The encodes both look great and they each deliver a wonderful film texture, the heavier grain resolving beautifully. Black levels come out looking deep and inky and range can be surprisingly wide leading to superb looking shadows. Colours are balanced nicely as well, leaning warm but not excessively so whites still look white. Colours aren’t especially bold for either film but both reds and blues come out looking rich with a couple of red and orange laced (artificial) sunset scenes in each film looking sharp. Both films also come out looking relatively stable, though Mad Monkey does feature some mild pulsing or flickering in a few places along with some fading on the edges of the frame. Each title has received an incredibly thorough restoration that has removed just about all signs of dirt and damage. The notes state the restorations come from scans of the 35mm original negatives.īoth films come out looking solid with Mad Monkey maybe having a slight edge over Superfighters. Their respective 1080p/24hz high-definition presentations are both sourced from new 2K restorations performed by Arrow Films and L’Immagine Ritrovata. The two films share the same dual-layer disc and are each presented in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Last but certainly not least, Lau Kar-leung directs the last major Shaw production, Martial Arts of Shaolin, filmed in mainland China with a hot new talent named Jet Li in the lead role it is paired in this set with The Bare-Footed Kid,ĭisc 3 in Arrow’s second Shawscope set presents the interesting pairing of Lau Kar-leung’s Mad Monkey Kung Fu and Lo Mar’s Five Superfighters. Next, we once again meet Chang Cheh’s basher boy band the Venom Mob in no less than four of their best-loved team-ups: Invincible Shaolin, The Kid with the Golden Arm, Magnificent Ruffians and culminating in the all-star Ten Tigers of Kwangtung, co-starring Ti Lung and Fu Sheng.Īfter Lau brings us perhaps his best high-kicking comedy with My Young Auntie, a playful star vehicle for his real-life muse Kara Hui, we see Shaw Brothers fully embracing Eighties excess in our strangest double feature yet: Wong Jing’s breathtakingly wild shoot-‘em-up Mercenaries from Hong Kong, and Kuei Chih-hung’s spectacularly unhinged black magic meltdown The Boxer’s Omen. Already established as a genius at blending dazzling action with physical comedy, Lau himself plays the lead role in the hilarious Mad Monkey Kung Fu, coupled here with Lo Mar’s underrated Five Superfighters. We begin with kung fu master Lau Kar-leung’s instant classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, in which his adoptive brother Gordon Liu achieved overnight stardom as the young man who unexpectedly finds spiritual enlightenment on the path to vengeance Lau and Liu followed the original with two comically inventive sequels, Return to the 36th Chamber and Disciples of the 36th Chamber, both included here. Picking up where Volume One left off, this sophomore collection of Hong Kong cinema classics draws together many of the best films from the final years of the Shaw Brothers studio, proving that while the end was nigh, these merchants of martial arts mayhem weren’t going to go out without a fight! Armed with stunning special features and ravishing new restorations, this boxset is even bigger and bolder than the last one. See more details, packaging, or compare Synopsis
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