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Shawscope: Volume Three (Limited Edition)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Arrow Films Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (1st January 2025). |
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The Film
 "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 One Armed Swordsman: Bandit Long-Armed Devil (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching), his cousin Smiling Tiger (Golden Swallow's Tang Ti), and their band of assassins attempt to ambush master swordsman and teacher Qi Ru-feng (A Better Tomorrow's Tien Feng) after he foils a caravan robbery. His servant Fang Cheng (The Five Deadly Venoms' Ku Feng) ably defends drugged Qi but is stabbed in the process. Fang Cheng utters his dying wish to Qi that he take own young son under his wing and teach him to be a master swordsman. Over a decade later, Fang Gang (Master of the Flying Guillotine's Jimmy Wang Yu) hides his light under a bushel, working as a devoted servant to Qi even as he must endure the contempt of the senior students – lead by arrogant senior brother Sun Hao (Hong Kong Emmanuelle's Chang Pei-Shan) and Chen – as well as Qi's spoiled daughter Pei (Come Drink With Me's Violet Pan Ying-Zi) who challenges him to a three-on-one dual to prove his own swordsmanship after he refuses to engage her in practice. Overhearing Qi arguing with his wife arguing over his favoritism of Gang over his daughter as well as the students gossiping about him, he feels ashamed of causing strife in Qi's family and in the school and leaves a note announcing his departure. When confronted by Sun and Pei, they are so eager to fight him that they even take his selfless act as a betrayal of Qi. Gang fights off Sun with his sword but refuses to engage with Pei unless it is hand-to-hand. He easily bests Pei who loses her temper and draws her sword, chopping off his right arm. Gang wanders off and collapses from blood loss off of a bridge and into the fishing boat of Xiao-man (In the Line of Duty 4's Lisa Chiao Chiao) while Qi assumes he has fallen into the river and drowned. Xiao nurses him back to health with the help of Master Wang (Enter the Dragon's Hao Li-Jen) but he can only see himself as a useless cripple now. Out of gratitude for Xiao's hospitality, Gang tries to be helpful and realizes that he is able to learn to fish with his left hand but feels once again frustrated when he is unable to defend Xiao when she is harassed by bandits under Smiling Tiger who has returned to the area to spy on Qi. Although she strongly believes that revenge only begets revenge after the murder of a father she barely remembers, Xiao gifts Gang with a rare tome of left-handed sword techniques, which is quite fortuitous as all of Qi's students have learned right-handed techniques and Long-Armed Devil has developed the "Sword Lock" technique using a weapon designed for the left hand and leaving the right hand free to finish off victims with a dagger in his plan to kill Qi and massacre his students on the occasion of Qi's fifty-fifth birthday when he has gathered all current and former students to announce his successor. As trend-setting an effort for Hong Kong cinema in the wuxia genre as A Fistful of Dollars for Italy's spaghetti westerns – both drawing from Japanese samurai cinema and cinematic techniques – The One Armed Swordsman made a star out of Wang, even though he was eclipsed for international audiences by Bruce Lee, and spawned a series for Shaw and unofficial sequels for other companies including rival Golden Harvest who poached Wang after he did Return of the One Armed Swordsman for Shaw; whereupon, Shaw replaced Wang with Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires' David Chiang for the "official" series. The film adds some vibrant bloodshed and severed limbs to the Shaws' production values long before gore found its way into the studio's Category III horror output and would also chart the direction of director Chang Cheh's subsequent action films of stoic bonds of brotherhood and honor. At almost two hours, the film does spend an inordinate amount of time on Fang's personal relationships even though he is rather chaste with Xiao and wants absolutely nothing to do with Pei, and the English-dubbed version makes every bit of exposition seem that much more laborious, but the action sequences are thrilling even if they are not as well-photographed and edited as a Leone or Kurosawa set-piece. While the sword lock weapon is not quite as flamboyant as The Dragon Missile or the flying guillotine, Long-Armed Devil and Smiling Tiger are well-accessorized and more formidable in Mandarin than in English where it seems their evil laughter is just laughable even at their most sadistic. The cruelty of the villains more than makes up for Wang's hero who is rather sullen and so stoic that he only really comes to life when he is fighting.  Return of the One Armed Swordsman: Fang (Wang Yu) has kept his promise to his wife Hsiao-man (Chiao Chiao) and sheathed his sword to become a farmer. He resists an "invitation" from the Black and White Envoys (Golden Swallow's Wu Ma and The Bloody Fists' Fong Yau) on behalf of the Kings of Blades for a sword-fighting competition, warning him that they will come back for him if he does not attend. Later that day, Fang meets Lu Lung (Vengeance!'s Hoh Ban) and his sons who warn him that the kings are challenging the masters of all of the schools to establish dominance over them, including Fang as heir to the defunct Golden Blade school. Although Fang still refuses to compete, Lu Lung says he must because he fears what may happen to his sons (The House of 72 Tenants's Tsung Hua and School on Fire's Cheng Lei). When the Black and White Envoys come to retrieve Fang, he manages to scare them off with a display of his blade skills, but they assure him that their masters will come for him next. The other schools show up for the competition and their numbers are cut down by the Unseen Blade (Tien Feng), the Mighty Blade (Ku Feng), the Poisonous Dragon Blade (Lady of Steel's Tung Li), the Whirling Blade (The Assassin's Tong Kai), the Heavenly Escape Blade (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin's Lau Kar-Wing), the Burrowing Blade (The Chinese Boxer's Yuen Cheung-Yan), the Long Arm Blade (My Young Auntie's Lau Kar-Leung), and the Thousand Hands Blade Queen (The Million Eyes of Sumuru's Essie Lin Chia) and the masters of each school are captured. When their sons and best students receive letters that they can redeem their masters only if they cut off their own right arms, the group – lead by Lu Long's sons – approach Fang for help; however, one of the less honorable students decides that abducting Hsiao-man would be more effective means of convincing Fang to take up his sword again. One of Wang Yu's last films before he jumped ship at Shaw Brothers for Golden Harvest – his contract preventing him from working in Hong Kong so he shot his next several films in Taiwan for his own company – Return of the One Armed Swordsman is more formulaic than the first film but also far more entertaining. The first act sets up the eight kings (or seven kings and one queen) and their specialty blades – some of which cleverly exploit the artifice of spring-loaded props – and then spends much of the second act and the climax with Fang guiding the students along a perilous path to the headquarters of the kings, coming up with different solutions to counter each of the weapons. While it turns out that the weapons are really the villains' only advantage as they are easily cut down by Fang, the set-pieces are creative and brutal including a particularly impressive fight in a bamboo forest (even if a couple of the wuxia wire feats are laughable). The blood flows freely and, while we expect Fang to swear off fighting again, it seems as if that might be the only thing for the surviving masters to do since much of the cast is decimated by the final scene. At least as far as this set is concerned, Return of the One Armed Swordsman is peak Wang Yu/Chang Cheh especially when one compares it to the next entry where one of them is missing.  With Wang Yu gone, The New One Armed Swordsman is going to be Lei Li (David Chiang), a skilled but somewhat arrogant young swordsman framed for slaughter of a silver convoy and its theft by Master Long Yizhi (Ku Feng) who goads him into a fight in which the loser must cut off his right arm and retire from fighting (hence Long's unearned nickname "The Hero" since he never kills his enemies). A defeated Lei Li finds work in a village inn as a waiter, hiding what abilities he still retains with only one arm, ridiculed as a cripple by visitors, pitied by his boss, with only blacksmith's daughter Ba Jiao (The Ghost Lovers' Li Ching) willing to stand up for him. When Feng Junjie (Dynasty of Blood's Ti Lung) traces subsequent robberies by highwaymen to the Tiger Fortress of Master Chen Zhen-nan (The Wandering Swordsman's Chan Sing), Long decides to set him up to retire in disgrace in the same manner as Li. Li tries not to get involved until Feng rescues Ba Jiao from assault by the men of the Tiger Fortress. Although Feng believes that Long must be a guest at the Tiger Fortress under false pretenses, Li is sure that he is walking into a trap and warns him about Long's triple irons that can easily best even a man armed with two swords; three, however… While The New One Armed Swordsman introduces a new star and character in the absence of Wang Yu, the film thankfully is not a remake of the same story as the first film. After Lei Li loses his arm, instead of depicting him finding shelter and learning to fight with one arm, we get a passage of time illustrated by the decay of his severed arm pinned to a tree by his own sword. When we see Li again, he lets people believe he is a helpless cripple while revealing just how nimble he is with one limb in the kitchen and how some of those same tricks will come in handy when he actually does pick up a sword again. The plot is needlessly drawn out and complicated, so much so that Chen Zhen-nan repeatedly has to ask Long to explain his intentions – sometimes more than once within the same scene – but while the body count is upped considerable over the second film and the fight scenes similarly epic, the film's violence lacks the visceral aspect of the second film and Chiang does not quite manage the stone-faced stoicism of Wang Yu whether he is allowing himself to be beaten or facing off against the last standing villain (whose comeuppance here at least is more satisfying than the final villain of the second film). Despite trying to relaunch the character, Shaw would not do another entry; however, Wang Yu and Chiang would co-direct and co-star in the lower-budget 1976 Taiwanese production The One Armed Swordsmen.  The Lady Hermit: Although Cui-ping (The Young Avenger's Shih Szu) is skilled with a whip, she travels to the Dai-an Monastery where her uncle Wang (The Silent Swordsman's Fang Mian) is chief priest in hopes of training under the skilled fighter known only as Lady Hermit. Upon arrival, she learns from her uncle that Lady Hermit disappeared some time ago but Cui-ping has heard rumors that Lady Hermit is hidingout in the village of Paikingchen. Little does she know that Lady Hermit is actually hiding out under her very nose as the "too timid" Leng Yu Shang (Lady of Steel's Cheng Pei-Pei) while she convalesces and perfects her Flying Tiger fighting style to face Black Demon (The Super Inframan's Wang Hsieh) who beat her once before and is still hunting her. In Paikingchen, Cui-ping discovers that the local monastery has been taken over by Black Demons men who are running a scam selling expensive charms to guard against evil spirits (those who refuse to buy them are killed by the men disguised as ghosts in order to terrify and extort the villagers). When Cui-ping exposes the scam, she is endangered, forcing Lady Hermit to come out of hiding. Fearing that she will endanger Wang and the monastery, Lady Hermit leaves but is followed doggedly by Cui-ping who she trains in the Flying Tiger style she is still too weak to use; in turn, Cui-ping trains handsome monk Chang Chun (Five Fingers of Death's Lo Lieh) who was carrying a torch for Yu Shang. Lady Hermit must come out of hiding again before she is fully recovered when a jealous Cui-ping decides to take on Black Demon herself. One of the last Shaw Brothers movies made by Cheng before she married and retired – she later returned to film and television in the eighties and has worked steadily since including an international turn in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – and one of the first for Shih Szu, Lady Hermit is by the book but replaces the male heroes with female ones (Lo Lieh gets beaten in his only solo fight sequence and provides support in the climactic one with Cheng and Shih up front and center), although the climax is still set in motion by the catty and bratty actions of a jealous female. Like some of the best Shaw wuxia, the invented fighting style is as amusingly explained and demonstrated as the novelty weaponry of the villain. The fight sequences are of the usual high standard although the film also features some comical special effects achieved via jump cuts that almost resemble stop-motion along with some ropey miniatures and falling bodies that look more like toy action figures than mannequins. The direction of Ho Meng-Hua (Oily Maniac) is more workmanlike than that of Chang Cheh and the film looks a bit more rushed with plenty of out of focus zoom shots and soft compositions. While entertaining on its own, we do now know for sure if the film was intended to launch a series of Lady Hermit adventures or a follow-up for Shih Szu and Lo Lieh – although it certainly launched both their careers in subsequent Shaw action – so the result is "another Shaw production."  Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan: Sold by her father into prostitution to pay for gambling debts, Ainu (The Lady Professional's Lily Ho) puts up a fight when she is brought to the Four Seasons Brothel, resisting every attempt by the staff to break her, arousing both the desire and the compulsion to control of Madame Chun (Police Woman's Betty Pei Ti) who realizes that fear works more for the girl than the temptations of money and luxury. Madame Chun auctions off Ainu's virginity to the highest bidder, she is raped by Zhuo (Black Magic's Ku Wen-Chung) and then by Liao (The Boxer from Shantung's Chan Ho), Wei (The Chinese Boxer's Fang Mian), and Li (Rivals of Kung Fu's Chan Shen) who put up the next highest bids. When Ainu tries to commit suicide, she is rescued by mute servant Chao Hai (The Master of Kung Fu's Lee Ho) and they attempt to escape together only to be caught by Madame Chun and her assistant Bao Hu (To Kill with Intrigue's Tung Lin). Ainu promises to avenge Chao Hu's death, saving her own life by agreeing to obey Madame Chun. Ainu becomes Madame Chun's most in-demand courtesan, learning swordplay and fighting skills from her in exchange for warming her bed. When Liao is murdered after a visit from Ainu, however, she becomes the prime suspect of the new chief constable (Come Drink with Me's Yueh Hua) but she goads him with his lack of proof. While Bao Hu also suspects that Ainu is the killer and may be planning to kill them next, Madame Chun is aroused by Ainu's newfound talent and blinded by her own attraction of which Ainu takes advantage. Ainu's vengeance upon her rapists becomes a cat-and-mouse game with the constable and the stakes get higher when the victims realize they have been targeted; however, Ainu's end game is not what any of them can anticipate. Despite a title that suggests a softcore sex flick of the kind that Shaw Brothers would start specializing in later in the decade with the introduction of the Category III classification, Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan is still very much a wuxia martial arts film with a seeming feminist slant (it may only seem less exploitative due to the censorship standards of the early seventies in Hong Kong cinema rather than a deliberate effort to downplay the sex and nudity). The film's graphic violence also seems toned down at first but then blood flows by the bucketload during the climax, with some of the more grisly wounds inflicted upon females. Turning a courtesan into a destroying angel is a novel twist upon the martial arts and spaghetti western traditions of traumatized protagonists avenging themselves and their loved ones, replacing the explanatory flashbacks with stylized sequences in which she relives her violation as she turns her victims sexual fetishes back on them, while the openly adversarial relationship between Ainu and the constable as well as her manipulation of the lust-starved Madame Chun anticipate some of the "erotic thriller" tropes to come in the nineties (if Kill Bill was inspired as much by martial arts films as The Bride Wore Back, one almost feels like Basic Instinct would have been inspired by this film had Quentin Tarantino been the director). While the ending feels like a moral denouement imposed upon the film for its sexual aspect, it only "redeems" Ainu in revealing in her downfall that she was not pitiless enough in spite of her single-minded mission. Production values are high with some gorgeous brothel set design and striking costumes for the female leads as well as bright and color scope photography that lapses occasionally into slow motion to let the viewer drink in the visuals. It should be no surprise that Shaw Brothers chose to remake the film in the early eighties as Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan. Fan Mei-Sheng (Riki-Oh) has a small role as Madame Chun's chief procurer but he would have a more heroic role in the next film in the set.  The 14 Amazons: The Yang family have been fighting and dying in service of their country for generations. When the last male general Yang Tsung Pao (Sexy Girls of Denmark's Tsung Hua) is ambushed and killed fighting against the invasion of Hsi-Hsia by King Wang Wen (Tien Feng) and his five sadistic sons (among them Lo Lieh), his dowager grandmother (Crazy Rich Asians' Lisa Lu Yan) and widow Kuei Ying (Finger of Doom's Ivy Ling Po) are bent on avenging him but the minister of war Kuo (The Enchanting Shadow's Yang Chi-Ching) is unwilling to indulge a "family of dreaming, unrealistic widows" (which include Tsung Pao's mother and ten widowed aunts of Yang generals). The dowager decides to lead an army herself made up of the widows – all of whom trained with their husbands like herself – and what remains of their own personal forces including her grandson's faithful generals Chiao Ting Kuai (Fan Mei-Sheng) and Meng Huai Yuan (Fist of Fury's Huang Tsung-Hsun) who he sent back to the family with news of his death before the final slaughter. The dowager insists that the family's sole surviving male heir Wen Kuan (Lily Ho) remain behind but he wants to avenge his father. When Kuo tries to stop them, threatening the dowager with treason, Prime Minister Wang reveals that her possession of the Dragon Staff by the former emperor renders her above the law. Greatly outnumbered by Wang Wen's forces, they decide that guile and trickery rather than force is necessary to get the drop on him and his family. Wang Wen, however, has been anticipating a counter-attack, but upon learning of the Yang forces in the area, slave Lu Chao (Yueh Hua) manages to escape with intelligence that will hopefully help the Yangs in their mission. Based on the much-adapted somewhat true folk stories of the military Yang family – who were also the subject of the later Shaw Brothers masterpiece The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, a film that had to sideline its intended Yang hero with rewriting when star Alexander Fu Sheng was killed in a car crash – The 14 Amazons is dead serious about its conceit of an army of women with the Yang widows fierce in their grief and family honor while the men are either total sadists, secondary good guys, or outright comic relief from the minister of war to Fan Mei-Sheng cast elsewhere in this set as supporting villains along with Lily Ho's throwing fits, crying, and whining not as another Shaw ingenue but as the overprotected last male heir. The scope is epic and the violence quite brutal at times – with the Hsia men seeming all the more sadistic because of the number of female victims in addition to their love of torture – and production values are generally high with the exception of some poor miniatures, more action figures doubling for falls from supposedly great heights, and some of Lo Lieh's archery tricks. The film does suffer from an abundance of characters including the many aunts – spoken of as fourth aunt, fifth aunt, and so on while given character names in the onscreen credits underlining their shots that few will likely remember unless they know the actress – so some of their deaths lack resonance as we and the camera remains attentive to the efforts of the dowager, Kuei Ying, and Wen Kuan. While obviously one of Shaw's bigger productions going by the scope and scale as well as the subject matter, The 14 Amazons feels a bit formulaic and less clever than some of the more modest efforts including some of the others in this set.  Magic Blade: One year ago, Yan Nan-Fei (Lo Lieh) challenged Fu Hongxue (Ti Lung) to a duel to determine who was the best swordsman. Yan lost and they made the pledge to meet again and fight to the death. In the midst of their second duel, however, the Wood Devils arrive and try to assassinate Yan. Fu takes this as a personal affront and kills them. The two rivals determine that the only person who could afford to hire the Wood Devils – along with a whole cadre of other renowned assassins including Devil's Granny (The Teahouse's Teresa Ha Ping) who likes to cook her victims – is the mysterious Master Yu who wants to dominate the martial arts world by obtaining the powerful Peacock Fan. Yan expresses his life's wish to kill Master Yu and obtain the Peacock Fan before Yu can get his hands on it, and Fu is so confident that he will best Yan that he decides to help him. After another attack on them at the tea house of the beautiful Moonlight Heart (Corpse Mania's Tanny Tien Ni), the pair realize that they are in a race against time to get to the Peacock Villa and get the weapon before it is stolen. Along the journey, they face Lu's greatest warriors poet Tang Shi (To Kill a Mastermind's Lau Wai-Ling), painting monk Wu Hua (Fan Mei-Sheng), lute-playing Yu Qin (Shatter's Lily Li), chessmaster Gu Qi (Duel to the Death's Norman Choi), and master swordsman Xiao Jian (Ku Feng) along with their underlings and various hired killers. Arriving at the villa, they learn from lord Qiu Shui Qing (The Devil's Mirror's Ching Miao) that the villa has been threatened by Yu unless they surrender the Peacock Fan and consents to let Fu borrow it. Upon revealing its hiding spot, however, Qiu discovers just how many moles have infiltrated the villa. With his dying words, he entrusts both the Peacock Fan and the guardianship of his daughter Yu-zhen (The Blood Brothers' Ching Li) to Fu. The trio gets separated as they venture to Yu's palace, facing such obstacles as a human chessboard, poisoned streams, paralyzing blows, the abduction of Moonlight Heart, and more challenges from assassins who fancy themselves greater swordsmen and swordswomen. Shaw Brothers' post-war wuxia, particularly those by Chang Cheh, have drawn from the Japanese samurai genre as well as the spaghetti western,. Magic Blade has a wuxia plot and samurai swordplay but in other respects it looks very much like a spaghetti western from the opening sequence showing desert winds blowing tumbleweeds down "Phoenix Town" (as it is designated on the Mandarin track or just "Phoenix" in the English dub which might fool viewers into thinking this one is set in a Chinatown of the American West at first) to Fu repeatedly sweeping aside his poncho to unsheath his sword (no pun intended). While the narrative does consist of a series of challenges marking a journey, there is a mystery aspect to it – not surprising as it is directed by Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan's Chor Yuen – and the multiple unmaskings of "the real Yu" at first seem absurd but then surprise the viewer when they realize that the last two seemingly contrary revelations can both be true. The film boasts some impressive production design including temples whose stonework holds up in high definition (some woodwork does reveal brushstrokes on balsa wood that betrays the inevitability that these pieces will be wrecked in a fight) and some of the better wirework and swordplay in the set thus far. With Lo Lieh usually cast as villains, it is hard to see him as heroic but this film presents his character as a skilled swordsman but arrogant and shockingly unobservant about the dangers around him while Ti Lung does get to break from his stoic demeanor more than once when innocent blood is shed or upon realizing the path he could go on if he pursues the title of greatest swordsman for fame alone.  