Blog Archives

Exploitations from the Far East (DVD box set) (1975)

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Posted on May 4, 2008 by Justin

As they did with their Wuxia box set, Siren Visual have put together a set of five films from the Shaw Brothers with similar themes, packaging them up in rather a nice-looking box set with new artwork and menus on all the discs. This one’s rather less high-minded than the tales of chivalry and heroism in the last one, though — it’s a box of Shaws’ less salubrious fare from the late 70s and early 80s, when they moved … (read more)

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Shaolin Hand Lock (1978)

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Posted on March 12, 2007 by Justin

David Chiang (who seems to have become rather a staple of my DVD viewing of late, for some reason) returns to the martial arts genre with this film, from rather prolific Shaws director Ho Meng-hua. Also in the mix are Lo Lieh, perennial Shaws actor, and Michael Chan (Chen Hui-min), who’s still acting today, most recently in Enter the Phoenix, The Spy Dad and You Shoot, I Shoot.

Our story follows (naturally) David Chiang’s character, a young man … (read more)

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Illicit Desire (1973)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Justin

Illicit Desire is another erotic costume drama from Li Han Hsiang, and the third from him that I’ve seen so far that is (at least partly) an adaptation from the same source — The Golden Lotus, as seen also in (unsurprisingly) The Golden Lotus and The Tiger Killer. He even uses some of the same actors, with Tanny Tien Ni, Hu Chin and Chen Ping also in this one.

This film’s a little different, though. It’s essentially three … (read more)

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Death Duel (1977)

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Posted on March 3, 2007 by Justin

Oh, look, it’s another brightly-coloured Chu Yuan fantasy swordplay film, like the squillions of other ones he made for Shaw Brothers — except that this one has a number of features that make it a little different, and a bit of a surprise as well. Made in 1977, this film stars Derek Yee (David Chiang’s younger brother, and director of 2004’s great One Nite in Mongkok) as Third Master, reputedly the number one swordsman in the world. His stature … (read more)

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The Golden Lotus (1974)

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Posted on October 29, 2005 by Justin

Well, this is a different kind of film for me to review; The Golden Lotus is a Shaw Brothers film that features no kung fu, no roving swordsmen, no cultists, no priests, and no battling for honour or control of the martial world at all. It does (as the synopsis above says) have murders, corruptions and sexual exploits. Mostly sexual exploits, actually — the corruption and murders are generally side-effects in this story. So, consider yourself warned: most definitely not … (read more)

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