Eureka Entertainment Set To Release The Magnificent Chang Cheh
Two films from the long and illustrious career of director Chang Cheh releasing under Eureka Classics Banner
He’s considered the ‘Godfather’ of Hong King Cinema and Eureka Entertainment set to release The Magnificent Chang Cheh. The maestro of martial arts cinema, Chang Cheh releasing under the Eureka Classics banner on Blu-ray in April.
One of the Shaw Brothers Studio’s most prolific directors, Chang Cheh – or the “Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema” – is the filmmaker behind Five Deadly Venoms, Chinatown Kid and Boxer Rebellion. Collected here are two films by this maestro of martial arts cinema that showcase his considerable talents at both ends of his career: The Magnificent Trio, produced when wuxia films ruled the Hong Kong box office in the mid-1960s, and Magnificent Wanderers, made at the height of the kung fu craze at the end of the 1970s.
In an early role that pre-dates his star-making turn in Chang’s The One-Armed Swordsman, Jimmy Wang Yu stars in The Magnificent Trio as swordsman Lu Fang, who – along with fellow warriors Yen Tzu-ching (Lo Lieh) and Huang Liang (Cheng Lui) – lends his martial arts prowess to a group of oppressed farmers when they kidnap the daughter of their local magistrate. Then, in the kung fu comedy Magnificent Wanderers, the three nomads Lin Shao You (Fu Sheng), Shi Da Yong (Chi Kuan-chun), and Guan Fei (Li Yi-min) attempt to join Chinese patriots in their struggle against invading Mongol armies with the help of the wealthy Chu Tie Xia (David Chiang).
From straight-faced wuxia pian to farcical kung fu comedy, The Magnificent Trio and Magnificent Wanderers display the full range of Chang Cheh, a filmmaker who sat in the director’s chair for over three decades. Eureka Classics will release this Blu-ray for the first time in the UK and North America.
LIMITED BLU-RAY EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES:
Limited edition of 2000 copies | 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 | 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 | PLUS: A limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on Chang Cheh by writer and critic James Oliver | All extras subject to change
HONG KONG | 1966/1977 | 12 | 206 MINS | 2.35:1 OAR | ACTION/MARTIAL ARTS | MANDARIN
The Magnificent Chang Cheh will be released on Blu-ray as part of the Eureka Classics range from 28th April in the UK and Ireland, with North America on 29th April.
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