Real-life brothers Run Run and Runme Shaw produced hundreds of Kung Fu movies that over the years have become cult classics because of ate night showing on TV complete with the bad English dubs.
Now the good folks at Arrow Video knowing fans love there Kung Fu films have released an absolute epic Blu-ray set featuring many of these Shaw Brother films in the Shaw Scope Volume One Collection. Let's take a look at what is included in this set.
Our Rating System:
****=Don’t Miss it!
***=Worth a look.
**=An Ok way to spend an evening.
*=You haven’t missed anything.
King Boxer (1972) The talented Kung Fu student Chih-Hao is training with his teacher for the upcoming championship; there Chih-Hao not only wants to win the trophy, but also to take revenge on the murderer of his old teacher. ***
The Boxer from Shantung (1972) Ma Young Chen arrives in Shanghai and befriends a local gangster Tan Si. Initially reluctant to enter the criminal underworld, Ma eventually acquiesces and begins his own ascent to the precarious heights of a criminal top dog. ***
Five Shaolin Masters (1974) Five students escape from the destruction of their beloved Shaolin Temple...now each must take revenge and train in their own seperate fighting styles...they will become The Five Shaolin Masters! ***
Shaolin Temple (1976) Two fighters from a Shaolin temple hunt for the evil Ching emperor who was responsible for the death of their father. ***
Mighty Peking Man (1977) King Kong goes Hong Kong as a giant Himalayan beast tries to save a sexy Russia Tarzanette from a sleazy show-biz promoter. The action, locations set in India, and interracial romance made Variety reach this verdict: "High camp, Chinese style.
Challenge of the Masters (1976) The son of a kung-fu master endures many hardships in order to learn the skills needed to defeat his mentor's murderer. **
Executioners from Shaolin (1977) After the death of his father, a young kung fu fighter masters both the Tiger and Crane fighting styles favoured by his parents. He uses the combination of techniques to defeat an evil priest and avenge the death of his father. ***
Chinatown Kid (1977) A martial artist manages to escape from mainland China, swimming across to Hong Kong, and ending up at San Francisco. ***
The Five Venoms (1978) A dying master sends his last student to check up on five former pupils, who each know a special style of kung-fu. ***
Crippled Avengers (1978) Three men, crippled by an evil warlord, become friends and learn kung fu with the help of an old teacher and his idiot pupil.
Heroes of the East (1978) Conflicting martial-arts disciplines cause discord for a Chinese kung-fu expert and his Japanese bride. The family feud boils over after the family of the Japanese bride misinterpret a challenge to her as a threat. ***
Dirty Ho (1979) Feeling threatened by his brothers, the prince of Manchuria disguises himself to try and determine which of the other 14 heirs is trying to assassinate him. He hires a jewelry thief to serve as his bodyguard and help him defeat the usurper. ***
These are exciting action-packed films. All of these films have been been transferred in 1080p with seven of these being restored in 2K. As for audio options you can listen to a DTS-HD Master Audio Chinese 1.0 or the DTS-HD Master Audio English 1.0 dubbed version. If you prefer the original language there are newly translated English subtitles for each film.
Now these films look stunning on Blu-ray event the ones that have not been restored in 2K. But Arrow Video have made an absolutely amazing box set filled with great bonuses. Take a look at what is included.
* Hours of bonus features including brand new commentaries and critic appreciations on selected films, new and archive interviews with cast and crew, alternate credit sequences, trailer and image galleries for each film and more to be announced!
* 60-page book featuring new writing by David Desser, Simon Abrams and Terrence J. Brady, with cast and crew info for each film plus trivia and soundtrack information.
* New artwork for each film by artists including Matthew Griffin, Chris Malbon, Jacob Phillips, Ilan Sheady, Tony Stella, Darren Wheeling and Jolyon Yates.
* Two CDs of music from the De Wolfe Music library as heard in six of the films, exclusive to this collection.
So as you can see this is a massive release. There is so much material in this Blu-ray set to keep Shaw film fans entertained for quite a long time. I haven't seen such a massive set from Arrow Video since the Gamera Collection.
If you are a fan of Kung Fu movies this epic set of Shaw Scope Volume One Blu-ray set is one you may want to add to your collection. You can head over to Amazon.com and get your copy today.
Out of 4 Film Reels (4 Being the Best) Arrow Video Blu-ray Set of ShawScope Volume 1 receives...
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