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Which Shaw Brothers Celestial DVD's should I buy?

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Which Shaw Brothers Celestial DVD's should I buy?

Old 09-14-03, 02:44 PM
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Which Shaw Brothers Celestial DVD's should I buy?

There have been several R3 releases. I have not seen many of their films and am looking to pick up around 10 or so from DDDHouse. Any suggestions?
Old 09-14-03, 08:56 PM
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I have only picked up the martial arts releases, but I can't wait for Inframan. I'd recommend:

-The 36th Chamber of Shaolin(aka Master Killer)
-The Heroic Ones
-Killer Clans
-The Magic Blade
-Disciples of the 36th Chamber
-Heroes Two
-Iron Bodygaurd
-Shaolin Temple
-Drunken Monkey(their most recent movie and a comeback for the studio)
Old 09-14-03, 09:32 PM
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Water Margin (aka Seven Blows of the Dragon) comes out Oct. 2. If you can wait that long to build your order.
Old 09-18-03, 10:01 PM
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Others?
Old 09-18-03, 11:17 PM
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Come Drink With Me...

I need some more suggestions also, I need to get some more of these.
Old 09-19-03, 04:34 PM
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Return to the 36th Chamber of Shaolin (aka Return of the Master Killer) came out this week.

Here's an upcoming release list:

October 2
Condemned, The (1976) [Action/Adventure]
One Way Only (1981) [Action/Adventure]
Tiger And The Widow, The (1981) [Drama]
Too Late For Love (1966) [Drama]
Two Con Men (1975) [Comedy]
Water Margin, The (1972) [Martial Arts]

October 16
All Men Are Brothers (1973) [Martial Arts]
Big Holdup, The (1975) [Action/Adventure]
Heroes Shed No Tears (1980) [Martial Arts]
Police Force (1973) [Action/Adventure]
Siamese Twins, The (1984) [Horror]
Soul Of The Sword (1978) [Martial Arts]
Spiritual Boxer Part 2, The (1979) [Martial Arts]

October 22
Super Inframan (1975) [Action]

November 6
Criminals, The (1976) [Thriller]
Lady Professional, The (1971) [Action/Adventure]
Mahjong Heroes (1981) [Comedy]
Shaolin Hand Lock (1978) [Martial Arts]
Two Champions Of Shaolin (1980) [Martial Arts]
Younger Generation, The (1969) [Drama]

November 20
Diary Of A Lady-killer (1969) [Drama]
Human Goddess, The (1971) [Fantasy]
King Gambler (1976) [Action/Adventure]
Lion VS Lion (1981) [Martial Arts]
Shadow Whip, The (1970) [Martial Arts]
Swordsman And Enchantress (1978) [Martial Arts]
Young Lovers (1978) [Drama]

Last edited by devilshalo; 09-19-03 at 04:48 PM.
Old 09-20-03, 12:52 PM
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Come Drink with Me
Hong Kong Nocturne
House of 72 Tenants
Till the End of Time

These early releases also contain interviews and commentaries.
Old 09-25-03, 11:07 PM
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I ordered many of the above today. I also picked up Jade Tiger. Has anyone seen it, Heaven and Hell, or Danger Has Two Faces?
Old 12-21-03, 06:50 PM
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Hmm... Who is supposed to be the Spider? Always thought the venoms were...

Snake, Centipede, Scorpion, Lizard, & Toad?

Wonder why they put a pic of a spider?
Old 12-22-03, 12:42 AM
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Five Shaolin Masters is coming out the middle of next month!! My all time favorite Shaw flick...now and then...a must buy for sure!
Old 12-22-03, 09:52 AM
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Is 'The Five Venoms' out?
Old 12-22-03, 02:35 PM
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Originally posted by mrwilson
Is 'The Five Venoms' out?
Yeah.. it was released last Thursday. Mine is on it's way! Yippeeeee!
Old 12-22-03, 04:30 PM
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Thanks for reminding me. Off you use the plastic again!
Old 12-22-03, 07:33 PM
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Originally posted by devilshalo
Yeah.. it was released last Thursday. Mine is on it's way! Yippeeeee!
Goy mine today with a slew of other SB movies. Have to love DDDHouse!
Old 01-14-04, 10:30 PM
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Yes, I just got my DDDhouse order today---great service, low prices and fast shipping from them. I've also had good luck with Sensasian.com----very good customer service.