Clans of Intrigue: Chu Liu-Xiang (Ti Lung) enjoys his reputation as a rake, a gambler, and an alleged master thief with a houseboat and three comely pupils (Lau Wai-Ling, The Battle for the Republic of China's Chen Szu-Chia, and Big Bad Sis' Chong Lee) and illustrious guests; that is, until Gung Nan Yan (The Big Boss' Nora Miao) of the Divine Water Palace crashes his latest function and accuses him of stealing the Tianyi Holy Water and using it to murder the leaders of three clans on the South Mountain Peak. Chu claims innocence and Gung gives him fifteen days to prove it. Chu decides that the answer must lie in why each three men made a journey up the mountain and where they went. At the Zhuska clan gambling dens, he discovers that he is a moving target with whoever is trying to frame him for the Divine Water Palace theft also having written to the clans accusing him of the murders. Using his wagering skills, he is able to determine that the Zhuska leader prized a painting of a beautiful woman and that he received a letter from her summoning him, but he is not able to get any details of the letter. His investigations of the other clans are hindered by a hired assassin Mark-of-Blood of the Central Plains (Death Duel's Ling Yun), daughter of the Desert Clan Black Pearl (Li Ching) who is searching for her father's killer, and an even more formidable red apparition in a demon mask determined to silence anyone who might provide him more information. He discerns that the demon masked killer's fighting style is that of the samurai, and poet monk Wu Hua (Vengeful Beauty's Yueh Hua) - who turns up at the most convenient moments – directs his investigation to his abbot Tien Feng (Flying Guillotine Part II's Ku Wen-Chung) who has an interesting story about the arrival of the samurai fighting style in China decades that involves the murdered clan members. Chu might not be able to solve the mystery in time, however, as the Divine Water Palace's Princess Yin-ji (Betty Pei Ti) demands justice. Director Chor Yuen's Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan and Magic Blade had mystery elements, but Clans of Intrigue is an actual murder mystery wuxia with a protagonist framed and trying to prove his innocence, enigmatic clues, red herrings, and characters who get knocked off either before or during their attempts to impart important information. Ti Lung gets to play a more lighthearted character here than in The New One Armed Swordsman or Magic Blade and even Ling Yun's assassin manages to deliver some humorous moments with a straight face. Female characterizations are more retrograde her but that may be due to the genre requirements of the more straightforward wuxia plot, with Chu's pupils interchangeable and Li Ching's Black Pearl getting to fight a few times but also playing the whiny 'fraidy cat during more horror-oriented sequences including a stakeout in a cemetery during the Hungry Ghosts Festival. The Divine Water Palace sequence introduces Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan-esque lesbianism – along with a severed limb used as a projectile – but the plot also includes an intersex character whose actions are motivated by revenge rather than any kind of psychological defect one would expect to be ascribed to such characters in older films. Chor Yuen would bring back Ti Lung's character for Legend of the Bat.  Jade Tiger: The wedding of Zhao Wuji (Tang Li again) is crashed by She (Shaolin Temple's Chiang Nan) of the Tang Clan who presents to Wuji's father (Ching Miao) gift from his nephew, eldest brother Tang Que of a bounty of ten thousand silver taels for the head of the Zhao patriarch. Zhao advisor Sikong (Wang Hsieh) throws Tang and his party out but fellow advisor Shangguan Ren (Ku Feng) seemingly decides to take the Tangs up on the offer, disappearing that night with both Wuji's father's head and a jade tiger statuette Sikong tells vengeful Wuji contains a document written by his father that must not fall into enemy hands. Not only is the "killing of one's father irreconcilable" and Wuji must avenge his death, but as masters of the martial arts world the Zhao clan has a responsibility to destroy the Tangs and their poison-making business. Bidding farewell (possibly forever) to his new wife Fengniang (The Mighty Peking Man's Hsiao Yao) and sister Qianqian (Lily Li), Wuji sets about on his journey to the Tang Clan's stronghold and rendezvous with a spy long embedded in the Tang ranks. Almost immediately, he is set upon by various Tang members and envoys like the blind Thunderball (Drunken Master' Wang Han-Chen) and master poisoner Tang Yu (Death Duel's Derek Yee), but he also finds allies in Dugu Sheng (Norman Tsui Siu-Keung) - a dueling rival Wuji spared after demonstrating his superior swordsmanship skill – medicinal help after being poisoned from a pair of nomadic siblings Ao (Yueh Ha) and Yue (Shih Szu), as well as the wisdom of Carriage Maverick (The Rivals of Kung Fu's Shih Chung-Tien) and his band of expert swordsman who have laid down their arms and surrendered their names, having evolved beyond the pursuit of fame and gain. Its MacGuffin so incidental as to be forgotten by the protagonist, Jade Tiger is a film that asks "why" and it does so constantly and speculates on its questions just as much. Shaw screenplays are heavy on clumsy exposition – so much so as to be a running joke in Big Trouble in Little China – but this film is overly explanatory with everyone characters explaining what is evident onscreen ("I've poisoned you") and even pondering their own motives when no one else is there to listen. Tang Yu actually carries out a dialogue with his own reflection as if they are two separate entities ("Why would I kill so many of my own men? To earn his trust") and vividly imagines the possible outcomes of the traps he sets for Wuji. With the introduction of Carriage Maverick who argues that hatred is more deadly than a broken heart and repeated warnings of ambiguous characters to return home and abandon his mission – not only dishonoring his father's memory but also leaving the "martial arts world" to danger from the Tang Clan – the viewer starts to catch on that the "why" Chor Yuen is really asking is philosophical as the hero is so wrapped up in his role and his mission that it takes others to ask "what next" and even the most ruthless of the film's villains to come to the realization during their final showdown that "we're both rather pitiful." The aftermath is indeed more somber and moving than usual as the hero honors the fallen on both sides and realizes that his destiny is not as the new leader of the martial arts world. Chor Yuen also plays with expectations, introducing Lo Lieh in what appears to be a throwaway comic relief role that he literally chews on with gusto, giving Ku Feng more to do than be villainous, and letting Fan Mei-Sheng get to play both hero and villain simultaneously. While Hsiao Yao's role is largely decorative, Lily Li and Shih Szu get in on the fighting and the latter also gets some moving dramatic scenes. Although there is plenty of swordplay, the possible influence of Golden Harvest's Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan is perhaps on display here with more hand-to-hand combat than seen in earlier Shaw films in this set while still looking like Shaw choreography. In essence, Jade Tiger would seem to Chor Yuen's definitive statement on his career as a contract director for Shaw, being as much a pawn in a (Chinese) chess game as his characters cycling through vartiations on the same plots; and it would have been fitting had it been his final martial arts film – at least for Shaw – however, it was not...  Tang Li is back as The Sentimental Swordsman as Flying Dagger Li whose weapons are concealed in a fan. He and his servant Chuan-jia (Fan Mei-Sheng) return to a remote mountain pass in northern China for the first time in ten years hunting the Plum Blossom Bandit who had killed hundreds of men and then went dormant. Painful memories come with the journey as Li felt so indebted to Long Xiao Yun (Yueh Hua) for saving his life that he deliberately broke the heart of his fiancée Shiyin (Swordsman II’s Candice Yu) in the hope that she would marry his savior instead. Along the trail he makes the acquaintance of the mysterious Ah Fei (Derek Yee) and both become immediately embroiled in the attempts of many parties to get another MacGuffin: this time the Golden Silk Armor, a vest that Li realizes could potentially be resistant to the Plum Blossom Bandit's poison darts. Upon returning to his village and reuniting with his savior and his former love, he recognizes “most beautiful woman in the world” Lin Xian (Ching Li) - who has promised to marry whoever kills the Plum Blossom Bandit who murdered her father in addition to the bounty of one hundred thousand taels put up by Master Zhao (Ku Feng) whose son was also murdered - is the bewitching thief who made off with the Golden Silk Armor and tried to poison him. Their midnight secret meeting where she promises to explain everything is crashed by arrogant young swordsman and admirer You Long Sheng (Broken Oath’s Yuen Wah) who is either accidentally killed by Li or stealthily murdered by someone else; whereupon Master Zhao (Ku Feng) turns up with several other interested swordsmen – including the fierce Iron Flute (Norman Tsui Siu-Keung) whose brother was another victim of the bandit - accusing Li of being the Plum Blossom Bandit on the basis of an anonymous letter. With so many formidable swordsmen out to kill him, Li seems to get some relief when Master Xinmei turns up from the Shaolin Temple to take him back and interrogate him; however, they are pursued on their journey by the Five-Star Poisoner (Chiang Nan) who has three-hundred-and-sixty-five ways to kill, and the Shaolin Abbot (Ching Miao) believes that the Plum Blossom Bandit has stolen a sutra that contains a fighting style more powerful than even the Flying Dagger. Based on the wuxia series of novels by Gu Lung, Chor Yuen's The Sentimental Swordsman at first seems like a formulaic wuxia potboiler following Jade Tiger with two MacGuffins in the Golden Silk Armor and the sutra; however, once it gets past its moody set-up, the film introduces its murder mystery elements but underplays some of the more conventional elements like the romantic subplot and red herring bits as a given, focusing instead on the action, with Tang Li remaining the hero even though he largely surrenders the battle of whits and words to Ah Fei. The Shaolin Temple sequence at first seems like just a means of getting Li out of the way for a bit while Ah Fei observes and develops his own deductions; however, the sequence dovetails into the climax with Li stepping back up to the fore and pulling a "you're probably wondering why I've gathered all of you here," and an action climax that remains exciting even though the identity of the Plum Blossom Bandit is exactly who the viewer has been suspecting due to them having a seemingly important role but remaining in the background (which to be fair is true of several familiar faces as named swordsmen who are largely just stuntmen here rather than characters). While the story seems conventional, Chor Yuen once again uses it to critique some of the things Chang Cheh celebrates in his own works, with the femme falale character referring to the men who are so eager to help her as "lecherous heroes" while the killer notes that to use affection as a weapon one has to be "cold and ruthless" labeling Li's apparent weaknesses as being "sentimental." While the film is not as compelling as Chor Yuen's other entries so far, he livens up the visuals with some King Hu-esque vistas, gorgeous production design by the underrated Shaw regular Johnson Tsao (Legendary Weapons of China) and the Shawscope color photography of Wong Chit (Holy Virgin vs. the Evil Dead) that focuses on moodier shadows and more naturalistic lighting. The film was followed up in 1981 by The Return of the Sentimental Swordsman and then by i>Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman that swapped out Flying Dagger Li for Clans of Intrigue’s Chu Liu-Xiang (possibly to make up for replacing Ti Lung with i>Tony Liu in the third film in that series Clan of Amazons.  The Avenging Eagle is Qi Ming-Xing (Ti Lung), Ninth Eagle of the Iron Boat Clan, raised as an orphan over two decades of torture by his master First Eagle Yue Xi-hong (Ku Feng) to be a killing machine alongside his eleven "brothers." Now he is on the run from his own clan with only the unsolicited help of a stranger (Alexander Fu Sheng) who seems to have a death wish but is fortunately an excellent fighter. After the pair take out three of the Eagles, Qi knows that the others will be following in separate teams, but Qi's plan is to lose them in the barren desert beyond the borders and double back to kill Yue Xi-hong. He reveals to the stranger that when he was wounded during a heist of the transport of the Imperial Court's jewels, Qi was taken in and treated by Wan-An (Crazy Sex's Yue Wing) and his family. He is particularly taken with Wang-An's daughter Xiaofeng (Shih Szu) who realizes that he is a killer but sees in him the ability to "be human" which causes him to rethink his life choices. Unfortunately, upon returning to the Iron Boat Clan, he discovers that Wang An is one of the four constables who put his master away and targeted for extermination once his brothers have discovered his hiding place. Qi refuses to help his brothers fight Wang An and tries to protect Xiaofeng but fails and his master tortures him into submission. Qi reveals that it was during the subsequent slaughter of constable Sima Xun (Yang Chi-Ching) and his family where Qi was forced by his master to kill daughter Sima Yu Qin (Chinatown Kid's Jenny Tsang) and her unborn child in place of absent constable son-in-law Double Blades Zhao Yu-fan that Qi resolved to wipe out the Iron Boat Clan. Although it is likely that Qi will die in the process, he tells the stranger that should he live, he will search out Zhao Yu-fan to die by his hand as penance. Guess who the stranger is… Avenging Eagle from director Sun Chung (Human Lanterns) plays more like a spaghetti western than any of the works of Chang Cheh or Chor Yuen in this set thanks to its heavier dependence on location work in sprawling deserts and mountainous regions as well as its trauma- and vengeance-driven protagonists and their flashbacks. It still is very much a Ti Lung film with Fu Sheng only taking center stage during