Shawscope Volume Three Limited Edition Blu-Ray

Before Hong Kong's most powerful film studio mastered the art of kung fu cinema, Shaw Brothers made its breakthrough with a completely different type of martial arts film, one that channeled the blood-soaked widescreenviolence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia film. With their captivating stories drawn from historical myths and legends about sword-wielding (and often weightless) noble heroes, the wuxia films in this next installment of Arrow Video's best-selling Shawscope series showcase the genre's extensive stylistic evolution, from the righteous stoicism of the late 1960s Mandarin period to the wild and bizarre anarchism of the early 1980s Cantonese explosion.

The iconic One-Armed Swordsman trilogy, directed between 1967 and 1971 by wuxia film godfather Chang Cheh, made stars "Jimmy" Wang Yu and David Chiang famous and set the bloody template for many of the films that followed. In contrast to Chang's stories of loyal brotherhood, many wuxia films focused on female protagonists, three very different examples of which we see here: Ho Meng-hua's Lady Hermit, with the great Cheng Pei-pei (Come Drink with Me) as a virtuous swordswoman who is called upon to stop an evil 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 take revenge on those who enslaved her; and Cheng Kang's star-studded epic The 14 Amazons, in which Shaw's best young stars play real women of the Yang dynasty who avenge their fallen men in battle. Chor Yuen then adapted several beloved novels by the accomplished wuxia storyteller Gu Long for the silver screen, four of which are collected here: The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger, and The Sentimental Swordsman, all starring the formidable Ti Lung. When kung fu surpassed wuxia at the box office, the genre developed in unexpected new directions, with its chivalrous knights being replaced by conflict-ridden antiheroes, as in Sun Chung's breathlessly suspenseful The Avenging Eagle and Boxer's Omen-goremeister Kuei Chih-hung's fatalistic masterpiece Killer Constable. Finally, just when it seemed that wuxia cinema had nowhere to go, the 1980s reigned supreme with the special effects-laden, fourth wall-breaking fantastical delights of Taylor Wong's The Palm of Buddha and Lu Chun-ku's Bastard Swordsman.

Back with brand new exclusive restorations and hours of insightful bonus material, if you thought the two previous Shawscope sets showed Shaw Brothers studio at its strongest, you haven't seen anything yet!

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY COLLECTION CONTENTS

High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all fourteen films, including thirteen new 2K restorations by Arrow Films from the original negatives, and a new 4K restoration of One-Armed Swordsman by Celestial Pictures.p>

Original uncompressed Mandarin mono, plus Cantonese and/or English (where applicable) in lossless mono

Newly translated English subtitles for each film

Illustrated 60-page collector's booklet with newly written texts by David West, Jonathan Clements, and Dylan Cheung, as well as cast lists and notes on each film by Ian Jane

New artwork by Tony Stella, Ilan Sheady, Tom Ralston, Jolyon Yates, Kung Fu Bob, and Chris Malbon

Hours of informative bonus material, including commentary on each film, multiple interviews with cast and crew from the Frédéric Ambroisine Video Archive, and the rare alternate Korean cut of Killer Constable

Exclusive CD featuring music from the De Wolfe Music Library, heard in The Avenging Eagle and other Shaw Brothers classics

Languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, English, Hearing Impaired Subtitles: English, Subtitles: English, Interactive Menu, Aspect Ratio 1:2.35, Mono, Booklet, Commentary: Commentary on each film, Interviews: Interviews with actors and film crew from the Frederic Ambroisine Video Archive, New artwork by Tony Stella, Ilan Sheady, Tom Ralston, Jolyon Yates, Kung Fu Bob, and Chris Malbon; Alternative Korean cut of "Killer Constable"