Shawscope Volume Two
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.
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. 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. 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.
After 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. 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, a reverent remake of a Chang Cheh classic with Johnnie To (Running Out of Time) in the director’s chair and Lau back on fight choreography duties, in arguably the ultimate filmed tribute to Shaws’ everlasting cinematic legacy.
-
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Mandarin version)
1978 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
The anti-Ching patriots, under the guidance of Ho Kuang-han, have secretly set up their base in Canton, disguised as school masters. During a brutal Manchu attack, Lui manages to escape, and devotes himself to learning the martial arts in order to see...
-
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (English version)
1978 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
The anti-Ching patriots, under the guidance of Ho Kuang-han, have secretly set up their base in Canton, disguised as school masters. During a brutal Manchu attack, Lui manages to escape, and devotes himself to learning the martial arts in order to see...
-
Return to the 36th Chamber (Cantonese version)
1980 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from ...
-
Return to the 36th Chamber (English version)
1980 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from ...
-
Disciples of the 36th Chamber (Cantonese version)
1985 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
Gordon Liu reprises his famous Monk San Te role as he tries to support and protect Shaolin her Fang Shih-yu who purposely attacks corrupt Ching officials.
-
Disciples of the 36th Chamber (English version)
1985 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
Gordon Liu reprises his famous Monk San Te role as he tries to support and protect Shaolin her Fang Shih-yu who purposely attacks corrupt Ching officials.
-
Mad Monkey Kung Fu (Cantonese version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
A disgraced former Kung Fu expert makes a living as a merchant with the help of a hot headed friend. When the men are harassed by gangsters, the merchant decided to teach his friend monkey boxing so they can defend their business.
-
Mad Monkey Kung Fu (English version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
A disgraced former Kung Fu expert makes a living as a merchant with the help of a hot headed friend. When the men are harassed by gangsters, the merchant decided to teach his friend monkey boxing so they can defend their business.
-
Five Superfighters (Cantonese version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by John Law Ma
Three young martial arts students and their teacher are beaten up badly by a wandering man who proclaims himself "a corrector of bad kung-fu."Determined to avenge their teacher and regain their honor, the three students all go their seperate ways to fin...
-
Five Superfighters (English version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by John Law Ma
Three young martial arts students and their teacher are beaten up badly by a wandering man who proclaims himself "a corrector of bad kung-fu."Determined to avenge their teacher and regain their honor, the three students all go their seperate ways to fin...
-
Invincible Shaolin (Mandarin version)
1978 • Hong Kong • Directed by Chang Cheh
Three North Shaolin teachers are called on by the Manchus to teach their soldiers and are urged to challenge the current South Shaolin teachers. They defeat the South Shaolin teachers and, that night, the head general kills the South Shaolin teachers and...
-
Invincible Shaolin (English version)
1978 • Hong Kong • Directed by Chang Cheh
Three North Shaolin teachers are called on by the Manchus to teach their soldiers and are urged to challenge the current South Shaolin teachers. They defeat the South Shaolin teachers and, that night, the head general kills the South Shaolin teachers and...
-
The Kid with the Golden Arm (Mandarin version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by Chang Cheh
Jin bei tong opens with a group of escort guards preparing to move a shipment of gold from the local government to an area stricken by famine... one of the very few Venom films where all six Venom actors are present within a single film.
-
The Kid with the Golden Arm (English version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by Chang Cheh
Jin bei tong opens with a group of escort guards preparing to move a shipment of gold from the local government to an area stricken by famine... one of the very few Venom films where all six Venom actors are present within a single film.
-
Magnificent Ruffians (Mandarin version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by Chang Cheh
Venom regulars Philip Kwok, Chiang Sheng, and Sun Chien star as a gang of unemployed martial artists who spend their days stuffing their faces at local restaurants and letting the staff beat them up instead of paying the bill. Their fortunes appear to im...
-
Magnificent Ruffians (English version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by Chang Cheh
Venom regulars Philip Kwok, Chiang Sheng, and Sun Chien star as a gang of unemployed martial artists who spend their days stuffing their faces at local restaurants and letting the staff beat them up instead of paying the bill. Their fortunes appear to im...
-
Ten Tigers of Kwangtung (Mandarin version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by Chang Cheh
Ming partisan Chu who is on the run from Manchu forces. Local merchant and kung fu enthusiast Li Chen-chau gives the fugitive shelter in his pawnshop and quietly recruits some of his fellow martial master associates to help protect the lad. When Li's pro...
-
Ten Tigers of Kwangtung (English version)
1979 • Hong Kong • Directed by Chang Cheh
Ming partisan Chu who is on the run from Manchu forces. Local merchant and kung fu enthusiast Li Chen-chau gives the fugitive shelter in his pawnshop and quietly recruits some of his fellow martial master associates to help protect the lad. When Li's pro...
-
My Young Auntie (Cantonese version)
1981 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
Cheng, a beautiful martial arts ace, battles to keep her inheritance from the ruthless Yun Wei, but her efforts are sabotaged by Yu Tao, her wayward and irrepressible great-nephew. Following a frenzy of spectacular comic mishaps, the hapless duo are s...
-
My Young Auntie (English version)
1981 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
Cheng, a beautiful martial arts ace, battles to keep her inheritance from the ruthless Yun Wei, but her efforts are sabotaged by Yu Tao, her wayward and irrepressible great-nephew. Following a frenzy of spectacular comic mishaps, the hapless duo are s...
-
Mercenaries from Hong Kong (Cantonese version)
1982 • Hong Kong • Directed by Wong Jing
Ti Lung plays a Vietnam vet who's now an 'honourable' mercenary-for-hire taking on an assignment tracking down an assassin who's fled to Cambodia after murdering an industrialist from Hong Kong. He recruits a team for the task which consists of who's who ...
-
Mercenaries from Hong Kong (English version)
1982 • Hong Kong • Directed by Wong Jing
Ti Lung plays a Vietnam vet who's now an 'honourable' mercenary-for-hire taking on an assignment tracking down an assassin who's fled to Cambodia after murdering an industrialist from Hong Kong. He recruits a team for the task which consists of who's who ...
-
The Boxer's Omen (Cantonese version)
1983 • Hong Kong • Directed by Kuei Chih-Hung
After suffering an injury in the ring, embattled boxer Zhen Wei enlists the aid of his brother, Zhen Xiong, to avenge him and find the key to an omen which may release their family from an ancient curse. Black wizards, Taoist monks, rampaging monster...
-
Martial Arts of Shaolin (Mandarin version)
1986 • Hong Kong • Directed by Lau Kar-leung
In ancient China, Zhi Ming trains at the legendary Northern Shaolin temple to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a nefarious magistrate.
