Triple Threat: Three Films with Sammo Hung really captures three different eras of the martial artist. All three were new to me, and restored in gorgeous HD by Eureka.
The Manchu Boxer is a traditional post-Bruce Lee martial arts movie. Hung is one of the opponents, like he was to Bruce Lee and other early martial arts heroes. Scenes on beaches, green fields and snow showcase how the Blu-ray brings out the environment that earlier dubs muddle.
Paper Marriage is the ‘80s Sammo Hung vehicle. Of the three movies in the collection, this is the one that actually puts Hung in a boxing ring. This exemplifies the type of action/rom-com combo Hong Kong wasn’t afraid of in the ‘80s. Hung agrees to a greencard marriage to Maggie Cheung to pay off his gambling debts.
So it’s got all the mugging and pratfalls of Hong Kong comedy. Cheung falling in the toilet looks like a male stuntman. The third act also involves swapping identical bags so the couple gets criminals’ loot and the insane action set pieces ensue. Sammo slides under a house foundation and fights in a mall with a pirate ship in the courtyard and water slides.
Like the Jackie Chan 4Ks or Inspector Wears Skirts Blu-rays, Paper Marriage is the best a Hong Kong movie has ever looked. They actually filmed in Canada, a frequent location for American ‘80s movies too.
Shanghai Shanghai is Hong Kong cinema at the height of its powers. Yuen Biao is the star so it’s got two of the three brothers. Anita Mui makes a worthy third too. Biao rises up in Hung’s criminal underworld in ‘30s Shanghai. You know they’re not going to stay on the same side forever. Action scenes are elaborate, maximizing choreography in real world environments, but fully utilizing the martial artists too.
This is another stunning HD restoration, with the lights of the city nightlife glowing on screen.
They’ve got Frank Djeng commentaries, one with Michael Worth, the other with F.J. DeSanto. They paired Arne Venema with Donnie Ting. That keeps me on my toes but it doesn’t change the usual irreverent dynamic Venema usually has with Mike Leeder.
Director Alfred Cheung speaks about Paper Marriage and his career and disc three has extended cuts of Manchu Boxer and Shanghai Shanghai, but as this was my first viewing of each I’d need a more detailed account of the differences to weigh in. Good to have a thorough archive of versions though.