The Sword | Blu-ray (Eureka)
Now available from Goodie Emporium is Eureka’s Blu-ray (Region A/B) for The Sword, a 1980 Golden Harvest actioner from director Patrick Tam Kar-Ming (My Heart is That Eternal Rose).
Best known as a key contributor to the Hong Kong New Wave as the director of My Heart is That Eternal Rose and the editor of Wong Kar-wai’s Days of Being Wild and Ashes of Time, Patrick Tam began his filmmaking career with The Sword: a love letter to the wuxia genre starring Adam Cheng (Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain).
Believing that he is in possession of a cursed blade, the legendary swordsman Hua Qian Shu (Tien Feng, King Boxer) has retreated from the martial arts world to live in peaceful seclusion. However, his retirement has done nothing to dampen his reputation; a young warrior, Li Mak-jan (Cheng), wishes to challenge the master in order to test his own sword-fighting skill. But as Li searches for the reclusive Hua Qian Shu so that he might face him in combat, he finds himself entangled with old lovers and new rivals. Soon, it becomes apparent that the old master’s sword really might be cursed – and will, perhaps, bring nothing but tragedy to those who seek to wield it.
After a period of dormancy, wuxia films resurged in the 1980s as the likes of Duel to the Death, Bastard Swordsman and Tsui Hark’s Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain rejected the realist approach adopted by kung fu cinema in the previous decade. Eureka Classics is proud to present Patrick Tam’s The Sword – one of the earliest and best pictures to emerge from this wuxia revival – for the first time on Blu-ray from a brand new 2K restoration.
Features:
- Limited edition (2000 copies)
- Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju)
- 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a brand new 2K restoration
- Original Cantonese audio and optional English dub tracks (original mono presentations)
- Optional English subtitles, newly translated for this release
- New audio commentary by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
- New audio commentary by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- Andrew Heskins on The Sword – A new interview with film critic Andrew Heskins (easternKicks)
- Forging Ahead – A new interview with martial arts cinema expert Wayne Wong on The Sword and the wuxia genre
- Original theatrical trailer
- A Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring an archival interview with director Patrick Tam and a new essay by East Asian cinema expert Leung Wing-Fai
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!
Watch Eureka’s New Trailer:
Interesting pick for a remastered release! This was a nice gem, and despite not having wall to wall action, the action that was in the movie was high quality that combined realism and fantasy well.
The final fight with Adam Cheng vs Norman Chu was great stuff, and the Coup de Grace was so bizarrely awesome, that I don’t know why it wasn’t made into a Mortal Kombat fatality.
I was excited to learn about My Heart is that Eternal Rose back in high school since I was told that it was “The best heroic bloodshed film that you never heard of.” I was very disappointed with how slow and unengaging it was, and there was very little action.
Cool, but what we also need is the same kind of treatment for The Blade, Tsui Hark’s ultimate masterpiece.
Totally agree… We need either 88films or Eureka to give Tsui Hark’s Masterpiece ‘The Blade’ the restoration Bluray treatment it so truly deserves… Here’s hoping
Its so welcomed to see this Golden Harvest Classic – ‘The Sword’ being released in 2K… Can’t wait.
This is a stone cold new wave masterpiece. The protaganist, the action, the modernish dialogue if you understand Cantonese…. its not what you expect from this type of genre at the time. a Classic and one I’m looking forward to owning on bluray.