his separate scenes – including a comical bit when he disguises himself as an innkeeper in an abandoned village to get the drop on some of the Eagles – but steeping back out of necessity to remain ambiguous in his scenes with Ti Lung. There may be too many Eagles for any of them to make much of an impression despite differing weapons – Ti Lung uses the three-section staff previously used by Ku Feng's The New One Armed Swordsman villain – but besides his eagle claw gloves, Ku Feng also gets to stand out more as a villain here by actually seeming to care for his favorite Ninth Eagle but being too sure of how he raised and trained him to not see his own "sentimentality" as the weakness he sees in Qi. While there is some wire work on display here, the fight scenes feel very different from those of Chor Yuen or Chang Cheh not only in terms of coverage – with a heavy use of slow motion and freeze frame emphasis – but also with Ti Lung's antihero using the three-section staff and Fu Sheng doing much more hand-to-hand combat and only unsheathing his hidden blades to strike the final blows. The female Shaw stars have little to do here, but Ti Lung, Fu Sheng, and Ku Feng do the dramatic heavy-lifting for "Another Shaw Production" that could seem like an afterthought following the greater number of notable works of the other two directors preceding it and the next most notable title in the set…  The titular Killer Constable is Leng Tian-Ying (Crippled Avengers' Chen Kuan-Tai) who is merciless in punishing crime and proud of it – the only person to call him out on his reputation is his younger brother Cun Yi (Bai Jing-Xue) who decides he is not ruthless enough to be a constable and quits the force – which makes him the ideal choice of security chief Liu Jing Tian (Till Death Do We Scare's Walter Tso Tat-Wah) to track down the bandits who were able to infiltrate the Imperial Court's Treasury and make away with two million taels and the Empress Dowager is more concerned with the Court losing face than the missing amount. Leng recruits three of his men – Peng Lai (Ai Fei), Zhao Jian (Return to the 36th Chamber's Chiang Tao), and Sun Heng (Dick Wei) – but not his best in Cui Xing (Fearless Hyena's Kim Se-Ok) because he has just become engaged. Leng even wants to leave behind his most faithful soldier Ma Zhong (Ninja in the Claws of the CIA's Gam Biu) until he threatens to quit if he is no longer of any use due to his age. Cui Xing defies orders and earns his place in the mission with information from a reluctant information who heard from a miller's wife (The Spiritual Boxer's Teresa Ha Ping) that her husband (Killer Clans' Leung Seung-Wan) hand come into a large sum of money. Although the miller names four people directly involved in the robbery as blacksmith Tao Bao (Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind's Lee Chun-Wa), Heavenly Army soldier Zhang Lung (Dragon Lord's Best Kwon Yeong-Moon), Wang Wan-wu (Hands of Death's San Kuai), and tradesman leader Fang Feng-jia (Ku Feng), Peng Lai is disturbed by the way Leng extracts information, and his treatment of the couple when they beg him to let them keep the money. As the company moves further and further away from the capital in search of the four men, they are subject to ambushes by the men, allied bandits, a dart-throwing assassin Fan Jin-peng (Demon of the Lute's Jason Pai Piao), and an army of archers that suggests the hand of someone more powerful and possibly within the Imperial Court. A major martial arts title from the latter days of Shaw Brothers when they were transitioning to sex horror films – and on the verge of taking the "scope" out of Shawscope – Killer Constable seems like particularly brutal but otherwise standard wuxia fare for the studio but it is actually one of the ones that is driven more by character and performance. Were it not for Chen Kuan-Tai's character arc, he would be an entirely unlikable character, particularly when he finally confronts Ku Feng in the presence of his blind daughter (Hex's Yau Chui-Ling). Leng is not without compassion as supposed – taking a detached demeanor while warning off a recently-engaged constable from coming on the mission which could easily be misconstrued as a challenge – but in expressing it more and more for his fallen comrades, he starts to question not whether he can but whether he should hold others up to his standard. His comrades argue for the mercy of those who commit crimes out of need, and he is not indifferent to suffering as they pass through beggar towns – even if Ma dismisses them as Han to their Manchu – but he reserves his overt displays of mercy at first for his fallen men and then for who he initially believes to be his worst enemy, turning his full, unchecked fury on the one who has betrayed all of them, not even worrying about being labeled as an assassin and slashing his way through an army of bodyguards and a final fight with Yuen Wah before a poetic final shot. Director Kuei Chih-Hung joined Shaw Brothers in the early sixties as an assistant director, making his directorial debut in 1970 and worked in several genres with some notable titles like The Killer Snakes, The Boxer's Omen, and Corpse Mania, and his visual style here with regular cinematographer Lee San-Yip anticipates the music video style emerging in the West during this period and they would go even crazier with backlit and blue-lit fights, fog, and rain sequences that would have done John Woo proud (or Russell Mulcahy for that matter), and the pair would go even crazier visually in their Category III horrors to come.  The titular Buddha's Palm is a series of fighting stances invented by Bhagavan Tathagata (Walter Tso Tat-Wah). The style was so powerful that he was inundated by power-mad warriors eager to learn it to dominate the martial arts world, so he withdrew from society to the seclusion of a cave. When Tathagata dies, his sole disciples Koo Hon Wan (The Brave Archer's Alex Man) blames the martial arts world at large and becomes Blazing Cloud Mad God, challenging and destroying as many enemies as possible. Twenty years later, he is long forgotten by all but those he faces on his last challenge in which he was gravely wounded. Horribly-scarred young Lung Kim-fei (Derek Yee) feels jilted and disrespected when he learns that his master Nu (Ching Miao) plans to marry his daughter Blonde-in-Crimson Silk (Candice Yu) off to Master Ah-yeung Hao Heart-of-Ice-in-White (The Brave Archer's Ku Kuan-Chung) for his protection against the Golden Robes sect. Kim-fei challenges Ah-yeung and is soundly-thrashed, only surviving a fall from Heavenly Mountain by a passing dragon named Dopey who takes him tot he underground lair of the meditating Blazing Cloud Mad God reveals that he was blinded in a fight with The Five Devils: Undivinable Flying Rings Suen Bik-ling (Tales of a Eunuch' Siu Yam-Yam), The Three Absolute Thunderbolt Palms (The Sword Stained with Royal Blood's Lung Tien-Hsiang), and Myriad Swords Celestial Heavenly Cripple (Magic Crystal's Sek Kin). In his delirious state, he was unsure whether he could trust Master Nu's sister Nine-Tasseled Flying Bell Lau Piu-piu (Chen Szu-Chia) when she tried to help him and subsequently vanished shortly after he did. Blazing Cloud Mad God decides to teach Kim-fei the Buddha's Palm so that the young man may avenge him against his enemies and find Lau Piu-piu. Kim-fei takes it upon himself to obtain a pearl laid by the Purple Dragon every ten years which can heal any poison to restore Blazing Cloud Mad God's sight. In fighting other warriors and sorcerers to obtain the pearl – which pops and disgorges a Golden Egg and a Star Wars-esque green laser Golden Dragon Slayer – he gains an unwanted second master in East Island Paragon Seven Whirl Chop (Lo Lieh) who wants to make Kim-fei his disciple in spite of recognizing Blazing Cloud Mad God's fighting style. After restoring Blazing Cloud Mad God's sight, Kim-fei helps Kau Yuk-wah (also Candice Yu for some confusing reason) and Kau Yuk-kuen (Challenge of the Masters' Kara Wai), two of the fighters he beat out of the pearl, to obtain a potion for their master who turns out to be Suen Bik-ling who decides to use Kim-fei to lure Blazing Cloud Mad God out of hiding. Unfortunately, she is not the only one as The Three Absolute Thunderbolt Palms and Heavenly Cripple have also learned of Blazing Cloud Mad God's reemergence. Heavenly Emperor – who has developed the Heavenly Disabled Foot fighting stance to compensate for the injuries Blazing Cloud Mad God inflicted upon him – takes on Heart-of-Ice-in-White after he betrays The Three Absolute Thunderbolt Palms, much to the jealousy of his daughter Little Dragon Maiden (Holy Flame of the Martial World's Yung Jing-Jing). Differences will have to be put aside when heroes and foes alike realize that more than one of them cares for nothing but ruling the entire martial arts world by murder if necessary. With its animated fire and laser effects, Jim Henson-esque dragon, and even more surreal redressing of standing Shaw sets (and tropes), Buddha's Palm truly takes Shaw Brothers into the eighties by way of Star Wars at a time when Sammo Hung at Golden Harvest was also making increasing use of optical effects work to enhance his supernatural comedies. Yee is more engaging in a heroic role and Yu also gets to show off more thanks to a dual role which seems otherwise unnecessary as anyone else could have been cast in the more decorative role of Kim-fei's unrequited love. Usually cast as villains, even with a bit of comic relief, Lo Lieh is fun as the trickster wizard who loudly heralds his own arrival in every scene. The viewer is guided through the busy plot by a sardonic narrator who quips, "He obviously did not read enough wuxia novels," about a character literally stabbed in the back by his disciple. The swordplay is exciting and the specialty weapons novel – including Heavenly Emperor's "Disabled Foot" – and the film's optical effects are also well-utilized, while Dopey the dragon is more impressive for its aesthetic design than its puppetry. Yung Jing-Jing would play the same character in Shaw's later Little Dragon Maiden. The film is an assured sophomore directorial effort of Taylor Wong, who was married to pop singer Prudence Liew at the time, and he would follow it up with the Chow Yun-Fat duo Tragic Hero and Rich and Famous along with the Casino Raiders sequel for Jimmy Hueng's Win's Entertainment.  The Bastard Swordsman is Yun Fei-yung (Norman Tsui Siu-Keung), an orphan taken in by the Wudang School who is too prideful to stand up for himself when abused by the other students – lead by Ban Shi (Ku Kuan-Chung) and Xie Peng (The Five Deadly Venoms' Sun Chien) – who use him as a moving target for their darts and daggers training. Even the elders in charge of law enforcement pin the blame on him for "sowing discord." The only person who defends him is lone female student Lun Wan Er (Leanne Lau Suet-Wah) but Fei-yung maintains his distance. That even Master Qing Song (Seeding of a Ghost's Wang Yong) also calls him "just a servant" rather than a student makes Fei-yung all the more willing to agree to midnight training by a mysterious masked fighter who insists that Fei-yung continue to keep his abilities secret. Master Qing Song has been training with his third bout against the Invincible Clan's Master Dugu Wudi (Alex Man) who has beaten him twice before and a third victory means Qing Song must retire and disband the Wudong School. Neither Qing Song nor former fighting monk Chongtien (Wilson Tong Wai-Shing) have been able to master their school's much-feared Silkworm Technique and, indeed, their attempts to use it have gradually weakened their chi to alarming degrees. Qing Song and Dugu Wudi face off against each other and Qing Song manages to survive and concede victory by the use of the body-weakening eight phase of the Silkworm Technique; whereupon, Dugu Wudi tells his rival that he has two years to put someone else up against him. If Dugu Wudi wins again, he will slaughter everyone at Wudong School. While his disciple Gongshun (Hard Boiled's Lo Meng) and daughter Fang Er (Royal Tramp's Yeung Ching-Ching) insist that he should finish off the Wudong School while Qing Song is weak, Dugu Wudi refuses out of pride and mandates to his followers that Qing Song must not be harmed in the two years he plans to spend in seclusion training. In spite of that order, a blood warrant is signed on behalf of Dugu Wudi against Qing Song and he only just survives an assassination attempt by the four elementally-named killers Lightning (Five Elements Ninjas' Kwan Fung), Rain (Kung Fu Hustle's Yuen Qiu), Wind (The Young Master's Yuen Tak), and Thunder (Brave Archer and His Mate's Wong Lik) thanks to the intervention of young Fu Yushu (The Way of the Dragon's Tony Liu) whose mother and sister are killed in the fight. Qing Song takes him on as a disciple among the six he plans to train in the school's Six Secrets style to fight Dugu Wudi despite Gongshun and Fang Er claiming the warrant to have been forged and suspecting previously unknown yet talented Yushu. Fei-yung's jealousy at Qing Song's favoritism of Yushu and Wan Er's attraction to him only makes it easier for his brothers to interpret everything