The Five Venoms (DVD – Dragon Dynasty)

The Weinstein Company finally delivers its first Shaw Brothers film release in over a year on their Dragon Dynasty label with Chang Cheh’s kung fu classic THE FIVE VENOMS, re-titled THE 5 DEADLY VENOMS. Apart from the numerically-written value, this title matches the original English-dubbed edition released in the U.S. in 1981 by World Northal. It is perhaps fitting given that this DD release happens to include the original English dub as an optional track.

The print on this disc matches the print released by Hong Kong distributor Intercontinental Video Limited in 2003 with only minor technical differences. The picture has been fully remastered by Celestial Pictures and is crisp and vibrant. Color on the DD version appears slightly fuller (see screen cap comparison). DD’s running time is approximately four minutes longer. (I wasn’t able to run a side-by-side comparison to check for added scenes.)

DD includes two mono audio tracks (not counting the commentary) in Mandarin and the original English. As someone who originally grew up watching shapes kung fu films with English dubs produced from a select group of voice actors, I still prefer this to the Mandarin audio. Part of this reason is knowing that the Mandarin audio was dubbed as well, as were virtually all Hong Kong movie voice tracks in the 1970s. In contrast, IVL’s release includes artificially enhanced 5.1 surround remasters of the original Mandarin and Cantonese tracks.

Based on a quick comparison, the English subtitles on the DD release appear to match the IVL version word for word. There are some awkward translations in this text but it’s still a viable alternative for English-speaking audiences who prefer to hear the Mandarin audio.

Looking under the hood, DD’s version is presented with the superior progressive scan whereas IVL’s version is interlaced. The difference is that interlaced scanning generally produces more horizontal distortion which is most noticeable on higher quality monitors. Looking at bitrates, the IVL version comes out ahead in numbers. DD’s video was recorded at 3.84Mbps whereas IVL’s is 7.74Mbps. DD’s audio bitrate was recorded at 192Kbps and IVL’s is at 384Kbps. Bear in mind that the extra audio data on the IVL release is exhibited in the added surround mastering.

DD has opted to go light on their bonus material this time around by only including an audio commentary with resident martial arts movie expert Bey Logan. This is a good thing. Sales of DD’s initial Shaw releases, which did include substantial bonus material, were below company expectations. I always felt that the time and money invested in upgrading these old school releases with interviews and other extras was generally a waste because the classic kung fu film market in the U.S. had already been well defined by the release of no-frills, budget DVDs. So long as the picture and/or audio are upgraded, buyers typically prefer quantity over quality. Hopefully, sales of THE FIVE VENOMS will be sufficient to convince DD to continue with this trend and actually speed up the release of their remaining Shaw titles. On a side note, DD seem to have dropped their “Special Collector’s Edition” label for single disc releases which is another good thing. This was potentially confusing because they never released any standard versions of DVDs, thus making their special editions less than special.

Bey’s commentary is up to his usual high standard for providing a lightly entertaining mix of film facts, observations, insider perspective, and humor. While he continues to speak with a broad audience in mind, Bey also reveals a few interesting tidbits that may be new to genre buffs. There is mention of the rift between Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-leung. Bey also discusses Wing Chun stylist Leung Ting, who initially replaced Lau as a senior action director for several of Chang’s films. A shock to me was where Bey names an extra who turns out to be Chin Tsi-ang, one of China’s first female martial arts stars from the silent Shanghai era, who also happens to be Sammo Hung’s grandmother. Another startling revelation, at least for me, was learning that actor Lo Meng professed to have never used weights to build up or tone his muscles, but rather relied on his extensive martial arts training regime.

DD’s FIVE VENOMS release delivers precisely what it needs to for a classic kung fu release on DVD, a quality transfer of an equally quality remastered print with original language tracks in their original mono format. The packaging is bold, attractive and well-representative of the film. Given how long it’s taking TWC to roll out their 50 acquired Shaw releases – only five so far in over three years – bonus material is the last thing we need so the limited extras on this one are of no concern. The suggested price point of $19.97 is acceptable knowing that consumers will get significant discounts for pre-orders and post-release markdowns.

Regarding public domain and bootleg DVD releases of THE FIVE VENOMS released in the U.S., this licensed DD release is superior to all of them. Anything put out by EPI, PanMedia or Red Sun should be avoided.