The restored Shaw Brothers movies were the reason I got a region-free player, and I have not been disappointed.

My favorites so far:

36th Chamber of Shaolin----greatest kungfu movie ever

The Bastard----very tragic, but with some great fight scenes, and some profound moral comentary

The Magnificent Trio----beautifully filmed, great colors, remake of a Japanese samurai film, and really a great film to show the influence of Japanese filmmaking combined with the unique Chinese interpretation of the genre

Heroes Two---Chen Kuan Tai and Fu Sheng, tons of great kungfu, and perfect theme music

Come Drink With Me----groundbreaking martial arts film--great restoration

Killer Clans----another beautifully filmed movie---fantastic set design, nice swordplay
Old 05-07-04, 07:13 AM
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I am wanting to order a few of the Shaw Brothers films and I was wondering if you guys could give me the following :

Top 5 Action Movies
Top 3 Drama Movies
Top 2 Comedy Movies

I am mainly interested in the HK releases.
Old 05-07-04, 09:24 AM
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I'm also looking to add some of the titles to my collection, but since there are literally hundreds of them that have come out, perhaps people could post ones that they DO NOT suggest getting... most of them are apparently pretty good to terrific, so a warning about ones to avoid would be helpful.

A few that I have really enjoyed:

Killer Clans

The House of 72 Tenants - very funny!

Teenage Dreamers - teen comedy with a very young Leslie Cheung
Old 05-07-04, 12:00 PM
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I just got Eight Diagram Pole Fighter from Nicheflix and I'm seriously considering buying it.
Old 05-07-04, 01:57 PM
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Originally posted by CheapBastid
I just got Eight Diagram Pole Fighter from Nicheflix and I'm seriously considering buying it.
I watched my copy last night and thouroughly enjoyed it. Glad I bought it.
Old 05-09-04, 09:00 AM
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Originally posted by flashburn
I am wanting to order a few of the Shaw Brothers films and I was wondering if you guys could give me the following :

Top 5 Action Movies
Top 3 Drama Movies
Top 2 Comedy Movies

I am mainly interested in the HK releases.
Comeon, give me your reccomendations!
Old 05-09-04, 09:28 AM
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Well, I don't know much about the comedy or dramas, but as far as the Shaw martial arts, I can give you some things to look for.

Three of their big directors (of which quite a number of their films have been released by Celestial already) were Chang Cheh, Chor Yuen and Liu Chia Liang.

Chang Cheh was the most prolific, and is often called "The Godfather" of HK kungfu movies. He made almost a hundred movies from the mid 60's to the mid 80's. He was most known for focusing on male bonding, loyalty and brotherhood---not much on romance, family relationships or comedy. He used a lot of slo-mo and fake blood, and he was kind of obsessed with the idea of the lone hero sacraficing himself for his friends. John Woo was an assistant director under him, and obviously got a lot from CHang Cheh. He's also kind of a sloppy director, in that there's often some cheesy or heavy-handed touches to some degree in most of his work, even though he was a groundbreaking visionary, IMO.

Most of his 60's (swordplay) and early 70's (kungfu)movies had bigger budgets and better production values than his later stuff. towards the late 70's and early 80's, working with his stable of actors known as the "venoms", he had pretty low budgets, and the movies are kind of cheap-looking, although the martial arts just got better and better. I tend to prefer his earlier stuff, but a lot of kungfu fans like his later work. Anyways, some of his I would recommend:

*The Magnificent Trio----early 60's swordplay
*Have Sword, Will Travel----late 60's swordplay
*The Blood Brothers---early 70's kungfu--great story, kungfu, production values.
*Heroes Two----early 70's kung fu, folktale of two real kungfu heroes
*Boxer from Shantung----very violent, but well-done early 70's kung fu tragedy----John Woo was assistant on this one, and it kind of plays like a kungfu version of "THe Killer".
*The Five Venoms--later 70's kungfu with the Venom actors---almost a hybrid of horror and kung fu, quite original
*Invincible Shaolin----awesome kungfu

