Chang Cheh had many films in Shawscope and other sets that were pretty magnificent. But two moviews with the M word in their title are cool to collect in a small set.
The Magnificent Trio is an early effort from 1966. As such, it contains mostly standard fights, though a pretty good prison break scene. And it’s got Jimmy Wang-Yu and Lo Leih.
Magnificent Wanderers is 11 years later and is more the kind of Shaw Bros. movie we’ve come to know. It has a myriad of wild weapons including bullwhips and more of a sense of humor.
The extras are worthy of those box sets with commentaries from the reliable Frank Djeng and Michael Worth on Trio and Mike Leder and Arne Venema on Wanderers. Gary Bettinson does a video essay that articulates how Cheh was emerging in Trio and established by Wanderers.
And the films on Blu-ray still look as good as the other restored sets. It’s a good thing Shaw kept good archives and Celestial Pictures did their work in 2005.