he does as acts of aggression, and all the more believable that it is he who has assassinated Qing Song and his best disciples when his abilities are exposed and even more so when Fang Er puts him under the Invincible Clan's protection due to their shared suspicions about the murder of Qing Song. Fei-yung nevertheless agrees to stay with the Invincible Clan so that he may seek out Shen Manjun (Szu-Chia Chen) to honor Qing Song's dying words and present her with the Jade Phoenix whereupon he learns the truth of his origins and deducts the motives of others for manipulating both clans. A film adaptation of a novel by Wong Ying based on his own screenplay for the thirty-episode television series that starred Choi, Bastard Swordsman has a very conventional wuxia plot that in some ways seems inspired by the opening of not only One Armed Swordsman but any number of early Lo Wei Jackie Chan flicks with an outsider orphan or bastard student mistreated by the wealthier pupils who is taken on by a talented unofficial master and becomes the only hope of the school when the real master is murdered. It may or may not be the condensing of the plot of several episodes into one that makes the plotting more apparent along with the obvious twists, but Choi is compelling as an actor and a martial arts performer. The fantastical elements stand out so much more due to both the familiar plot elements, the Shaw sets and sound stage forests, and the photography of Philip Ma Kam-Cheung that largely eschews lighting and filter effects apart from the fight sequences, giving the film the look of a Shaw production from an earlier error after the visual excess of Buddha's Palm. The effects work including undercranking, pyrotechnics, wire work, and a few opticals culminate in the predominantly practical effects of the Silkwork Technique. The climax leaves room for a sequel, with Fei-yung choosing to wander the world, seemingly taking it on faith that Dugu Wudi does indeed plan to train in seclusion for two more years. Director Tony Lou Chun-Ku started out at Shaw as an actor and was directing for nearly a decade before Bastard Swordsman, having honed his action direction and visual style in films like The Master and Holy Flame of the Martial World. A sequel came out the following year along with a later follow-up television series starring Choi, and a couple revivals subsequently. 
Video
Although picked up by MGM, The One-Armed Swordsman was only distributed outside of the United States including Mexico, not having an English-language release until it ended up in a television package. The film received a DVD release stateside from the Weinstein label Dragon Dynasty with an anamorphic transfer, Mandarin and English audio and some newly-produced extras. The film was remastered by Celestial Pictures when they acquired the Shaw library and released on DVD in Hong Kong in 2005 with a Blu-ray following in 2012 from Intercontinental Video with English subtitles while the French trilogy Blu-ray was not English-friendly. In the U.K., 88 Films put out a Blu-ray from the same master. Arrow Video's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray comes from a new 4K restoration and it is truly a thing of beauty, restoring image on all four sides of the frame and looking sharper than the previous filtered Celestial HD master. The image is slightly darker and the colors bolder, giving some of the night exteriors an almost monochrome or at least stripped-down color scheme making the film's homages to classic samurai films apparent. A fine layer of grain is apparent even in the softest shots, and without the filtering of the previous master the difference between overall out of focus telephoto-end zoom shots and close-ups with insufficient depth of field is more distinct. Image instablility in one shot that appeared to be damage to the elements or a registration issue is actually more obvious in the new transfer as the jitter of a camera crane rising above the bridge from which Fang falls. It is a pity that every film in the set did not get a 4K restoration but the others are new 2K masters.  As with the first film, MGM picked up Return of the One-Armed Swordsman but only distributed it outside of the United States including Mexico (four years after it was released in Hong Kong). When Celestial Pictures remastered the Shaw catalogue, the film became available with English subtitles in Hong Kong and as part of the Dragon Dynasty line stateside. Taiwanese and German Blu-ray releases were afflicted by the same issue as the Celestial SD master, losing nearly four minutes to cuts at every splice point. Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray comes from a new 2K restoration that restores the film to its original running time (109:34 versus 105:58 with Celestial logo on the German edition). While we have not seen the German or Taiwanese HD masters, Arrow's new transfer easily bests the DVD and the aforementioned Blu-rays in terms of completeness and restores slivers of picture information on all four sides of the frame compared to the DVD. The new transfer also sports lusher primaries, darker shadows, and the grading also reveals the effort tow hich Shaw's cinematographers went to make the lighting of the sound stage forest sets look believable even at "magic hour."  National General got around the problem of issuing a "sequel" to films unreleased in the United States by retitling The New One-Armed Swordsman as "Triple Irons" for its 1973 release but it was unavailable officially on home video; whereas EMI's U.K. theatrical release lead to a Thorn/EMI pre-cert tape and subsequent Warner Bros. editions. The title did not make the Dragon Dynasty line when Celestial remastered it, but the Region 3 Hong Kong DVD and subsequent Taiwanese and first German Blu-ray were once again afflicted by cuts at every splice point, pruning the running time by roughly four minutes. In this case, the German label revisited the film again on Blu-ray in a "Final Edition" but even this was imperfect, augmenting Celestial's HD master with a scan of a German print that restored about a minute of material (the rest either not in the German print or not worth the effort). Compared to screen grabs of the German Blu-ray, Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray looks sharper without look as sharpened as the older master, with richer colors that reveal nuances of the wardrobe that once looked cheap and dull (check out Li Ching's dress which looks emerald here and Ti Lung's brown vest).  Although Lady Hermit played at the Cannes Film Festival and secured a French theatrical release, it did not have a U.S. release until Funimation put out a DVD in 2015; however, as with the Hong Kong import, Celestial's master was missing footage at every splice point, losing almost five minutes. Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray comes from a new 2K master and restores the original running time (102:38). The transfer sports inky blacks and night scenes where you can see the difference between location night scenes and sound stage exterior night shots. Detail is great in close-ups and some of the more static medium and long shots compositions but zoom shots tend to suffer from focus issues (compare a zoom in on Cui-ping prowling the streets of Paikingchen to the same angle after a cutaway which may either be a new shot or the focus adjusted).  Despite its more salacious title, Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan did not get a U.S. release even on the grindhouse circuit; however, it did get a heavily-edited U.K. release through EMI. Celestial's SD master looked quite good on PAL-converted, English-subtitled Region 3 Hong Kong DVD and Arrow's new 2K-mastered 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray transfer is one of the best-looking in the set owing to the condition of the materials, the gorgeous wardrobe and décor, and the overall technical proficiency and aesthetic beauty of the original Shawscope photography (in which soft focus is supposed to be that way). While some of the other cinematographers whose work is represented in the set appear not to have cared about the bowing distortion during wide angle pans and tracking shots, here the only evidence of that is in several wide master shots in which characters at the edges of the frame are skinnier, elongated, and soft where the focus falls off despite the greater depth of field of wide angle lenses. Colors are rich with a wonderful nocturnal blue to some of the snowy sound stage exteriors while red blood pops against softer colors of the wardrobe and brothel décor.  One of the more epic Shaw productions of the time, The 14 Amazons was well-distributed internationally although stateside it only showed in Shaw's theaters until the English-subtitled Hong Kong import DVD and Funimation's subsequent U.S. DVD which both utilized the same Celestial Pictures PAL master. Blu-rays turned up in Poland and Germany but the latter 1080i50 one was definitely upscaled even though it did reveal more picture information than the Hong Kong DVD going by cap-a-holic comparisons where the image was otherwise equally soft. Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray comes from a new 2K restoration that is sharp when the anamorphic lenses allow for it – we still have crash zooms that are softer at the telephoto end, action choreography that occasionally strays off the markers, and distortion and focus falloff at the edges of the frame but colors are much more stable (what looked like a visible in-front-of-the-lens diffusing scrim pattern on DVD is revealed to be a pattern within the saturated red wall brocade that was all but swallowed up in standard definition. It is still hard to determine if the reverse angle of Tianbo Mansion is a painted backdrop intended to be an exterior or a large wall mural. Some odd motion issues that seemed like PAL conversion and encoding issues on DVD turn out to be a combination of undercranking and the clumsy insertion of stunt doubles while the heightened resolution reveals the artiface of the film's miniature effects enough to be laughable as well as admirable of the efforts.  Magic Blade achieved some international exposure, being popular in France and Germany, with the German DVD an early English-friendly 16:9 alternative to the non-anamorphic letterboxed Hong Kong import before Image Entertainment's Celestial deal and their "Eastern Masters" line DVD. Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray is probably the least satisfying transfer in the set owing to the dark photography combined with the soft anamorphic lenses and a lack of video assist to check shots before sets were redressed either for subsequent scenes in the film or for other concurrent productions.  Clans of Intrigue was little distributed outside of Asian territories apart from France where it netted a release following its Cannes showing, and it was also one of the earliest Celestial remasters so the Hong Kong DVD was non-anamorphic. When the 2K master for Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Blu-ray was created, a handful of previously-censored shots were discovered apart from the negative in a separate 35mm print in the Celestial Pictures vault. Rather than including them as deleted scenes, Arrow has incorporated them via seamless branching, offering a theatrical version (98:18) and an uncensored version (99:46). A disclaimer notes that viewers might notice the drop in quality on the uncensored version but we did not. More brightly-lit and shot seemingly entirely on Shaw studio sets, even the night scenes look considerably better than the aforementioned Magic Blade, and richness of the lighting and production design is evident in both some of the sound stage exteriors and the Divine Water palace sets. Jade Tiger was apparently not distributed in English-speaking territories apart from possibly Shaw's Asian-American theaters. Celestial Pictures SD remaster turned up first with English subtitles on Hong Kong DVD but came out after Image Entertainment's Celestial deal so it was Well Go USA who gave us a DVD with a 5.1 upmix. Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray comes from a new 2K restoration. Opticals look a little grittier than some of the other films, and there are plenty of soft shots where diffusion is either on the lens itself or used as set decoration, but the bulk of the film is crisp and colorful, with the same kind of crash zooms as other films in the set without the focus issues.  The Sentimental Swordsman had a German theatrical release three years after it played in Hong Kong, so Celestial's original PAL remaster made it here as a Hong Kong import but got released in Germany on DVD as part of the six-disc Shaw Brothers Limited Edition No. 2 set and Blu-ray as part of the four-disc Shaw Brothers Collection long before it made its official North American and British bows in this set as a new 2K restoration. The 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen once again looks more variable due to the location work in snowy Northern China or possibly Korea or Japan (as speculated on the commentary track) but the sound stage interiors and exteriors all look consistently sharper and more colorful, with even Li's wardrobe revealing a mix of blacks, grays, and blues where it looked more solidly either black or blue depending on the lighting in standard definition.  