Chor Yuen was a much more artistic director, and he had a lot more colorful, sensual cinematography---and there was a lot more romance and sexual themes in his movies. He also adapted a lot of CHinese swordplay novels to film, and as a result some of the plots can be rather convoluted and complex, with a ton of characters. Some of my favorites of his are:

*The Bastard---great overall movie
*Sentimental Swordsman----great swordplay
*Death Duel----more swordplay
*Killer Clans----I think it won an award for art direction---beautiful swordplay movie

Liu Chia Liang was the action choreographer for Chang Cheh during the early part of his career, and then he started directing his own movies. He's a real-life kungfu master from a traditional martial arts family, and he brings that to his movies. He probably had a deeper understanding of Chinese martial arts than any other filmmaker, and this is evident in both the on-screen fighting, and the training scenes, and the themes of teacher/master relationships and martial ethics. Also, he started bringing in more comedy and family relationships, and less violent endings to kungfu movies (everyone doesn't always die )

Some of his best IMO are:

*Executioners from Shaolin----just a great kungfu movie on every level
*36th Chamber of Shaolin---my vote for greatest kf movie ever
*8 Diagram Pole Fighter---one of his last works of his Shaw career, very dark and bleak----the star was killed in a car accident during filming---incredible kungfu, though.


Anyways, that's some, and there are great, detailed reviews of all of these Celestial releases at

www.kungfucinema.com
Old 05-09-04, 01:37 PM
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Ky-Fi gave a very good description of what Shaw Bros. movies to look out for. I'll just add to that by posting some of my favorites.

Swordplay films

New Tales of the Flying Fox
Magic Blade
Clans of Intrigue
Soul of the Sword
Jade Tiger
Killer Clans
Sentimental Swordsman
Death Duel
Twelve Gold Medallions

Kung-fu films

Heroes Two
Invincible Shaolin
Five Venoms
Two Champions of Shaolin
Clan of the White Lotus (when it get released)
5 Shaolin Masters
36th Chamber of Shaolin
The Master
8 Diagram Pole Fighter

Other genres mixed with kung-fu or swordplay

Super Inframan
Boxer from Shantung
Blood Brothers
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan
Buddha's Palm

This is what I could think of off the top of my head. Some of the ones that I am looking into but haven't watched yet, are the FLying Guillotine series, and My Young Auntie.
Old 05-09-04, 01:49 PM
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Awesome! Thanks for some of the suggestions. I plan on placing an order at DDDHouse in a few weeks, and wanted to know which ones I should check out first.
Old 05-09-04, 02:56 PM
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Originally posted by flashburn
Awesome! Thanks for some of the suggestions. I plan on placing an order at DDDHouse in a few weeks, and wanted to know which ones I should check out first.
I'll try and recommend some stuff, but I need to know what you are looking for. As for Shaw Bros movies, I only know the martial arts films that they made, and I have no clue on the other genres. One non-marital arts movie that I want to look into is Hong Kong Nocturne. It's like a comedy musical starring the 3 well-known actresses at Shaw at the time, Cheng Pei Pei, Lily Li (I think), and I forgot the other one.

If you are looking for martial arts, list some of the martial arts movies that you have enjoyed (it doesn't necessary have to films from Shaw studios), and I'll try my best to offer some recommendations.
Old 05-09-04, 03:04 PM
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Originally posted by Master Killer
I'll try and recommend some stuff, but I need to know what you are looking for. As for Shaw Bros movies, I only know the martial arts films that they made, and I have no clue on the other genres. One non-marital arts movie that I want to look into is Hong Kong Nocturne. It's like a comedy musical starring the 3 well-known actresses at Shaw at the time, Cheng Pei Pei, Lily Li (I think), and I forgot the other one.

If you are looking for martial arts, list some of the martial arts movies that you have enjoyed (it doesn't necessary have to films from Shaw studios), and I'll try my best to offer some recommendations.

Here are some of the martial arts movies I have enjoyed...

The Avenging Fist
Most Jackie Chan + Jet Li flicks
New Dragon Gate Inn
Once Upon A Time In China 1,2, + 3
Most Samurai movies(esp. Lone Wolf + Cub, Zatoichi)..

Honestly, the Martial Arts genre is probably the one area I lack the most in. So a good place to start would just be what people consider to be the 'essentials'.

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