Tang Chia’s kung fu classic OPIUM AND THE KUNG FU MASTER, starring Ti Lung and Chen Kuan-tai makes its way to the U.S. courtesy of Funimation as part of their “Hong Kong Connection” collection of Shaw Brothers classics licensed from Celestial Pictures’ remastered and restored Shaw Brothers library.
This is a quality release that should please general kung fu movie collectors not obsessed with bonus content or audio/video perfection. Funimation did a good job on the cover art and menus by adequately representing the film with distinctive art that matches the rest of their series.
Video quality is very good with Celestial’s cleaned up master providing a vibrant, color-rich picture with no print damage worthy of mention. There is some light over-saturation at times and on close inspection the picture displays a lot of grain or noise that will be of little or no consequence if your nose isn’t inches away from the screen.
The disc includes two audio tracks including original Mandarin and English dubbed tracks, both in two-channel mono. Easy-to-read, optional English subtitles are also provided.
This title was made available on DVD alongside HONG KONG GODFATHER on April 27, 2010. It was preceded by SHAOLIN HANDLOCK and THE 14 AMAZONS. Since, Funimation has released INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN and LIFE GAMBLE. The distributor plans to release more Shaw titles through the rest of the year. Remaining titles include SHAOLIN PRINCE, THE DUEL, SHAOLIN RESCUERS, SOUL OF THE SWORD, BASTARD SWORDSMAN, RETURN OF BASTARD SWORDSMAN, THE SUPREME SWORDSMAN, THE SWORD OF SWORDS, and THE LADY HERMIT.
Related Topics:
DVD • Funimation • Opium and the Kung Fu Master (1984) • Shaw Brothers
- Scott