Avenging Eagle scored a U.S. theatrical release in 1980 from World Northal and an early U.K. pre-cert VHS release. We do not know of the completeness of these versions, but Celestia's DVD remaster released to English-friendly Hong Kong DVD and a subsequent Dragon Dynasty DVD double feature with Chang Cheh's Blood Brothers were missing roughly a minute of footage allegedly due to materials rather than censorship or even frame cuts. The same was true of filmArt's German Blu-ray but Arrow's 2K-remastered 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray is fully restored (93:09 versus 91:40) and has a brighter, cleaner, but no less colorful aesthetic than The Sentimental Swordsman yet the location and sound stage exteriors mesh better than that aforementioned location-heavy Chor Yuen film.  Released in the United States in 1984 as "Karate Exterminators" and then on video as "Lightning Kung Fu", Killer Constable had an unauthorized VHS stateside while Pegasus Films released a cropped DVD of the English dub in the U.K. as "Blood Brothers" while the anamorphic, remastered English-friendly Hong Kong DVD was an improvement but one of Celestial's PAL masters. We have not seen that version or 88 Films' 2017 Blu-ray/DVD combo (reissued in 2019 without the DVD copy) but Arrow's 2K-remastered 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen probably does its best with a film full of inky black scenes, backlighting, fog, smoke, and sheets of rain, not to mention an abundance of star filters flaring at spotlit blades that seem wider than necessary just for the lighting effect. In more conventionally lit sequences, primaries pop and detail is fare to good in clothing, hair, and skin within the limitations of the older Shawscope anamorphic lenses.  Although Buddha's Palm was exported and played in the U.K., it is not surprising that it did not play in the U.S., many European countries, or even find much physical media distribution in those territories when Shaw made their titles available due to the heavy presence throughout of Buddhist manji which was appropriated and inverted by the Nazis in 1920 for their swastica (not only is one onscreen throughout the opening sequence, Flaming Cloud Devil radiates them during the climax). The film was one of Celestial's early remasters so it appeared on Hong Kong and Taiwanese DVD in a non-anamorphic letterboxed transfer. Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray comes from a new 2K restoration that is a stunner throughout with an emphasis on bold colors and sharp imagery – with the exception of a vaseline-smudged shot of Flying Loops' disfigurement – that greatly enhances ones appreciation of the redressed Shaw sets, the costumes, props – including that Dragon Staff that keeps popping up throughout the set – the wire work and the creature design. Opticals from laser light shows to character introduction cards look a shade coarser than the surrounding footage but it is less jarring than on some of other titles in the set.  Previously released on DVD in the U.S. by FUNimation, Bastard Swordsman comes to Blu-ray in a 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen transfer. With the exception of a few scenes with saturated gels, star filters, or kaleidoscope filters, the film has a rather naturalistic, evenly-lit look which shows off the film's practical effects, opticals, and wire work – visible but no less impressive – to their best advantage like a combination of the look of a Shaw film of the late sixties/early seventies combined with newer, sharper lenses and finer-grained eighties filmstock. 
Audio
Arrow has included Mandarin tracks for all of the films, including those that were made after Hong Kong went back to releasing films domestically in the Cantonese language while the Mandarin dubs were used for other Chinese territories like Taiwan and Mainland China. Clans of Intrigue, The Sentimental Swordsman, Avenging Eagle, and Buddha's Palm also include a Cantonese track as well as a separate English subtitle translation, allowing viewers to compare the translations. The Mandarin tracks are still the recommended option as most of the actors were speaking it on set even if they were post-dubbed in both languages by other performers, and the character names are usually more evocative than the Cantonese equivalents as in the case of Buddha's Palm ("Cold-Hearted-in-White" versus "Heart-of-Ice-in-White" or "Flaming Cloud Devil" versus "Blazing Cloud Mad God"). Although it is stated in the commentary that Bastard Swordsman played theatrically in Hong Kong in Cantonese, Arrow's transfer only includes the Mandarin track. The Cantonese track may be lost as even Celestial's SD master only included the Mandarin track as well as a newly-created English dub which is not featured here either. Although the English subtitles presumably follow the Mandarin track, they use the Cantonese names of the characters and actors including introducing "Norman Choi" who was introduced onscreen as "Norman Tsui" in Magic Blade. All of the films except for Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger, The Sentimental Swordsman, and Bastard Swordsman have the original English export dub tracks. For the most part these are clean-sounding tracks that do not sound like the VHS-sourced and multi-source composite works that have been done on even rarer English tracks for other Hong Kong films on disc; however there is a moment in The New One Armed Swordsman where the English dub switches over not to Mandarin but to what must have been either been a new dub Celestial produced or just a bit of patchwork by them for either damage or a segment cut from the export version. None of the newer English dubs Celestial created for some of their titles appear on this set.  A few anachronisms pop up in some of the English subtitle translations like Magic Blade's Fu telling an opponent to "dream on" and the subtitles throughout the set translate the actor/character introduction cards except where there is dialogue which takes precedence. English SDH subtitles have also been included for the English dub tracks. Due to the authoring of the discs, to compare the translations and transcriptions, you must use the pop-up menu to switch between tracks since the subtitle and audio buttons are disabled.
Extras
The only 4K restoration in the set and a major title in the studio's wuxia catalog, The One Armed Swordsman is given a disc to itself and it extras, starting with a new audio commentary by David West, author of "Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film". West, who had previously contributed an interview to the 88 Films U.K. edition, notes that while the film was an unexpected success – being the first Hong Kong-produced film to take in over a million dollars at a time when imports from the West resonated more with Hong Kong audiences including the likes of The Sound of Music – and its success made possible the follow-ups and competing studio productions, Shaw Brothers had actually announced taking a turn towards wuxia production the previous year in their trade magazine citing advances in choreography and cinematographic techniques since the genre's previous pre-war heyday. He also reveals that this shift lead to the creation of more male contract stars for a studio whose previous focus on historical and romantic dramas provided more varied roles for females whereas the male archetypes of those films were usually passive, scholarly types. West also discusses the cast, including those who were regulars of director Chang Cheh and also overtly notes the homoeroticism often cited in his works to the director's displeasure. Next up is an appreciation by film critic and historian Tony Rayns (38:09) who discusses Chang Cheh's early directorial works leading up to the film, the masochism inherent in Wang Yu's protagonists, and possible literary and cinematic inspirations for film including the success of the Zatoichi films in Japan. He also mentions that these early films did not credit their action choreographers and cites Lau Kar-Leung (The Legend of Drunken Master) for the work here. "One Armed Superstar" (41:15) is a 2001 interview with actor Wang Yu that was previously included in Arrow's Blu-ray of The One Armed Boxer. He recalls being suspended from his water polo team for a year for fighting and having nothing to do until he saw an ad put out by Shaw Brothers looking for young men for martial arts films (he was one of three picked out of four thousand). He trained under Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-Leung and his titular role in the successful Tiger Boy that got him recognition as a viable leading man in Shaw's color features. He discusses his Shaw Brothers vehicles and how his decision to follow Shaw Brothers production manager Raymond Chow to his new company Golden Harvest lead to a contract dispute that meant that he could not make films in China but he could do so in Taiwan, owing one film per year for Golden Harvest and producing others independently. In "Chiao Chiao: A Shaw Career" (16:32), the actress recalls auditioning for Shaw in Taiwan and going to Hong Kong with fellow actresses Jenny Hu (Love Without End) and Lily Ho. With the success of One Armed Swordsman and its sequels, she had no choice but to start learning martial arts but she pushed for more modern roles as well as discovering that she liked working in dubbing, revoicing actresses who did not speak Mandarin. In "Ku Feng on Chang Cheh" (18:47), the actor recalls the director's discovery of various Shaw stars and only comments briefly on the first film since he has a larger role in the third. He recalls working with Chiang and Lung, that the budget was larger for the the "new" film including the full bridge which was built specifically for the climax, and learning how to use the three-section staff from action choreographers Lau Kar-Leung and Tong Kai. In "Sam Ho on Chang Cheh" (22:21, English), critic Ho discusses the phases of Chang Cheh's career starting with direcitng in Taiwan and then becoming a critic when he was barred from directing in Hong Kong, followed by his first phase as a Hong Kong director with films like The One Armed Swordsman as a reaction to the female-dominated romance and historical films, noting the presence of masculine heroes and secondary females who try to make the men less heroic – one who chops off his arm, another who tries to get him to turn away from fighting – and the later phase in which he was more of an executive producer imposing his will on works primarily handled by action directors and other filmmakers. In "Daniel Lee on One Armed Swordsman" (10:46), the director of What Price Surival (also known as "The One Armed Swordsman '94") recalls Hong Kong martial arts films being a "guilty pleasure" while he was growing up with friends and colleagues who looked to Hollywood and European films for inspiration. He made his "One Armed Swordsman" film before meeting Chang Cheh and had a friendship within in the later years of the latter's life when they discussed projects Lee wanted to mount and ones Chang Cheh wanted him to direct. "One Armed Side Hustles" (10:06) is a video essay by film historian Brandon Bentley on actor Wang Yu and his various One Armed characters, discussing the reasons for his departure from Shaw Brothers, the lawsuits resulting from his subsequent films – the films seemingly undertaken out of both his liking of the disabled hero in different forms as much perhaps to stick it to Shaw – from the heights of The One Armed Boxer (fusing The One Armed Swordsman with The Chinese Boxer) and Master of the Flying Guillotine (also known as "The One Armed Boxer vs. the Flying Guillotine") to the lower-tier flicks like One Armed Swordsman vs. Nine Killers and The One Armed Swordsmen. The disc also includes the a trailer gallery featuring Mandarin and English (text) versions of the Hong Kong theatrical trailer (4:02 each) as well as a Chang Cheh trailer reel.  In addition to virtually-identical English and Mandarin Hong Kong theatrical trailers (3:58 each), The Return of the One Armed Swordsman features is accompanied by an audio commentary by critic Samm Deighan who discusses the film as a turning point for both Chang Cheh and Jimmy Wang Yu as well as for the wuxia's move towards a darker and grittier tone with less wire work and more gore. Deighan also argues that the sequel more so than the first film starts to develop themes that Chang Cheh would explore throughout his subsequent seventies and eighties Shaw productions including the moral code of protagonists whose skills come with a responsibility to help others in spite of their outcast status (self-imposed or not). Deighan also provides some background on the film's cast including the many familiar faces who pop up throughout this set and Shaw's overall filmography.  