Martial
Arts Collection - Wave Four (20th
Century
DVD set (Fox era))
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Films: C+ (Mr.
Vampire:
C)
Battle
Creek Brawl
(1980)
The
Iron-Fisted Monk
(1977)
Knockabout
(1979)
Mr.
Vampire
(1985)
The
Postman Fights Back
(1982)
Though
the Karate/Kung-Fu cycle of the 1970s ended for the most part, the
Asian film producers that thrived on them kept them going from the
late 1970s until Hong Kong became the new center of the world for a
new breed of such action filmmaking. 20th
Century Fox, a company that has done well since back in the day on
such films, has been licensing and issuing many of the films from the
in-between era in Martial Arts waves that include anamorphic video
transfers and DTS sound remixes.
The
five films here feature future stars Chow Yung Fat and Jackie Chan,
plus genre favorites Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung. In this period, the
films survived by being spoofs of them, mocking the past cycle before
the John Woo's of the world brought on a new era of them. They are
too silly to be for real, and they made more humor out of the action
than Bruce Lee could have ever imagined. Of course, you have to be
steeped in the previous attributes of the genre to appreciate them,
or you will find them bizarre.
Battle
Creek Brawl
places Jackie Chan, the most comic (and thus obnoxious) of all the
stars in 1930s Chicago battling cartoon gangsters and all of it
becomes thin very quickly. At least Chan is somewhat likable in this
case and this was before he really wore out his welcome. Being a
post-Godfather
film, this is being played for some humor, erroneously using the
1930s as a safer, easier time to deal with. The only plus is that a
minority character is given lead status considering the genre.
The
Iron-Fisted Monk
happens to be Sammo Hung's directorial debut, with another monk that
kicks butt when pushed too far. Many such films later, it is not as
tired and has some interesting fighting, but it ultimately wears thin
as it is still not as serious as it needs to be. It fares a bit
better than the Chan film, though. It has since been upgraded to
Blu-ray and you can read more about that at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16349/Beast+From+Haunted+Cave+(1959+w/Ski+Troop
Knockabout
pairs Hung (also directing again) with Yuen Biao as one of two
thieves, who have things going smoothly until they cross a kingpin
thief (Hung). This fares better than the previous two films, but
does not go as far in the grittier world of underworld crime that it
does in hand to hand combat and has way too much humor injected into
its fighting sequences.
Mr.
Vampire
is beyond silly and never works as a Horror work, though it was
hardly intended as such. The action here is ruined by the slapstick
and I doubt it is a cult item, but a curio for those who will just
have to see it to believe it. This mix did not work in a more
serious way before, so this was the weakest film of the bunch.
The
Postman Fights Back
has a funny title, but this early Chow Yung Fat entry is not bad for
its time, as early China is about to undergo changes that will make
him ''go postal'' to survive the transition. Though far from being
as substantial as something like The
Last Samurai
(2003), it shows why Fat became a star. It is also the best film of
the set, mostly by default. It too has since been upgraded to
Blu-ray and you can read more about that at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16333/A+Moment+Of+Romance+(1990/Radiance+Blu-ray
In
these cases, the R-rated films (Brawl,
Monk,
Postman)
are more watchable than the other two films. Two of the three
R-rated films are shot in 2.35 x 1 scope formats, with PG-13 rated
Knockabout
joining them, and Brawl
and Vampire
cut to fit the 1.78 X 1/16 X 9 HDTV ratio. They all show their age
and are about even in their fidelity, including color consistency and
clarity, while older installments have more grain. The sound mixes
are similar to the last batches, in that obviously new sound effects
have been added to make the 5.1 mixes possible, all of which are in
both lossy Chinese (Mandarin) and English Dolby Digital 5.1 except
the original English of Brawl.
All DTS tracks are in English, the original lossy version still
sounding better than any Dolby Digital today. These mixes can be
awkward and even unintentionally funny, but only purists should be
disappointed otherwise. The only extras are for all five films in
the series on each DVD, but these are updated and not original
theatrical. Those can be found on the film DVD of origin, listed as
the only special feature on each. This at least does right by fans
and in the better moments, you can see where Quentin Tarantino is
coming from.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
