Blu-ray release: ‘Shaw Brothers Presents: Four Films by Lau Kar-Leung’
By Phil Mills | Oct 17, 2023
Arrow Video are bringing four Shaw Brothers films helmed by director Lau Kar-Leung (劉家良 / Liu Chia-Liang) to UK Blu-ray on October 23, 2023.
After masterminding the spellbinding martial arts choreography on dozens of Shaw Brothers’ biggest hits, Lau Kar-Leung became an extraordinary director in his own right, using his inimitable talents and deeply-felt understanding of kung fu history to create his own idiosyncratic and often humorous take on the genre.
Lau’s second film, the thrilling and deeply personal ‘Challenge of the Masters’, draws upon the legend of the real-life Cantonese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung, played here by Lau’s soon-to-be-legendary adoptive brother Gordon Liu in his first starring role. Having choreographed the action for many of Chang Cheh‘s ‘Shaolin Temple’ films, Lau took on the same historical legends in ‘Executioners from Shaolin’, jam-packed with extraordinary fight scenes and unforgettable characters, not least the evil Bai Mei, the White-Browed Hermit!
Lau’s trademark mix of high-kicking kung fu choreography and knee-slapping physical comedy is on full display in one of the director’s most acclaimed films, ‘Heroes of the East’, which pits Japanese and Chinese martial arts against one another and ultimately celebrates both. Last but not least is ‘Dirty Ho’, Lau’s take on the odd couple buddy comedy, which shows off some of the most inventive action set-pieces in the Shaw Brothers canon and is not to be missed!
Features:
• 2K restorations of ‘Challenge of the Masters’ and ‘Dirty Ho’
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations
• Uncompressed Cantonese, Mandarin and English original mono audio
• English subtitles, plus English hard-of-hearing subtitles for the English dubs
• Commentary on ‘Heroes of the East’ by Jonathan Clements
• Alternate opening credits for the international version of ‘Heroes of the East’
• Alternate English credits for ‘Dirty Ho’
• Appreciation of the films and Lau Kar-Leung by Tony Rayns
• Interview with Gordon Liu, filmed in 2002 by Frédéric Ambroisine
• Interview with Chen Kuan-Tai, filmed in 2007 by Frédéric Ambroisine
• Interview with Yasuaki Kurata, filmed in 2003 by Frédéric Ambroisine
• Textless opening credits for ‘Challenge of the Masters’
• Alternate English credits for ‘Executioners from Shaolin’
• Trailers
• Image galleries
‘Shaw Brothers Presents: Four Films by Lau Kar-Leung’ is available to pre-order now from Amazon.co.uk or ArrowFilms.com.
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- Blu-ray release: ‘Fearless Hyena Part II’ - April 22, 2024
- Theatrical release: ‘July Rhapsody’ - April 20, 2024
