Ten Tigers of Kwantung Review by Ian Friedman
What happens when you mix all the Venoms (even Wei Pai), Ti Lung, Fu Sheng, Ku Feng, Johnny Wang? Well, you get an amazing asskicking experience. Ten Tigers of Kwantung is as much a tribute to the career of Cheng Cheh as Shanghai 13 and perhaps even more because it was a Shaws film, whilst Shanghai 13 was an independent production. This film contains actors from the early period of Cheng Cheh’s Shaw career, the Venoms, and even the so-called Baby Venom’s. Ten Tigers of Kwantung is a portrait of Cheng Cheh’s work in a broad brush stroke.
The film is certainly uneven to an extent similar to Heaven and Hell and the fact that this project like Heaven and Hell was clearly two different pictures merged into one. The film has often been criticized for a use of flashbacks to help connect the two separate projects, but I feel that it is fairly easy to understand in the version I saw (which was the re-mastered Region 3 version put out by IVL) and if you go in knowing this its not really that bad. The films features some great fights, both in terms of how they are choreographed and the match of the combatants. Its very interesting getting to see Ti Lung fighting along with the Venoms. A wide variety of weapons are on display in this film including a giant mermaid statue (which is deadly as hell)! The plot deals with the attempts of the Qing (headed up by Johnny Wang) to catch a Ming rebel (played by the always great Ku Feng) and the consequences of their attempts. The film has one of the two most crazy lead villain deaths ever. They may not be the goriest or bloodiest, but they are ones that will make you jaw drop and really will catch you by surprise. The story is quite brisk and enjoyable and you won’t find yourself fast forward or bored. While there is a lack of character development, one should treat this as a pure action film as opposed to a more character based work by Cheng Cheh. Still that doesn’t mean either film type isn’t great! The final two ending images of the cast really are a testament to the legacy and greatness of what Cheng Cheh achieved at the Shaws. Ten Tigers of Kwantung is highly recommend for its start and action power.
The DVD put out by IVL is pretty good barring some sloppy conversion problems (they is going to be remedied quite soon by Media Blasters) and a pissy 5.1 remix full of lame surround sounds and new effects (a mono version of the track free of these additions should be available on the VCD version). The good new is that fans will be able to see this film in Region 1 via Media Blasters. This version will contain mono sound, and a remastered English dub and more than likely some great extras. This is why I strongly caution people to avoid junk releases by PanMedia. The elements used to source there English dub mostly comes from old VHS tapes, even when synced to newer video. If fans really can’t wait to hear a dubbed version they are advised to trade for copies of it. In fact most PanMedia releases come from fan re-dubs. There is really no reason not to seek a trade at Kung Fu Cinema’s forums and save the money for legit releases. You can get the legit R3 via HK FLIX at this link
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