The New One Armed Swordsman is accompanied by an audio commentary by martial arts cinema expert Brian Bankston who goes into detail about Shaw's Raymond Chow luring talent to take with him to Golden Harvest, Run Run Shaw's response to the rival studio landing Bruce Lee – along with gaining comparable distribution to Shaw's theater chain through a deal with Cathay who had ceased production in 1970 but continued on as a distributor and exhibitor – by announcing the search for brand new talent and a slate of new films, emphasizing the arrogance of The New One Armed Swordsman's hero in a film that went into production the very next day. Golden Harvest was so driven to compete with Golden Harvest that they had Chang Cheh – who Chow reportedly tried to lure to Golden Harvest – simultaneously directing the film along with Deadly Duo and an entry in the anthology Trilogy of Swordsmanship. He provide background on Shaw's studio system and contract players, the three lawsuits against Wang Yu, and describes his further one-armed works as revenge attempts to cash in on Shaw's releases (fans of Wang Yu might bristle at Bankston describing Wang Yu's issues as all of his own making). Bankston also discusses the production of the film – which reunited Ching Li, David Chiang, and Tung Li from their earlier Have Sword, Will Travel – and how much was riding on its success. Later in the track, he discusses the phases of Chang Cheh's launching of superstar hopefuls from Wang Yu and Lo Lieh to "The Venoms" and the less-discussed fifth phase during his period of reworking and remaking earlier productions. The disc also includes virtually-identical Mandarin and English Hong Kong theatrical trailers (3:21 each), along with a German theatrical trailer (3:02) and the U.S. Triple Irons U.S. theatrical trailer (2:02) and TV spots (1:27).  Lady Hermit is accompanied by two identical Mandarin and English Hong Kong theatrical trailers (4:27) as well as an audio commentary by critic James Mudge who discusses the film's female focus and subversion of tropes and expectations (like the casting of Lo Lieh as a good guy and a pupil to a younger female) in the context of Chang Cheh's more "masculine" wuxia, the mounting of the production by Shaw with the knowledge that Cheng Pei Pei was stepping back as a "passing the torch" to Shih Szu, the film's incorporating horror elements in the context of the director's prolific and versatile Shaw filmography which included a number of Category III horrors in the eighties, as well as stimulating a reassessment of this reviewer's opinion of the filmmaking as workmanlike pointing out some striking compositions and foreshadowing.  Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan is one of two films in the set with multiple commentary tracks. First up here is an audio commentary by film critic and historian Tony Rayns who originally wrote the film up in the British Film Institute's Monthly Film Bulletin when it screened in the U.K. in a censored and dubbed eighty-three minute version. While he regards the film highly now, he recalls at the time merely being "taken with its perversity." He sheds light on the background of its director Chor Yuen for whom the film was only his fourth for Shaw but was given more creative freedom than most Shaw newcomers because he already had a resume of eighty-odd Cantonese-language films. Although as a newcomer to the studio, he had last pick of the scripts, he liked the script's idea of "love as a weapon to exact revenge" – Rayns quotes from Chor Yuen's oral history he recorded for the Hong Kong Film Archive – and shaped the script with writer Chiu Kang-Chien (Centre Stage) who was esteemed enough to work as a freelance writer rather than as part of Shaw's staple (while being in-demand by Shaw directors) but still regarded the film as an "imitation" of Chang Cheh because Run Run Shaw imposed swordplay that Chor Yuen wanted to leave completely out of it. Rayns notes how revolutionary the film's lesbian elements were at the time of the film and notes some surface similarities of the film to Jean Genet's play "The Balcony" which Chiu had translated among others when he worked in Taiwanese theatre. The second track is an audio commentary by critic Samm Deighan who also discusses the film's overtly feminist aspects as well as its role in Shaw Brothers incorporating more nudity and sex into their subsequent filmography, providing a survey of their erotic output in the next few years including many comic historical anthologies which were tame compared to European, American, and Japanese erotic films of the time and how Shaw caught up a few years later. Deighan also discusses Chor Yuen's incorporation of mystery and horror elements into his films as well as the women-in-prison and rape-revenge elements of the film, and Chor Yuen's previous Cantonese films and the role his subsequent film The House of 72 Tenants had in Hong Kong cinema's shift back to Cantonese. The film is also accompanied by the export alternate English export credits (2:00) – the ones on the feature presentation are bilingual and look more akin to a historical film while the export titles look more appropriate to a sexploitation film – and identical Mandarin and English Hong Kong theatrical trailers (3:21).  The 14 Amazons is accompanied by an audio commentary by Jonathan Clements, author of "A Brief History of China" who discusses the Yang family historically, in myth, and in various dramatic forms from opera and television to film. He notes that the last Yang general killed here was the grandson of Alexander Fu Sheng's character in The 8 Pole Diagram Fighter giving some idea of the timeframe that encompasses the family saga and also points out the minutiae of etiquette that the film sometimes fails to observe. While noting that the film is actually quite faithful to the particular opera on which it is based, he also reveals that he finds the casting of Lily Ho as a male distracting, and that the script takes certain historical liberties for dramatic license like the sexism of Kuo when female general had lead Chinese armies for centuries (while also noting that his historical equivalent has gone down in history as one of the "five devils" who crippled the Song Dynasty and is actually depicted in some tellings as an enemy agent). He also observes that the film is not so much accurate to the story and the period but to the artistic interpretations of it with nods not just to the opera but to theatrical acting styles, suggesting that that actually aides the film in managing to be epic while stripping down some of its scale for the budget. Clements also suggests an intent in casting many mainland actors in a film about foreign invaders which is also the reason that the film might not play well under the current People's Republic since many of the parties labeled as foreign here are now considered as equally Chinese with an equal claim to the territory. Extras also include an interview with stuntwoman Sharon Yeung (12:40) who reveals that her mother ran a restaurant at Cathay Studios and recommended her, whereupon she studied martial arts for five years before doing her first stunt work. When Cathay went into decline, she went to Shaw and her mother once against helped her by knowing director Cheng Kang leading to her working on Shaw's stunt team and getting to know many of the action directors, doubling for Lily Ho on the film and Intimate Confessions of a Courtesan. In the interview with critic Bede Chang (10:34), Chang notes that director Cheng Keng was already known as a director of family dramas and that he considers that aspect to be the strongest element of The 14 Amazons and opines that there is actually too much action and not enough on the conflict between moral integrity and filial piety, whether one's responsibility to the country outweighs that to the family, and sacrificing oneself for honor with the same expectation of loyal others. There is also an interview with film critic Law Kar (16:04) who also discusses the various Yang adapations and suggests a strategy in crediting the source to Taiwanese novelist Gao Yang's version rather than the opera. The disc also includes two Mandarin Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3:30 and 4:03) along with an English Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3:30).  In addition to identical Mandarin and English Hong Kong theatrical trailers (3:57 each), Magic Blade is accompanied by an audio commentary by critic Samm Deighan who discusses the film in the context of Shaw's sixties wuxia revival and the literally "darker" tone of Chor Yuen's films, the incorporation of western – particularly in Tang Li's "lone wolf" with a moral code compelled to help the weaker – murder mystery, and horror motifs into a conventional wuxia plot, and the ways that the film's more stylized fantasy has more in common with the country's pre-war wuxia films.  Clans of Intrigue includes two Mandarin Hong Kong theatrical trailers (3:05 and 4:04), a Cantonese Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3:05), and an audio commentary by critic James Mudge who compares Chor Yuen's cycle of "literary wuxia" – which are derived from more contemporary novel series than the centuries of classic wuxia texts – and Chang Cheh's cycle of films from this period, noting the former's greater influence in the direction of the studio's wuxia at this point than the latter who was still going strong (while also suggesting that the reason that Shaw kept releasing more conventional entries during this time was because they had a backlog of them in production due to the pace of Hong Kong filmmaking). Like the others, Mudge also discusses the murder mystery element associated with Chor Yuen, the convoluted nature of the plotting that tosses the viewer into the deep ending feeling like they are expected to know more than they film conveys as characters literally drop in and fly out of scenes, as well as the unusual focus on sexuality and intersex characters for a Shaw wuxia.  Jade Tiger is accompanied by the Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3:24) and an audio commentary by critic Ian Jane who put the film in the context of where both Chor Yuen and Tang Li were in their careers during the prolific year of 1977 as well as drawing on academic writing about the suitability of the studio setting for Chor Yuen to realize his films which focus on "dramas of human deception" in "illusory mansions" that are divorced from temporal and historical specifics (compared to the works of Chang Cheh and others where other commentaries have noted indicators in the dialogue, wardrobe, and production design to the setting). He also discusses Chor Yuen's affinity for adapting Gu Long's work – seventeen by his count – including this film which was co-scripted by the author, and their shared opinions on the selfish nature of martial chivalry.  The The Sentimental Swordsman audio commentary by David West, author of "Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film" also draws from the same academic and magazine sources in discussing Chor Yuen's studio worlds as "mythopoesis" while also discussing the difference in the director's treatment of female characters to author Gu Long and pondering why Chang Cheh did not take on adapting Gu Long's works given their shared opinions on staunch masculinity and Confucian feminine ideals. Also included are two Mandarin Hong Kong theatrical trailers (3:06 and 3:37) as well as a Cantonese Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3:06) identical to the first Mandarin one.  Avenging Eagle is accompanied by an audio commentary by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng who calls the film an "Eastern Western" and "a Ti Lung film featuring Fu Sheng" and notes that it was number three at the box office in the watershed year of 1978 where Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest were competing once again with the release of Drunken Master. He also discusses the structure of the story which actually starts in the middle and flashes back, as well as the question of whether the Cantonese or Mandarin track should be considered the original, noting that it likely was shown in Hong Kong in Cantonese but everyone was speaking Mandarin on the set. He also discusses the film's story, its use of humor which was not unprecedented in Shaw Brothers martial arts films but more pronounced going up against the Chan films, the weaponry on display here, the action direction of Tong Kai, as well as the familiar faces among the Eagles including Dick Wei (The Champions). The disc also includes the alternate English export credits (2:30) with the different title card more suggestive of an eighties action flick than a martial arts film, as well as a Cantonese Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3:46) and two English Hong Kong theatrical trailers (3:46 and 3:53).  