Exact
Revenge
(The
Eunuch
(1971) + Deadly
Knives
(1972, aka Fists
Of Vengeance))/Hong
Kong 1941
(1984/both MVD/Eureka! Blu-ray)/Master
Of Ballantrae
(1953/Warner Archive Blu-ray)
Picture:
B-/B-/B-/B Sound: C+ Extras: B-/B-/C Films: B-/B-/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Master
Of Ballantrae
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Now
for historic melodramas with action, et al....
Exact
Revenge
is a recent set of early 1970s Shaw Brothers films that first
includes Wing-Cho Yip's The
Eunuch
(1971) about an assassination attempt on the title character (Pai
Ying) from the current Emperor (Lo Wei) and kills the whole royal
family! That is except The Prince, so he intends to hunt him down
and that is the rest of the film, facing his pole fighter protector
in the process.
Not
bad and well done for the kind of film it is, I would not write it
off as a mere 'revenge western' with some nuances and the film is
ambitious, so those interested will want to see it and for themselves
if it is more than that.
Il-Ho
Jang's Deadly
Knives
(1972, aka Fists
Of Vengeance)
has a couple in love, but peace is not in the cards as a Japanese
gang threatens his family and the home land they have as the
Imperialist Japanese continue to occupy China. Her is ready to reap
revenge, no matter the circumstances and protect the woman he loves
at all costs. Her father is a problem too.
Again,
you get some serious melodrama, but it is not solely a film in that
genre, and it is an action film like The
Eunuch, so they make a
solid match in this set. Eureka! paired these up appropriately and
have done their usually excellent job in presentation and bonus
content.
This
is a Limited Edition set of 2,000 copies and extras include
Po-Chih
Leong's
Hong
Kong 1941
(1984) was produced by Sammo Hung and co-stars Chow
Yun-fat earlier in his career, a decent drama about WWII Japanese
Imperialist occupation of the title locale that is not perfect, but
is more on than off and takes its subject matter as seriously as its
audience. We also get a love triangle, hopes by the characters that
the nightmare will end and they'll have their old life back (with
freedom being a separate essay) and is a key film from that cinema in
its time.
Cecilia
Yip and Alex Man make up the rest of the cast and casting here is
really good, helping the film be more effective. You do not have to
know the total history of the world events the film takes place in to
enjoy the film, but it gives it more impact. With that said, I felt
it still had some off moments, but it deserves this restored and
expanded treatment and those interested should definitely see it.
This
is also a
Limited Edition set of 2,000 copies and extras include a Limited
Edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Time Tomorrow
Limited
edition collector's booklet featuring new writing on Hong
Kong 1941
and Po-Chih Leong by Gary Bettinson, editor of Asian Cinema journal
New
audio commentary by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian
Film Festival)
Hong
Kong 1984 - new video essay by Tony Rayns on the contemporary
impact of Hong Kong 1941
Archival
interview with Chow Yun-fat
Archival
interview with Cecilia Yip
and
an Original Theatrical Trailer.
William
Keighley's
The
Master Of Ballantrae
(1953) is yet another Errol Flynn action romp with a decent budget
and A-list intents as a Highlander-turned-pirate in this big screen
adaption of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel. With Beatrice
Campbell, Yvonne Furneaux, Roger Livesay, Anthony Steel and Mervyn
Johns is the supporting cast, it is solid and only three TV remakes
have happened since (including Brian Cox and Julian Glover in a 1975
BBC version, Michael York and Richard Thomas in a 1984 TV version) so
this is well done enough to be THE big screen version.
However,
Flynn was not in full energy mode at this point because he was having
health issues and the film can be as uneven as the screenplay, but
this was shot in the U.K. and that is still a plus. Warner Archive
has once again restored, preserved and saved a key film and those
interested can now see it better than it has been available in a long
time (mint condition film prints notwithstanding) and its
ambitiousness is a plus.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer and two classic Warner Bros.
Technicolor cartoon shorts: Bully
For Bugs
and Plop
Goes The Weasel.
Now
for playback performance. The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition
image transfer on
The
Eunuch
can show
the age of the materials used at times, but some of the flaws are
from the older anamorphic lenses credited as ShawScope here resulting
in some flaws being permanent. Otherwise, you get some good shots,
compositions and color throughout. The Mandarin PCM 2.0 Mono shows
its age as almost expected, but sounds as good as it ever will.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Deadly
Knives can also
show the age of the materials used at times, but some of the flaws
are from the older anamorphic lenses credited as ShawScope (or the
like) here resulting in some flaws being permanent. Otherwise, here
too you get some good shots, compositions and color throughout. The
Mandarin PCM 2.0 Mono shows its age as almost expected, but sounds as
good as it ever will.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Hong
Kong 1941 can show
the age of the materials used at times, but often looks good, though
why it has some more age to it that it should for a film from its
time is based on how it was shot, stored, the film used and the lab
work done for it at the time. It is well shot too. Still, color is
decent and consistent. The Cantonese PCM 2.0 Mono also shows its age
as well, but also sounds as good as it ever will, though I expected a
little more considering it is the newest of the four recording-wise.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Master
Of Ballantrae
can
sometimes show the age of the materials used, but this is far
superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film on home
video and is usually close to how a 35mm
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor version of the film would have
looked like at the time, even if it might lack slight vibrancy in
parts. It was lensed by the legendary Jack Cardiff, so that makes it
additionally special just on a visual basis. The DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 2.0
Mono lossless
mix is the oldest soundtrack here and has at least as much money into
it as the latter films, but it also just sounds older than I would
have liked, though I wonder if the music score would sound better on
its own from its original source.
To
order The
Master
Of Ballantrae
Warner Archive Blu-ray,
go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo
