Cast: David Chiang, Richard Harrison, Alexander Fu Sheng, Brian "Beardy" Leung Ka Yan, and Ti Lung
Region: B
Label: Eureka
Four historical epics directed by the prolific Chang Cheh, in one limited edition blu ray boxset.
Marco Polo, The Pirate, Boxer Rebellionand Four Riders on two-discs in this 2,000 print run only release with slipcase and booklet.
Chang Cheh made nearly a hundred films during a long and storied career spent at the Shaw Brothers Studio, where he directed such landmark films as The One-Armed Swordsman, Five Deadly Venoms and The Heroic Ones. Many of his films drew upon Chinese history for inspiration – and many of them were based on real people and events, four such films are gathered here in this Eureka Entertainment blu ray release.
In Marco Polo, the eponymous Venetian explorer (Richard Harrison) becomes embroiled in a battle between the Mongol Empire and Chinese rebels in the thirteenth century.
In The Pirate, the infamous nineteenth-century raider Cheung Po Tsai (Ti Lung) must evade agents of the Imperial Court while attempting to aid the downtrodden residents of a coastal village.
In Boxer Rebellion, a group of Chinese patriots use kung fu to protect their nation against invading forces at the turn of the twentieth century.
Finally, in Four Riders, a Chinese veteran of the Korean War enlists three comrades to help him escape the South Korean Military Police Command after he is falsely accused of murdering an American soldier.
Marco Polo, The Pirate, Boxer Rebellion and Four Riders are all fascinating examples of the rewriting of history common in popular genre cinema, directed with aplomb by a veteran of Shaw Brothers in Chang Cheh – one of the most celebrated and prolific filmmakers in Hong Kong. All four films are presented on Blu-ray from HD masters supplied by Celestial Pictures.
