{"id":30433,"date":"2025-01-16T01:55:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T09:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30433"},"modified":"2025-01-16T01:55:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T09:55:59","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-horrible-history-four-historical-epics-by-chang-cheh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30433","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: HORRIBLE HISTORY: FOUR HISTORICAL EPICS BY CHANG CHEH"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This 2-disc \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray set from Eureka\nEntertainment is currently available for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recently, Eureka Entertainment have really been on a roll,\nreleasing a great many cult titles from around the world, often with a focus on\nHong Kong cinema. Just last month, they put out the fascinating set Horrible\nHistory: Four Historical Epics from Chang Cheh.<\/em> These large-scale Shaw\nBrothers productions attempted to combine martial arts and real tales about\nChina\u2019s past. They boasted more stars and elaborate plotlines detailing\nimportant, and sometimes lesser-known stories (at least, to western audiences).\nSome of these efforts were big hits, while others flopped. This set contains\nfour interesting titles produced between 1972 and 1976 that will be of interest\nto anyone who enjoys a twist on typical martial arts fare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This 2-disc Blu-ray set does impress with some great\ntransfers, informative commentary tracks and a featurette on both discs dealing\nwith the real events being depicted, as well as how they were adapted to the\nbig screen.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first movie in the package is Marco Polo<\/em> (1975), which for this writer is the weakest title. That\u2019s not to say that the film isn\u2019t interesting, simply that the three other movies in the set appealed more to this reviewer. The story is based around the notable 13th<\/sup> century Italian explorer, who was responsible for establishing trade routes between Europe and Asia. As it turns out, in the process Polo befriended and served for China Emperor Kublai Khan. While Khan managed to unite his country and expand its borders, he favored Mongols over the Chinese population, taxing them heavily. His practices were heavily influenced by outsiders like Polo, which caused bad blood across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This tale follows Marco Polo (Richard Harrison) visiting employer, Emperor Kublai Khan (Tung-Chun Li) and telling him about his latest exploits. When a local fails in attempting to kill the emperor, his brothers (Sheng Fu, Chi Kuan-Chun, Bruce Tong Yim-Chaan and Phillip Kwok Chun-Fung) unite and try to finish the mission. But to succeed, they must train rigorously. Polo and several fighters attempt to stop the team, but the heroes eventually confront the explorer and convince him that their cause is just. Polo tries to offer advice as they make their final move on Khan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film is a bit slow moving, taking a long time for the\ncentral conflict to develop. Despite being the title character, Polo disappears\nfor significant portions of the story. When he appears, he doesn\u2019t do much but\nsneer at the heroes and watch events from the sidelines, until eventually being\nmade to understand their frustrations. Still, when there is action, it is\nwell-shot and exciting to watch. This is a big epic and there are action scenes\nfeaturing a large number of fighting extras. It does suffer from some pacing\nissues, but has some dynamic moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image is fairly clean and the commentary track from\naction cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema is informative and\nentertaining. They\u2019re clearly having a good time talking about the picture,\nwhile also noting its issues and some of the more confusing story elements. If\nyou don\u2019t know a lot about this era, you\u2019ll get plenty of Polo and Khan trivia,\nas well as tidbits about the cast and crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For me, the most pleasant surprise in the set is the second\nfilm, The Pirate<\/em> (1973). This is a tale about famous 18th<\/sup>\ncentury Chinese swashbuckler Cheung Po Tsai. He was kidnapped as a young boy by\na pirate named Cheng, but impressed his captor and quickly rose up the\nbuccaneer ranks, becoming a major figure wanted by every government figure on\nthe high seas.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film begins with Cheung Po Tsai (Ti Lung) and his crew\nraiding a vessel and stealing an incredible bounty of foreign coins.\nUnfortunately, their ship is damaged in the process, forcing them to dock and\nget repairs done. As this occurs, some of his crew can\u2019t help but take some\ndoubloons and head into town for some fun. The hero also notes the terrible\ntreatment of locals by the government and begins to consider helping them out.\nSinister merchant Xiang You-lin (Tin Ching) and many others soon recognize the\npirates and try to hunt them for bounties. Additionally, the fearsome General\nWu Yee (David Chiang) also sets his sights on the protagonist. It all leads to\nan elaborate battle between all characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In some respects, this is a traditional pirate tale that\ntakes great liberties with its subject. But boy, is it a ton of fun. The\ncinematography is gorgeous. Even though it was shot near Hong Kong, the\nlocations and sea-set scenes are stunning to behold. It\u2019s fun to see the\nfilmmakers deliver swordplay and martial arts together and there are some\ncreative battles to the death. The interplay between Cheung Po Tsai and General\nWu Yee is extremely entertaining as well. While enemies, both men respect each other,\nleading to a showdown in which it is hard to predict the winner. Tonally, this\nis the lightest movie in the set, but it\u2019s a great time. The Blu-ray disc image\nis wonderful as well, with crisp, bright tropical locales and a large ship\nbattle scenes really wowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The East Asian film expert commentary from Frank Djeng and\nMichael Worth provides a lot of background information about the movie. It\nseems that this movie wasn\u2019t well received during its original run and tanked\nat the box-office (hence, no sequels or pirate\/martial arts copycats followed\nthis picture). The discussion also notes one strange plot hole (involving a\nship that