkflix.com/home.asp
HK Flix is probably the best stocked site available, plus, no tax and if you spend $50 you get free shipping. As well, they have detailed information on their movies and good reviews and summaries. At the least it’s a good place to find out what’s available.
Otherwise, ebay works great- plenty of stores selling brand new region free DVDs there for good prices.
www.celestialpictures.com
Celestial Picture’s own site where you can read about the history of SB, look up star bios or download the entire catalog
http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8
A useful forum site if you wanna really nerd it out and discuss online. Lots of helpful info
http://www.shaw-brothers-reloaded.com/
A German based website with tons of info and collectible items/posters/etc. from SB
www.youtube.com
When it doubt, check YouTube- there’s plenty of fight scenes from movies as well as random documentaries and behind the scenes footage
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