Blog Archives

The Wuxia Stories: Heroes of Ancient China (DVD box set) (1970)

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Posted on February 10, 2008 by Justin

Now that Siren have a large catalogue of releases from the celebrated Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong, they’ve started boxing them up into box sets, all the better to tempt you with. Wuxia Stories is the first one, showcasing five films from Shaws’ prolific swordplay director Chu Yuen and one from Cheng Kang, father of action director Ching Siu Tung.

For those readers who aren’t aware of it, wuxia refers to a particular genre of Chinese film and literature, … (read more)

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The 14 Amazons (1972)

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Posted on March 25, 2007 by Justin

The 14 Amazons is one of those films in which Shaw Brothers pulled out all the stops: it’s got a huge cast, quite a bit of location shooting, an epic story and some huge melee battle scenes. Though many would assume from the title that it’s got either a strong feminist or exploitative slant, it’s got neither: instead, it’s a straight tale of heroism and determination that just happens to be centered around a family of women.

Their menfolk are … (read more)

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The Twelve Gold Medallions (1970)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Justin

Yueh Hua was a stalwart of Shaw Brothers swordplay films for many years, after two quite prominent roles in his first two films; The Monkey King in Monkey Goes West (a story familiar to Aussie fans of the Japanese Monkey TV show) and Drunken Cat in Come Drink with Me, King Hu’s classic wuxia film. In The Twelve Gold Medallions, he plays the lone swordsman Miao Lung, fighting to prevent a traitorous minister’s plot to stop a general’s … (read more)

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