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■ Shaw Brothers
Shaw Brothers was a legendary Hong Kong film studio, run by the Shaw family (especially Run Run Shaw), famous for its prolific output and pioneering the global popularity of martial arts (kung fu) films, operating like a factory with in-house stars and massive sets at its “Movietown” studio, creating iconic films

R.I.P. Chen Kuan-tai (Shaw Brothers actor)

The truth is that I was already working on a Shaw Brothers article, when I heard that news that actor and choreographer Chen Kuan-tai had passed away, due to cerebral hemorrhaging. He was 80 years old.

Chen Kuan-tai starred in 164 films (I know that number looks very high, but this is common for contract players in the Shaw Brothers studio), and his most notable roles, at least to me, was in The Master (or aka 3 Evil Masters) as the lead star, Heroes Two (where he stars opposite Alexander Fu Sheng), and, my personal favorite, Crippled Avengers (aka Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms).

This is just my opinion, but I think Shaw Brothers tried to make Chen Kuan-tai a leading good guy, but I’ve always felt he never had the classically good looks (such as Fu Sheng). I also wasn’t a fan of the mustache… so I’ve always felt that he was more suited to play the villains. I was proven right, when he killed it as the main baddie in Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms. He was just so pure evil. I think he was just born to play the part. His side-man, another evil-looking guy is played by Johnny Wang. Whenever I see Wang on screen, I just know he’s the bad guy.

Anyway, for those unfamiliar with Shaw Brothers, they were the largest film company in Hong Kong. It was started in 1958 by three brothers Runje, Runme, and Runde. The brothers went on to produce over a thousand films, but only about 700 of them were rescued and restored from the original film negatives by Celestial Pictures, directly from the Shaw Brother’s film vault. Of those 700, half of it (350-400) are of the martial arts/kung fu genre. It’s one of my goals to own all those Kung Fu films. I would estimate that I have about 300 in my collection… so I’m get getting there. At this point, I’ve seen them all, and whatever is left are probably not worth the hunt.

In America, there are two companies that has the Shaw Brothers license: Arrow Video and Shout Factory (three if you count 88 Films – a UK based studio that releases Blurays with no-zone so you can watch it in the USA). Both niche studios got about 100 films each, and they’ve already released them all – with Arrow’s Shawscopes boxsets (4 volumes each containing about 16 movies per set) and Shout Factory’s Shaw Brothers Classics boxsets (8 volumes each containing 12 movies per set).

As you can guess, all the bangers (Super Ninjas, North vs South Shaolin, Five Fingers of Death, Flying Guillotine, 36th Chamber of Shaolin) have already been released… and whatever they have left are scraping the barrel. Basically, the higher the volume, the more obscure the movie titles. Sometime, it’s really cool to see a weird oddball film (especially remastered), but when you watch it – there’s a good reason why those films were not celebrated! They’re terrible! Sometime, you do get gems, there’s no doubt about it. You are rolling the dice on the more obscure titles, is what I’m trying to say.

Shaw Brothers Return of the Five Deadly Venoms

Shawscope Presents: Street Gangs of Hong Kong

Since Arrow is running out of Kung Fu titles, they have collected all the Shaw Brothers’ gang movies in one collection called Street Gangs of Hong Kong. The $100 boxset is coming out November 24, 2026, just in time for Christmas. I am curious about the set, but I probably won’t buy it. I have yet to purchase Shawscope Volume 4 – and that’s more of a priority for me.

This set contains brand new 2K restorations of seven films:

DISC ONE: THE DELINQUENT (contains English dub)/ THE TEAHOUSE
Brand new audio commentaries for both films by Hong Kong cinema expert Frank Djeng

DISC TWO: BIG BROTHER CHENG / BIG BAD SIS
Brand new audio commentaries for both films by Frank Djeng

DISC THREE: THE BIG HOLDUP / THE CONVICT KILLER (contains English Dub)
Brand new audio commentary for The Big Holdup by Asian cinema expert James Mudge
Brand new audio commentary for The Convict Killer by Asian cinema expert David West

DISC FOUR: THE BROTHERS / EXTRAS
Brand new commentary by James Mudge
Remaining Fearless, a brand new interview with actor Susan Shaw, filmed and conducted by Frédéric Ambroisine in 2026
The Iron Monkey of Macau, a brand new interview with actor Chen Kuan-Tai
Martial Memories, a brand new interview with actors Chen Kuan-Tai and Bruce Le
Two new interviews with film critic and Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns discussing the films of Kuei Chih-Hung and Chor Yuen
Predicting Heroic Bloodshed, a brand new interview with Frank Djeng discussing The Brothers’ legacy

The Blade Spares None / The Hurricane

As you recall, since Shout Factory ran out of Shaw Brothers films, they’ve been focusing on Golden Harvest. Unfortunately, I don’t think they sold too well, and only two volumes have been released. I own both and can tell you that they are not great films. I hope to see better titles in their future collection (if they decide to release more).

Meanwhile, Arrow continues releasing their Golden Harvest films … but not as boxset. Instead, they’ve grouped The Blade Spares None and The Hurricane as a double-feature, showcasing lead actress Nora Miao. The double-disc release retails for $40, and will be available November 10, 2026.

Once again, I need to mention that Golden Harvest is a blindspot for me, so I know nothing of these films. All I know is that the Shaw and Raymond Chow (Golden Harvest) were rivals, and for a time, Golden Harvest was on top thanks to signing Bruce Lee, who became a global superstar, putting Golden Harvest movies on the map.

Details:

In 1970, veteran producer Raymond Chow broke free of Shaw Brothers to form Golden Harvest, recruiting a plethora of skilled technicians, innovative choreographers and future superstars. Among them, the young Nora Miao helped put the fledgling company on the map and reinvigorated the female-led wuxia genre, showcasing all her talent and charisma in The Blade Spares None and The Hurricane. In Teddy Yip’s surrealist wuxia The Blade Spares None, Miao plays Ho Li-Chun, a swordswoman seeking revenge for her father’s assassination by an avaricious fiend posing as a prince. Alongside her righteous comrades Tang Ching-Yun (Patrick Tse Yin, Shaolin Soccer) and Chen Jo-Yu (James Tien, Fist of Fury), they’ll defeat anyone who stands in their way in their pursuit of the imposter prince. Fresh off the success of The Big Boss, Golden Harvest’s leading filmmaker Lo Wei directs Miao, once again alongside Patrick Tse Yin in The Hurricane, an action-packed tale of conspiracy and treachery, where our heroes must form an unlikely alliance to try and stop a corrupt minister from betraying the Empire. Prior to her eventual crowning as the female kung fu protagonist par excellence playing opposite Bruce Lee, Nora Miao was at the top of her aerial swordplay form, shining as a formidable warrior with supernatural fighting prowess in two of Golden Harvest’s earliest triumphs, newly restored for their Blu-ray debuts.