Director: Chang Cheh
Certificate: 12
For anyone who’s been following this site’s coverage of Arrow Video’s superb Shaw Brothers box sets, there’s one name that you’ll be fairly familiar with – Chang Cheh. The prolific director made nearly 100 films in his time at the studio and arguably perfected the more action heavy style of Wuxia film that Shaw became famous for with The One Armed Swordsman. This two film set from Eureka highlights a couple of lesser known films from either end of his Shaw Brothers career.
The Magnificent Trio
Written by: Keiichi Abe, Chang Cheh, Hideo Gosha
Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu, Lo Lieh, Lei Cheng, Ping Chi, Margaret Tu Chuan, Fanny Fan
Running time: 103 mins
Year: 1966
A swordsman returning from war spies a group of men kidnapping a young woman. When he intervenes, he finds the men desperate, representing a small rebel movement in the region who are opposing the local magistrate – the woman is his daughter, and they intend to overthrow his iron grip on the region by petitioning the government for his removal. The swordsman teams up with both the villagers and two other warriors to fight back against the oppression, an act which puts them all in danger as the magistrate hires a group of mercenaries and criminals to hunt them down.
Predating The One Armed Swordsman, The Magnificent Trio almost feels like a warm up for Cheh’s influential Wuxia movie, as well as demonstrating some of the earlier sensibilities he would carry over into that film. With a story full of social commentary, it paints an intriguing picture of poverty and oppression and the band of heroes fighting against it that is common among the genre.
The titular trio are fun to watch here. Jimmy Wang You plays a similar role to that of his starring role in the one armed Swordsman while Lei Cheng is the more stereotypical wandering hero archetype. Rounding things out is an early role for Shaw Brothers stalwart Lo Leih as a conflicted but heroic character,showing the degree of brooding that he would continue to bring into The likes of King Boxer and an intensity that would lead him towards more villainous roles later in his career.
The action is, on a whole, far less flashy than the films from later in Cheh’s career with some noticeably slower fight scenes and less use of wire work, but what we do get is effective, especially in the chaotic and fun finale. There’s also, as with other film from this time, more use of obvious soundstage sets which, while good looking, do very clearly show most of the action is being filmed inside. This does contrast with some gorgeous exterior photography scattered throughout the film, however, where Cheh shows off his deft ability to fill the widescreen frame with sumptuous imagery.
Despite a slower pace, the film has an intriguing plot which goes to some surprisingly dark places full of moral ambiguity, and the performances from our three leads will keep you engaged. As a film showing a director honing his craft, The Magnificent Trio is a great addition to the Chang Cheh library while perhaps not being an absolute essential.
Magnificent Wanderers
Written by: Tzu-Nan Chiang, Yung-Chang Li
Cast: Sheng Fu, David Chiang, Kuan-Chun Chi, Yi-Min Li, Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok, Feng Lu
Running time: 98 mins
Year: 1977
A wealthy businessman funding a local rebel group has his money stolen by unscrupulous peers and teams up with three conmen to fight back against invading Mongol oppressors.
Just over ten years after The Magnificent Trio, Cheh directed this somewhat more lighthearted take on the typical “rebels take on an invading force” story. It’s got all of the usual Chang Cheh trademarks, from great looking cinematography and action scenes, to a great soundtrack and some stylised titles, but this really feels like the director going through the motions and is easily one of Cheh’s weakest Shaw Brothers films.
The lead cast are on great form at least; Sheng Fu brings the same slightly wacky energy that made him a standout in the likes of Avenging Eagle and The Shaolin Temple, while David Chiang (The New One Armed Swordsman) is playing his usual straight man to the broader comedic characters. Kuan-Chun Chi and Yi-Min Li fill out our roster of heroes with the former delivering some excellent acrobatic kung fu.
Sadly, outside of the action, the film falls rather flat with some ill aimed humour and a deathly slow and unfocussed pacing. The baddies themselves are played more for comedy and the stuttering Mongol official that our heroes are up against barely feels like a threat; in fact all the villains are significant in their incompetence, barely putting up a fight and constantly being thwarted even up to the final frame, almost like the antagonists of a Saturday morning cartoon. Definitely one of the weakest films from both Chang Cheh and Shaw Brothers as a whole.
Magnificent Wanderers is at least a great looking film with some superb location shooting and extravagant sets that leave you wishing the film managed to deliver the full package. Worth watching for the action scenes, but fast forward through anything involving the weak baddies.
Bonus features
- Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju)
- 1080p HD presentations on Blu-ray from masters supplied by Celestial Pictures
- Original mono audio tracks
- Optional English subtitles, newly translated for this release
- Optional English dub – Magnificent Wanderers Only
- New audio commentary on The Magnificent Trio by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and martial artist and filmmaker Michael Worth
- New audio commentary on Magnificent Wanderers by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- Chang Cheh Style – new video essay by Gary Bettinson, editor-in-chief of Asian Cinema journal
- A limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on Chang Cheh by writer and critic James Oliver
This limited edition set from Eureka is a little on the light side when it comes to bonus features, particularly given how rich in detail other Shaw Brothers releases can be. The transfer itself on both films is lovely though, highlighting just how good a visual filmmaker Cheh was, while the video essay, Chang Cheh Style, is a fascinating dive into the directors signature style, as well as how it instructed Shaw’s house style, as well as that of Hong Kong cinema itself. It’s a fascinating watch for anyone interested in film making that pulls apart how Cheh directed, particularly how he made use of the widescreen aspect ratio to frame his shots.
Overall, this isn’t an essential set with one film that’s a fine watch and one film that’s probably not really worth your time. If you’re a Shaw Brothers completionist then it’s probably worth picking up, but these films are largely footnotes in a career filled with more significant movies.
Leave a Reply