Killer Constable probably should have been afforded its own disc in that is accompanied here by three new commentaries (and a separate version included on the bonus disc below). First up is an audio commentary by film critic and historian Tony Rayns who notes that the film's South Korean co-production status resulted from a film subsidy in that country following the production of King Hu's "Mountain" diptych. He also notes that the film was a late career triumph for director Chih-Hung Kuei at a time when Shaw Brothers was becoming less relevant next to Golden Harvest and the Chinese New Wave directors. Like Chor Yuen, Chih-Hung Kuei had directed Cantonese productions before the switchover to Mandarin, and the film emphasizes his criticism of authoritarian power and compassion for the downtrodden – with the hero simultaneously righteous and foolish inadvertently acting on behalf of corrupt forces. Rayns also notes the director's politics, his clashes with Shaw's producer Mona Fong, and his crossing over to gross-out Southeast Asian horror during the latter days of the studio. There is some overlap with regard to discussion of the director on the audio commentary by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng but he discusses the Korean co-production and the separate Korean version (see below), the recasting of Austin Wai who was intended to play Cun Yi but had to bow out due to a severe back injury, as well as the influences of the horror genre and Japanese chanbarra with zero wirework and a mix of Chinese and Japanese swordplay styles (owing to the production bringing on a second action choreographer who happened to be Japanese). Djeng also discusses the abhorrent nature of the hero and how the film contends with that through his growing awareness of the suffering of those outside the Imperial Court including the so-called criminals he has been executing. There is also overlap in the audio commentary by martial arts cinema expert Brian Bankston but Bankston does go into more detail about the troubled production, including the original shoot date being pushed back a month to allow for the design of new weapons like the hero's "horse killer" sword that was repurposed in other films as well as the original fifteen-minute heist sequence that elaborately introduced each of the thieves that was entirely cut for pace (although stills from the sequence survive on lobby cards), as well as comparisons to the Chang Cheh film The Invincible Fist of which this film is ostensibly a remake. Like some of Lo Wei's Jackie Chan films partially lensed in South Korea, Killer Constable features a South Korean version that is not an extended earlier edit like some of the Taiwanese versions but a different cut of the film featuring exclusively-shot scenes. Since film materials no longer appear to survive for this version, the additional and alternate scenes from the South Korean version (34:15) are included from a VHS source. The first seventeen minutes amount to a new opening while the remainder is intercut with the climax. In this version, the looted taels were in the process of being transported from the castle of Joseon General Ma to the Qing Emperor in Peking when it is stolen. In charge of the security, Hang-un is held responsible and set to be executed with his head offered to the Qing in compensation for the missing loot. Leng is Cheonsu, a former Qing constable who had been raised by Hang-un and has returned to Joseon to beg for mercy for his stepfather, offering to find the stolen gold and the perpetrators himself or be executed alongside his stepfather. General Ma's advisor Lord Lee is in on the robbery and misinforms the general about Cheonsu's investigation, and the general rewards his loyalty with a deaf mute but skilled bodyguard while Lord Lee sends Cheonsu's colleague Gwansu to kill him. The ending intercuts Cheonsu and the fake deaf mute spy exacting vengeance on the two chief conspirators, along with a happy ending for Cheonsu and the blind girl. The video quality is terrible and the sound warbly, but even if the photography was not cropped it would have been easy to distinguish the work of the directors as the South Korean scenes are flatly-lit and photographed with cheaper sets and costumes. The climax has censor cuts to some of the graphic violence, which is also probably true of scenes from the Hong Kong cut included in this version. The disc also includes the alternate Lightning Kung Fu English credits (1:40) derived from the eighties video release in which credits are superimposed over the same two close angles of a poster for the Sammo Hung film The Victim. The disc also includes two Mandarin Hong Kong theatrical trailers (3:17 and 3:21) along with an English Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3:17).  Buddha's Palm features an audio commentary by critic and translator Dylan Cheung who reveals that the film is a remake of a series of films from the sixties, condensing five two-part films into the plot of this feature while the comic cutout images seen in opening diorama are from a comic book adaptation that started shortly before the filming but was not otherwise related. The original series starred Walter Tso Tat-Wah as Lung Kim-fei who is seen here as an original character passing the baton to Man – Cheung also observes that both the original series and the feature were Cantonese productions bookending the Hong Kong film industry's Mandarin language period – while Koo originated the Buddha's Palm style in the original and was more of an eccentric Yoda figure rather than a madman. He also discusses some of the differences between the film and the earlier series – noting that the film's Kim-fei is far less passive and "annoying" than the more passive one in the earlier series – how Dopey the dragon is an amalgam of several monsters that featured in the series, the presence of various RTV/ATV actors, and the literal nature of wuxia character names (particularly in relation to this film's characters). The disc also includes the alternate Raiders of the Magic Palm English credits (1:22) for the export version as well as the Hong Kong theatrical trailer (2:42).  Bastard Swordsman is accompanied by the Hong Kong theatrical trailer (2:53) and an audio commentary by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng who discusses the original television series, the firing and recasting of Choi – whose schedules between ATV, Shaw, and another production company conflicted so he just stopped showing up at ATV – with one of the actors from the film (also noting that in spite of this Choi was cast for the follow-up series also for ATV). Djeng discusses the cast of largely television actors, the John Carpenter-esque synthesizer score, the influence of Duel to the Death and Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain on the film treatment as well as its own influence on the Swordsman trilogy, as well on the follow-up and revival series. Djeng also provides some background on the actors including Choi and Liu who was well-regarded by Bruce Lee.  A bonus ninth Blu-ray disc includes the South Korean version of Killer Constable (104:53) reintegrating the aforementioned additional scenes into a composite of the HD master and VHS source which is a nice option but it may be even more distracting to watch the lower-quality footage intercut rather than as a separate reel. The disc also includes several more new and archival extras devoted to films in the set starting with an Tony Rayns on Chor Yuen (39:11), a new appreciation that includes discussion of his early neorealist Cantonese films – many of which featured his actor father – and his transition towards more mainstream entertainment that includes a clip from a suspense film he describes as "Hitchcockian" but looks in feel and content to owe even more to Hammer's Les diaboliques-inspired Scream of Fear, his single film for Cathay before it shut down and he was signed to Shaw Brothers, the repeated story of his last pick discovery of the script that would become Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan and his subsequent series of Gu Lung adaptations. In a sub-menu for Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan we have Confessions of a Stunt Woman (4:51), a 2004 interview with stunt woman Sharon Yeung who reveals that she was initially hired to stunt double for Betty Pei Ti but Lily Ho's mother suggested that she would be a better physical match for her daughter so she ended up switching. Theories on Intimate Confessions (18:01) is a 2003 appreciation by academic Sze Man-hung, musician Kwan King-chung, and filmmaker Clarence Fok whose Naked Killer is ostensibly a remake. They muse upon into which genre the film actually fits, its cult status, and its unprecedented (at the time) sex and violence.  Under the sub-menu for The Magic Blade, there is an English-language audio interview with actor Ti Lung (21:02) who recalls falling in love with movies as a child – citing the long-running eighty-odd film Wong Fei Hung series of films – studying martial arts and then getting signed to Shaw, having to learn Mandarin, and what he feels he learned from different directors including Chang Cheh and Chor Yuen. The interview with director Chor Yuen(13:23) is a rather clip-heavy piece of generalized opinions on Shaw, his films, and his stars although he does reflect on how he approached each of the Gu Lung adaptations to avoid repeating himself. Next up is an interview with actor Yuen Wah (17:34) j which recalls his Peking Opera training as a child alongside Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao, being part of the "Seven Little Fortunes" – who he notes were not seven specific performers but seven main performers with backups – and his thoughts on Chor Yuen and doubling for both Ti Lung and Lo Lieh in the same fight scenes in Magic Blade in different angles (noting that the latter was easier to fight with while the former actually broke some of the prop blades during the fights). There is also an interview with actor Li Ching (14:56) who recalls being heavily-promoted by Shaw Brothers when she signed on in 1968 and that she had to learn martial arts but ended up laying a lot of dramatic and romantic roles in wuxia, but also recalls liking working for Chor Yuen because he often quoted poetry in his scripts and let her do it in Magic Blade. In "The Scriptwriter" (15:59), screenwriter Sze-to On who recalls his earlier days writing Cantonese screenplays and having to adapt to Mandarin for Shaw Brothers, writing The Tea House for Kuei Chih-Hung and adapting the Gu Long novels for Chor Yuen along with The House of 72 Tenants. "Sam Ho on Chor Yuen" (14:11), an appreciation by film historian Sam Ho in which he argues that Chor Yuen's social realist films were a reaction against the values of his father who was nonetheless heavily-involved in those early efforts as an actor, how the director moved towards mainstream entertainment as he became middle class, his role in rebirthing Cantonese cinema in Hong Kong, and how his Gu Long adaptations reflect the capitalist influence on seventies Hong Kong society with the authoritarian structures mirroring the corporate structure or mind games and blurred boundaries of good and bad. Under the sub-menu for Avenging Eagle are a pair of interviews. In "The Eagle Chief" (9:12), actor Ku Feng recalls knowing he did not have the looks of a hero and resolved to make his villain roles different from one another, playing down his characters' fierceness early on and expressing unspoken thoughts with his eyes and gestures. In "The Blue Eagle" (6:31), actor Eddy Ko recalls entering the Shaw training program and being lucky enough to get picked to be a regular in a stunt team – Shaw's stunt teams had thirty to forty performers who worked consistently – and his switch to acting when he realized he could not do stunts for the rest of his life. While the previous Shawscope sets included two CDs each of DeWolfe music library tracks used in the films, this third volume includes a single disc of thirty-five tracks (79:14). 
Packaging
The ten discs are housed in a digibook in a slipcase – neither of which were supplied for review – along with an illustrated 60-page collectors' booklet for which we were able to get a PDF copy. In his essay, West covers the history of pre-war and post-war wuxia cinema in the context of Shaw's announcement in 1965 that they were going to introduce a new form of the genre while also lamenting how little survives of the silent era works. The middle of the booklet is devoted to official synopses of each film supplemented by extensive film notes on each by Ian Jane who also includes trivia sections and "name that tune" sections citing the use of library and unauthorized mainstream Hollywood and British film score cues. Jonathan Clements provides an essay on Gu Long, discussing his works, the adaptations, and comments from his contemporaries including the lack of period specificity that allowed Chor Yuen to explore the wuxia as psychological battlegrounds. Dylan Cheung discusses the intersections of Shaw and the Hong Kong television networks like TVB which were initially the refuge of Cantonese creatives displaced by the switch in cinema to Mandarin productions. Presumably the CD track listing is printed on the digibook sleeve for the CD rather than in the booklet. 
Overall
At a time when several boutique labels are mining Celestial's Shaw library, Arrow's third mammoth Shawscope boxed set proves that there are still treasures to be discovered – along with well-remembered major titles that just took a bit longer to restore – and many lesser-known but no-less-formidable onscreen and offscreen talents who worked alongside Shaw's name performers and directors.
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