Shaw Brothers Invincible Shaolin and Heroes Two

WHAT’S IT ABOUT THEN?

Hurrah to Kaleidoscope as they bring us a new series of releases from the studios of Hong Kong’s famous chop socky Shaw Studio’s, Hong Kong’s oldest studio set up run by brothers Runme Shaw and Sir Runrun Shaw, beginning in the sixties and having their Zenith in the seventies Shaw Studios was huge with a complete town on its backlot. Making hundreds of movies over the years, most of them kung fu themed Kaleidoscope are releasing some of their choicest items at the rate of two a month. Here we look at the first two releases Invincible Shaolin and Heroes Two.

INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN
1978 | 99 minutes | Extras
Dir: Chang Cheh
Starring Lu Feng, Sun Chien

After the Ching government orders the Shaolin temple to send disciples to be Kung Fu instructors to court it sets up a quarrel between the northern Shaolin and their Southern counterparts. Fantastic fighting action from the same team who made the previous years The Five Venoms (one of the studios biggest hits), the training scenes are the stand out moments as the three Southern shaolin set out to master a different style of fighting each as they determine to beat the Northern shaolin.

HEROES TWO
1974 | 91 minutes | Extras
Dir: Chang Cheh
Starring Alexander Fu Sheng, Chen Kuan-tai

When the soldiers of the Ching government burn down the Shaolin monastery, survivor Hung His-Kuan faces a fight for his destiny as Ching general Che Kang determines to see him dead, he his helped in his battle for survival by fellow Shaolin disciple Fang Shih-yu (played by 19 year old Kung Fu superstar Alexander Fu Sheng). Based on real historical fact Heroes Two has plenty of action and a rousing battle sequence at the movies climax. These 70’s movies knock spots off of stuff produced today too with wide angle scenes showing just how good the martial artists really are (no need for quick cut close ups here). Picture quality on both these releases is excellent and very sharp. If you are a fan of Kung Fu in its prime then these movies must both be marked down as essential.

Both these movies have that classic studio shot look with outrageous action sequences and dodgy acting well to the fore, what is great about DVD is that rather than the usual badly dubbed voice overs you get with these kind of movies is that you can also get the original Mandarin soundtrack with English subtitles, which just makes the whole thing more real for some reason. Both releases also contain documentaries on various aspects of the Kung Fu movie industry.

Definitely releases to watch out for.