must\u2019ve sunk off camera), but one also gets the impression that the\nspeakers are quite impressed with the production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, this first disc also contains a great video\nessay on Chang Cheh’s historical films by Jonathan Clements, author of A\nBrief History of China<\/em>. He gives important background information about all\nof these historical epics that is very enlightening to viewers like myself who\nare unfamiliar with these features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blu-ray disc 2 begins with the most famous film of the set, Boxer\nRebellion<\/em> (1976). This effort boasts a lot of political intrigue as well as\naction as it depicts the 1899-1901 uprising. In this tale, Empress Dowager (Li\nHua Li) is in control of China, but is falling under the influence of foreign\nnations and their representatives. One such figure is the German General\nWaldersee (Richard Harrison). With many average citizens being taken advantage\nof and\/or slaughtered by invaders, three brothers with different personalities\nand motives (Chi Kuan-Chun Chi, Sheng Fu and Leung Ka-Yan) try to inspire their\ncountrymen to fight back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, this is the most popular title in the set, and\nit\u2019s easy to see why. A couple of the main characters are really likable,\nparticularly co-star Sheng Fu whose character has a sense of humor. There\u2019s a\ngreat deal of drama and intrigue as the heroes try to build their own force and\ntrain them to fight, using some unusual techniques. There\u2019s also plenty of\nconflict, between the trio, as well as with the empress (whom they try to sway\nto their cause) and the villainous invaders from various nations. Even\nWaldersee makes an impression as one of the villains who, again, isn\u2019t played\nas a one-note baddie. This is a bleaker story and a long movie at 144 minutes,\nbut it moves at a reasonable clip and the brutal fights are excitingly\nstaged.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once again, this is a huge film with a big cast that looks\nimpressive on the Blu-ray. There are a few massive battles and the\nhigh-definition presentation is very good. Once again, the film comes with a\nMike Leeder and Arne Venema commentary that offers plenty of tidbits about the\nmovie and history behind the uprising. Curiously enough, they explain more\nabout Empress Dowager and her isolated upbringing in the Forbidden City. The\nleader had no understanding of the plight of her subjects, which partly led to\nthe rebellion. Curiously enough, upon her death, she made sure that a child,\nPuyi, eventually took the throne. He became the final Emperor of China (and the\nsubject of the 1987 Best Picture winning film, The Last Emperor<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a lighter note, the speakers also relay a remarkable\nstory about co-star Richard Harrison. The actor was getting a lot of work in\nEurope and Asia in the early 60s, and they state that his onscreen charisma\nresulted in an offer from Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone to star in A\nFistful of Dollars<\/em>. Apparently, Harrison wasn\u2019t interested and suggested\nthe director contact an acquaintance of his who needed the work\u2026 Clint\nEastwood. This and many other tales make for a fun listen. The other main bonus\non the disc is the featurette on the actual Boxer Rebellion. A historian talks\nabout what really happened and the liberties the film takes with real events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The final movie here is Four Riders<\/em> (1972), a feature set in the 1950s after the close of the Korean War. This stylish film takes place in Seoul and deals with a group of Chinese soldiers uncertain of their future after the conflict. They spend time in a nightclub run by a drug-runner Boss Hawke (Andre Maquis) and managed by Lei Tai (Yasuaki Kurata), who attempts to recruit the troubled warriors into his organization. When soldier Feng Hsieh (Ti Lung) refuses the offer and is framed for murder, three of his pals, including alcoholic veteran Chin Yi (David Chiang) try to stand up for him against the organization. It leads to a brutal and tragic confrontation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This unusual effort looks fantastic, with plenty of scenes\nset in neon-lit clubs. The fights are particularly brutal and often use\nhand-held cameras to emphasize the rough and nasty tone. The final showdown at\na gym and the club is memorable and the film, while imperfect, does effectively\nshow how war has affected soldiers in deeply personal ways. Once again, Chiang\nmakes a strong impression as the most skilled and unpredictable member of the\ngroup. The high-definition image quality is strong here and the colors really\npop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The commentary from Frank Djeng and Michael Worth is, again,\nvery informative and entertaining, giving plenty of background details about\nthe movie and noting some of the interesting camera set-ups and camera\ntechniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was familiar with Boxer Rebellion<\/em>, but had never\neven heard of the other three pictures in this collection. It makes Horrible\nHistory: Four Historical Epics from Chang Cheh<\/em> a really entertaining and\nenlightening journey into some lesser-known but high-quality features. I had a\ngreat time watching The Pirate<\/em> and Four Riders<\/em>, which also struck\na nerve with this reviewer. These efforts are given very strong visual upgrades\nand are highly recommended to anyone who enjoys Hong Kong or action cinema with\nan eye on historic eras.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This 2-disc \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray set from Eureka Entertainment is currently available for purchase. Recently, Eureka Entertainment have really been on a roll, releasing a great many cult titles from around the world, often with a focus on Hong Kong cinema. Just last month, they put out the fascinating set Horrible History: Four Historical Epics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[103,104,106,107,697,3067,3076,3367,7100,7780,9288,9318,13183,13303,18194,21885],"class_list":["post-30433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-103","tag-104","tag-106","tag-107","tag-action","tag-blu-ray","tag-blu-ray-set","tag-boxer-rebellion","tag-eureka-entertainment","tag-four-riders","tag-hong-kong","tag-horrible-history-four-historical-epics-by-chang-cheh","tag-marco-polo","tag-martial-arts","tag-shaw-brothers","tag-the-pirate"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}