Arrow Video’s Blu-ray (Region A) for Hand of Death (aka Countdown in Kung Fu) – a 1976 kung film from legendary Hong Kong acton director John Woo (Manhunt, The Killer) that stars Dorian Tan Tao Liang (Showdown at the Cotton Mill), James Tien (Seaman No. 7), Jackie Chan (Miracles) and Sammo Hung (The Incredible Kung Fu Master) – is now available at various retail outlets.
Official details:
When Golden Harvest first released Hand of Death in 1976, no-one paid much attention to the names of writer/director Wu Yu-sheng, third-billed actor Chen Yuen-lung or fight choreographer Hung Chin-pao in the opening credits. Within a decade, however, each of those men had changed the course of Hong Kong action filmmaking forever, under the names they are best known under to this day: John Woo, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.
After a traitor of the Shaolin temple, Shih Shao-Feng (James Tien), has eliminated thousands of his former colleagues in exchange for power from the Manchus under the Qing dynasty, a surviving master of Shaolin, Yun Fei (Tan Tao-Liang), is tasked with the mission of bringing Shih to justice. In order to defeat Shih’s overwhelmingly large army – led by the ruthless Tu Qing (Sammo Hung) – Yun Fei will need to team up with a skilled blacksmith (Jackie Chan) and a reluctant swordsman to beat the odds and avenge his fallen brothers.
With early signs of John Woo’s affinity for brotherly bonding amidst heroic bloodshed, and featuring one of Jackie Chan’s earliest speaking roles after proving his mettle as a stuntman, Hand of Death is an old school hard-hitting kung fu gem (with a dash of wuxia) that any fan of classic Hong Kong cinema needs in their collection!
Features:
- 2K restoration from original film elements by Fortune Star
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray transfer
- Original lossless Mandarin and English mono, plus Cantonese stereo and 5.1 remixes in Mandarin and English
- Optional English subtitles
- Brand new feature commentary by martial arts cinema experts Frank Djeng & Michael Worth
- From Hong Kong to Hollywood, an archive featurette on John Woo’s early career, including interviews with Woo, Chow Yun-fat and Peter Lau
- Never-before-seen archive interview with star Tan Tao-Liang, filmed by his former student Michael Worth
- Archive interview with co-star Sammo Hung
- Alternate credits sequence, as Countdown to Kung Fu
- Trailer gallery
- Image gallery
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
- Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by film programmer William Blaik
- Limited Edition slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
This title is available at The Goodie Emporium, a U.S.-based online store that currently has many Import Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest/martial arts DVD/Blu-ray movies in-stock – with New titles being added regularly!
Also available is Eureka’s Region B version of the film (which comes packed with Last Hurrah for Chivalry) at The Goodie Emporium.
They had me at never-before-seen interview with Tan Tao-Liang! He was, in my eyes, easily one of the most impressive kickers in martial arts movies (as my first martial arts teacher said, “he could kick down!”), he was one the reasons why when I first saw Van Damme I wasn’t blown away by Jean Claude’s flexibility and/or kicking, his stuff was basic compared to a guy like Tan Tao-Liang.
A pretty poor movie. Next!
I Disagree
I thought it was pretty good
This movie was technically good