Overview: When Golden Harvest first released Hand of Death in 1976, no-one paid much attention to the names of writer/director Wu Yu-sheng, third-billed actor Chen Yuen-lung or fight choreographer Hung Chin-pao in the opening credits.

Within a decade, however, each of those men had changed the course of Hong Kong action filmmaking forever, under the names they are best known under to this day: John Woo, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.

After a traitor of the Shaolin temple, Shih Shao-Feng (James Tien, The Big Boss), has eliminated thousands of his former colleagues in exchange for power from the Manchus under the Qing dynasty, a surviving master of Shaolin, Yun Fei (Tan Tao-Liang), is tasked with the mission of bringing Shih to justice. In order to defeat Shih’s overwhelmingly large army – led by the ruthless Tu Qing (Sammo Hung) – Yun Fei will need to team up with a skilled blacksmith (Jackie Chan) and a reluctant swordsman to beat the odds and avenge his fallen brothers.

With early signs of John Woo’s affinity for brotherly bonding amidst heroic bloodshed, and featuring one of Jackie Chan’s earliest speaking roles after proving his mettle as a stuntman, Hand of Death is an old school hard-hitting kung fu gem (with a dash of wuxia) that any fan of classic Hong Kong cinema needs in their collection!

Blu-ray Verdict: From the Golden (Harvest) age of kung fu comes this old school period style film from a bunch of young guns lead by director Wu Yu Shang (later to become famous as John Woo) featuring Tao Liang Tan (Dorian Tan) James Tien, Chan Yuan Lung (Jackie Chan), Hung Kam Bo (Sammo Hung) and Biao Yuen (Yuen Biao).

Good solid stuff with Woo adding some touches of class with some nice scenic shots wrapped around the usual broad brush story and frequent action. Being old school means the action is generally rather contrived and stiff, two guys going through a set series of moves and counters in a kind of rhythmic dance, but it seems to improve as the movie progresses (either that or this viewer became less discriminating).

A taekwondo champion in Korea, Tan was renowned for his outstanding high kicking technique, which is impressive, however he’s not much of an actor and nothing special to look at. James Tien is far more charismatic in the lead villains role, with Hung providing trademark support as a semi comedic henchman.

Jackie Chan fills one of the two main friend of the hero roles and gets a couple of spots to show his wares, including what may be the best fight sequences in the film, as one of his adversaries has the most interesting weapon in the movie, a sort of sword blade on the end of a chain.

Yuen Biao has a minor role, but was mainly on hand to act as stunt double for the two leads apparently! Anyhoo, if pre-Bruce Lee ’70s kung fu is your bag, then this won’t let you down, trust me, because everything about this movie is really entertaining. The choreography is excellent and includes a nice range of hand to hand combat and weapons. Jackie Chan is amazing and easy to root for.

The flashback scenes are well done and the ruthlessness of the various villains are perfectly depicted. The arrow scene really set up the final battle to perfection. Indeed, the final battle is extraordinary as a culminating scene and thus makes this film a martial arts genre gem that’s an absolute must see! [S.B.]

SPECIAL FEATURES
2K restoration from original film elements by Fortune Star
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray transfer
Original lossless Mandarin and English mono, plus Cantonese stereo and 5.1 remixes in Mandarin and English
Optional English subtitles
Brand new feature commentary by martial arts cinema experts Frank Djeng & Michael Worth
From Hong Kong to Hollywood, an archive featurette on John Woo’s early career, including interviews with Woo, Chow Yun-fat and Peter Lau
Never-before-seen archive interview with star Tan Tao-Liang, filmed by his former student Michael Worth
Archive interview with co-star Sammo Hung
Alternate credits sequence, as Countdown to Kung Fu
Trailer gallery
Image gallery
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
Illustrated collectors booklet featuring new writing by film programmer William Blaik
Limited Edition slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch

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