On November 26, 2024, Arrow Video will be releasing the long-awaited Shawscope Volume Three: Limited Edition (pre-order today from Goodie Emporium), which will include 14 films on Blu-ray (Region A/B). Unlike the first two volumes, which were released only a year apart, Shawscope Volume Three has a 2-year gap, so fans have been eagerly waiting for this one!
Read the official details:
Before Hong Kong’s mightiest film studio mastered the art of the kung fu film, Shaw Brothers hit box office gold with a very different kind of martial arts cinema, one that channelled the blood-soaked widescreen violence of Japanese samurai epics and Italian spaghetti westerns into a uniquely Chinese form: the wuxia pian. With their enthralling tales drawn from historical myth and legend of sword-wielding (and often gravity-defying) noble heroes, the wuxia films housed in this next instalment of Arrow Video’s best-selling Shawscope series demonstrate the sweeping stylistic evolution of the genre, from the righteous stoicism of the late-60s Mandarin period, right through to the wild-and-weird anarchism of the early-80s Cantonese explosion.
The iconic One-Armed Swordsman trilogy, directed between 1967 and 1971 by wuxia cinema godfather Chang Cheh, made household names of stars “Jimmy” Wang Yu and David Chiang and set the gory template for many of the films to come.
Contrary to Chang’s tales of loyal brotherhood, many wuxia films focused on female protagonists, three very different examples of which we see next: Ho Meng-hua’s Lady Hermit, with the great Cheng Pei-pei (Come Drink with Me) as a virtuous swordswoman called upon to stop a vicious 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 get revenge on those who enslaved her; and Cheng Kang’s all-star epic The 14 Amazons, in which Shaws’ finest starlets play the real-life women of the Yang dynasty, avenging their fallen menfolk in battle.
Next, Chor Yuen adapted several beloved novels by consummate wuxia storyteller Gu Long to the big screen, four of which are collected here: The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger and The Sentimental Swordsman, all starring the redoubtable Ti Lung.
As kung fu overtook wuxia at the box office, the genre evolved into unexpected new directions, with its chivalrous knights-errant replaced by conflicted antiheroes, as seen in Sun Chung’s breathlessly exciting The Avenging Eagle and Boxer’s Omen goremeister Kuei Chih-hung’s fatalistic masterpiece Killer Constable.
Finally, just when it seemed the wuxia film had nowhere left to turn, Eighties excess reigned supreme in the special-effects-soaked, fourth-wall-breaking fantastical delights of Taylor Wong’s Buddha’s Palm and Lu Chun-ku’s Bastard Swordsman.
Included titles:
- The One-Armed Swordsman
- The Return of the One-Armed Swordsman
- The New One-Armed Swordsman
- The Lady Hermit
- Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan
- The 14 Amazons
- The Magic Blade
- Clans of Intrigue
- Jade Tiger
- Killer Constable
- The Avenging Eagle
- The Buddha’s Palm
- The Bastard Swordsman
- The Sentimental Swordsman
Features:
- 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
- Original uncompressed Mandarin mono, plus Cantonese and/or English (where applicable) lossless mono options
- Newly translated English subtitles for each film
- Illustrated 60-page collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by David West, Jonathan Clements and Dylan Cheung, plus cast and crew listings 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 illuminating bonus features, including feature commentaries on each film, several cast-and-crew interviews from the Frédéric Ambroisine Video Archive, and the rare alternate Korean cut of Killer Constable
- Exclusive CD of music from the De Wolfe Music Library, as heard in The Avenging Eagle and other Shaw Brothers classics
You can pre-order this title 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!
Watch the Trailers for the film’s below:
Avenging Eagle
3 Evil Masters
Shaolin Martial Arts (Fu Sheng)
Marco Polo/Four Assassins
Daredevils
Roar of the Lion
One Armed swordsman Trilogy
Was always wondering about The One Armed swordsman Trilogy. Were they high ballin’ Shout? Seems like the licensor knows the series’ worth.
I feel the same way, I’m sure if Shout had the chance that Trilogy would have been a Box Set on it’s own.
It’s an alright boxset but I would have preferred
3 evil masters
Spearman of death
To kill a mastermind
Shaolin daredevils
Inframan
Ode to gallantry
Shanghai 13
Yes I agree with you. Those are the ones I want to see on this set too
I want those titles too
Yes!!!!
Fantastic! The first two volumes were superbly done and I very much appreciate the work Arrow put into them. Love the extras they include like the finely printed booklet filled with background info and the audio discs which really set this apart from the Shout! releases, which are great as well.
For commentary, while I enjoy the unique perspective that all of the go-to experts bring to the table, I gotta say the Frank Djeng and Michael Worth duo are my favorite. All of the names listed in the article would be great to have though! Hopefully, we get multiple commentary tracks per disc as much as possible. The more variety the better.
Would just like to say that at SDCC we refer to the delightful Frank Djeng as “The Master of Remaster”
This box set seems a bit more niche than the previous two except for The One Armed Swordsman movies. Still waiting on someone releasing all the Lau Kar Leung movies in a single boxset with nice collectible artwork and liner notes and commentaries from anyone except Mike Leeder and his bestie
Day one purchase for Avenging Eagles & One Armed Swordsman Trilogy alone. The others are just a bonus for me. 🙂
I will get it for Clans of Intrigue Avenging Eagle and one arm Swordsman
I like both ‘Bastard Swordsman” & “Sentimental Swordsman.”