Ultimately a letdown since most of the films in this set have received newer restorations, with these two hampered by older restorations and masters. The slipcover, disc book, and booklet for Volume Two are identical in form and size to Volume One, except deep red rather than blue. Look, I’ve gone on about how much I love this format. I use Billy bookcases to display my DVDs, which are pretty deep — in fact, just the right depth to slide these into my Arrow collection without breaking up the row of collector’s editions they sit beside. For fans who use custom shelves or shallower units, though, these look incredible sitting atop a shelf with other extra-sized sets. Arrow then includes a 2003 Celestial featurette entitled A Hero on Scaffolding, running 14-minutes. It ends up not being at all what I had expected. What I expected was a general featurette about the film and what I got was a featurette that is more about the various types of scaffolding in Hong Kong, though intercut with details about how it’s used in the film and information around Shaolin martial arts techniques. To my surprise it ends up being rather interesting. Tony Rayns on The Bare-Footed Kid (16:28, HD) – A shorter primer from Rayns about To’s work, beginning with his one-off movie, The Enigmatic Case (1980), and TV work, then moving through his theatrical output. He pauses to discuss the history of late Shaw competitor Cinema City Enterprises, Ltd, and the differences between Bare-Footed Kid and Disciples of Shaolin. Over the last year, we’ve been treated to a Blu-ray revival of the Marital Arts masterpieces from Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers studio. It started around Christmas time with Arrow Video releasing Shawscope Volume One that feature 12 of their beloved classics from when the movie theaters in America got into Kung Fu Fighting in the early ’70s. Before Thanksgiving on November 21, we’re getting the second half that era with Shawscope Volume Two. The boxset starts out with the landmark The 36th Chamber of the Shaolin trilogy starring Gordon Liu and directed by Lau Kar-leung. We get four movies starring Chang Cheh’s Venom Mob unit. Mad Monkey Kung Fu gets an upgrade. This is different from the Shaw Brothers’ Monkey Kung Fu that came out a few months ago on Blu-ray. There’s fists and fight flying across the screen. There are fourteen movies in the second set and hours of bonus features. You’ll be getting the full Shaw Brothers experience with films that came out in the years before the studio got out of cinema and focused on television production. The Boxset will arrive just in time to give you a great excuse to skipping out on Thanksgiving dinner with your extended family and “that uncle.” Just let them know you’ll be entering The 36th Chamber of the Shaolin and don’t know when you’ll be emerging. Here’s the press release from Arrow Video with all the amazing bonus features:

Shaolin: Birthplace of a Hero and Elegant Trails, two archive featurettes with Gordon Liu produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003 A few supplements get spread across the respective menus of the two films. The supplements start off with a 15-minute interview with Gordon Liu recorded in 2003, featuring the actor talking about both films. Although Return was directed by Lau (as was the third film) and features many of the same actors (including Liu himself) he insists the films shouldn’t be considered sequels since their tones lean more towards comedies. He also makes sure to stress the point he is playing a different character in the second film, though a character pretending to be the character he played in the first film (in his commentary for The 36th Chamber of Shaolin Travis Crawford mentions he feels it was a missed opportunity to not have Liu play two roles in Return). He then talks about some of his other work with Lau and mentions how he prefers to show off his acting skills over his martial arts. Since the interview does cover each film it has been made available under the supplement menu for both.Two CDs of music from the De Wolfe Music library as heard in several of the films, exclusive to this collection Armed with stunning special features and ravishing new restorations, this boxset is even bigger and bolder than the last one. We begin with kung fu master Lau Kar-leung’s instant classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, in which his adoptive brother Gordon Liu achieved overnight stardom as the young man who unexpectedly finds spiritual enlightenment on the path to vengeance; Lau and Liu followed the original with two comically inventive sequels, Return to the 36th Chamber and Disciples of the 36th Chamber, both included here. A caption reads: Five Superfighters. Invincible Shaolin. The Kid with the Golden Arm. Magnificent Ruffians. Ten Tigers of Kwangtung. I can't really give enough praise to The Bare-Footed Kid even though I put it well below the other films above. It has the same plot as Chinatown Kid (I think I've seen Shaw Brothers do at least 4 or 5 movies with this same plot. It is pretty much a remake of Disciples of Shaolin with some twists as both set in the same time period (where Chinatown Kid is in the 1970's) It wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe Volume Two, in fact, as a set defined by Lau Kar-leung in the same way as Volume One was a showcase for the greatest hits of his partner-turned-rival Chang Cheh. Each set features both directors, but their weight is distributed differently in each.

A caption reads: Featuring The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Return to the 36th Chamber. Disciples of the 36th Chamber. Mad Monkey Kung Fu. Cinema Hong Kong: Swordfighting, the second instalment in a three-part documentary produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003 and featuring interviews with Gordon Liu, Lau Kar-leung, Cheng Pei-pei, John Woo, Sammo Hung, Kara Hui, David Chiang and others DISC ONE – THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN • Brand new 4K restoration by Celestial Pictures and L’Immagine Ritrovata • Newly restored uncompressed Mandarin, Cantonese and English original mono audio • Newly translated English subtitles, plus optional hard-of-hearing subtitles for the English dub • Brand new feature commentary by critic Travis Crawford • Brand new select-scene commentary by film critic and historian Tony Rayns • Interview with star Gordon Liu, filmed in 2003 • Interview with cinematographer Arthur Wong, filmed in 2006 • Shaolin: Birthplace of a Hero and Elegant Trails, two archive featurettes with Gordon Liu produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003 • Tiger Style: The Musical Impact of Martial Arts Cinema, a newly filmed overview of Shaw Brothers’ influence on hip hop and other music genres, featuring music historian Lovely Jon • Cinema Hong Kong: Swordfighting, the second instalment in a three-part documentary produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003 and featuring interviews with Gordon Liu, Lau Kar-leung, Cheng Pei-pei, John Woo, Sammo Hung, Kara Hui, David Chiang and others • Alternate opening credits from the American version titled Master Killer • Hong Kong and German theatrical trailers, plus US TV spot • Image gallery

The Supplements (and Disc Specifications)

We begin with kung fu master Lau Kar-leung’s instant classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, in which his adoptive brother Gordon Liu achieved overnight stardom as the young man who unexpectedly finds spiritual enlightenment on the path to vengeance; Lau and Liu followed the original with two comically inventive sequels, Return to the 36th Chamber and Disciples of the 36th Chamber, both included here. DISC FIVE – MAGNIFICENT RUFFIANS / TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG • Brand new 2K restorations of both films from the original negatives by Arrow Films • Uncompressed Mandarin and English original mono audio for both films, plus Cantonese mono for Ten Tigers of Kwangtung • Newly translated English subtitles for both films, plus optional hard-of-hearing subtitles for the English dubs • Brand new audio commentary on Ten Tigers of Kwangtung by filmmaker Brandon Bentley • Interview with star Chin Siu-ho, filmed in 2003 • Rivers and Lakes, a brand new video essay on Shaw Brothers’ depiction of Chinese myth and history, written and narrated by Jonathan Clements, author of A Brief History of China • Hong Kong (audio only) and German theatrical trailers for Magnificent Ruffians • Hong Kong trailers (Mandarin and Cantonese audio options) and US TV spot for Ten Tigers of Kwangtung • Image galleries for both films Hero on the Scaffolding, an archive featurette produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003 • Alternate opening credits sequences for both films • Hong Kong theatrical trailers for both films Nice! Can't wait! And, even though I have the majority already on blu-ray, one or two of them do not have English subs. Thankfully, they will now. Nice selection of extras though a few I have seen before. Thanks for including More "Pops"**, Arrow!