REVIEW: ‘Come Drink with Me’ (DVD – Dragon Dynasty)

It’s time to throw away those scratchy old VHS bootlegs and even IVL’s remastered DVD import. COME DRINK WITH ME, King Hu’s wuxia masterpiece arrives in the U.S. with a beautifully restored picture in 16×9 digital widescreen, new audio commentary and interview with its star Cheng Pei-pei and interview with co-star Yueh Hua.

This version adds an improved 16×9 aspect ratio for widescreen displays and a slightly sharper image that is otherwise identical to the IVL release. As far as I know there never was an original English dub track and there certainly wasn’t one available for this release. DD has put together a new English track for the Blockbuster crowd while the rest of us can enjoy the original Mandarin audio in all its two-channel, mono glory.

Audio Commentary with Cheng Pei-pei and Bey Logan - Regular commentator Bey Logan is joined by COME DRINK WITH ME star Cheng Pei-pei (speaking in English) for this new commentary. If you have not heard their previous commentary with Cheng’s daughter Marsha on the IVL release, this is definitely worth listening to. If you have, it’s optional as they rehash some of the same material and an accompanying interview with Cheng covers just about everything. Still, it’s extremely nice of Cheng to take more time out to talk about her most famous movie. It’s been a few years since I listened to the previous IVL commentary but it seems they have devoted more time to talking about the film’s co-stars and what they’ve been up to since. For first-time listeners there are quite a few interesting facts about the production and as always, Cheng is delightful to listen to, even with her strong accent. It is amusing to hear Cheng make fun of Bey’s genre knowledge, something a lot of his co-commentators do, despite the appreciation of genre fans he knows well. She also patiently corrects his Cantonese name pronunciation so listeners interested in saying actor names correctly should pay more attention that usual.

The King and I: Tsui Hark Remembers King Hu (14 minutes) - Speaking in good English, Tsui Hark talks about his earliest memories of watching King Hu’s films, his influences and working with the director in later years. What I like best about this segment is that Tsui doesn’t represent the average Hong Kong resident. He’s like a Chinese Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino who has great affection for the genre films of yesteryear and can dig up all sorts of detailed memories. It makes me wish he was still at the top of his game because few modern filmmakers can appreciate the wuxia pian the way he does.

Come Speak with Me: Exclusive Interview with Cheng Pei-pei (17 minutes) - Cheng covers everything of interest here that she also discusses in the audio commentary which makes this a nice feature for those not interested in sitting through nearly two hours of conversation. A couple highlights include her comments regarding action director Han Ying-chieh, having to endure watching a third or fourth generation bootleg version of COME DRINK WITH ME and accidentally stabbing co-star Chen Hung-lieh in the leg with a real short sword. In her commentary, she points out the moment when this occurred.

A Classic Remembered: A Retrospective with Bey Logan (17 minutes) - This is essentially an oral essay by Bey who more formally and concisely presents his opinions on the film. It’s a good companion piece to the interview with Cheng Pei-pei although a little light on factual details. Bey gives special mention to Cheng’s relationship to King Hu. It’s hard to say if he overstates the observation but it’s compelling nonetheless to think that Cheng could have been King’s muse had they continued to work together. They clearly had a special bond is revealed in Cheng’s comments in the commentary. Also included are some excellent, full-screen behind-the-scenes photos in black and white. These rare pics make up for a lack of any photo gallery.

The Drunken Master: Exclusive Interview with Man Yueh Hua (18 minutes) - The Dragon Dynasty team strike gold yet again by nabbing this exclusive with Cheng’s co-star Yueh Hua. He’s a pleasant and humble fellow who briefly discusses his career and digs up memories of working on COME DRINK WITH ME. One gets the impression that it was a bittersweet experience. It made him a superstar and yet he knows he wasn’t right for the part and was not King Hu’s choice either.

Trailers - The DD team knows their fans well. They don’t bother with the new Celestial trailers and instead include original trailers for COME DRINK WITH ME and HEROES OF THE EAST.

Format: Region 1 NTSC DVD
Aspect Ratio: 16×9 Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio: Mandarin Dolby 2.0 Mono, English Dolby 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Length: 95 minutes
Release Date: 2008.05.27

Related Topics: Bey Logan, Cheng Pei-pei, Come Drink with Me (1966), Dragon Dynasty, DVD, gallery, Shaw Brothers, Yueh Hua