THE VALIANT ONES (1975)
The Masters of Cinema Series #288
4K Ultra HD
Label: Eureka Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 106 Minutes 44 Seconds
Audio: Mandarin PCM Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision (HDR10) 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: King Hu
Cast: Chao Lei, Sammo Hung, Tu Kuang-chi, Roy Chiao, Wing Bai, Feng Hsu, Han Ying-chieh
The Valiant Ones (1975) from Taiwanese filmmaker King Hu (A Touch of Zen) is advertised as being one of the the last true wuxia films, and as I am no HK cinema/wuxia expert by any stretch of the imagination I will take the distributor synopsis at their word on that. The film is set during the Ming Dynasty at the time of the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (Chao Lei), it becomes apparent quite soon that China’s coastal regions have come under attack by "wokou" – Japanese pirates under the leadership of the infamous Hakatatsu (Sammo Hung, Game of Death) who maintain a fortified hideaway on an island just off the coast and come to the mainland and embark on murderous raids. To combat this pirate incursion the Emperor tasks a trusted general, Zhu Wan (Tu Kuang-chi), with assembling a group of skilled warriors to find and eliminate the pirates, by way of General Yu Dayou (Roy Chiao, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), and a husband-and-wife sword-fighting duo Wu Ji-yuan (Wing Bai, Lady Kung Fu) and Wu Ruo-shi (Feng Hsu, A Touch of Zen), who are legendary fighters, together they hatch a plan to draw Hakatatsu and his ally Xu Dong (Han Ying-chieh, The Big BossThe Big Boss) and engage in a series of spectacular showdowns chock full of high-flying wuxia-style martial arts action, swordplay and character intrigue.
The Valiant Ones (1975) from Taiwanese filmmaker King Hu (A Touch of Zen) is advertised as being one of the the last true wuxia films, and as I am no HK cinema/wuxia expert by any stretch of the imagination I will take the distributor synopsis at their word on that. The film is set during the Ming Dynasty at the time of the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (Chao Lei), it becomes apparent quite soon that China’s coastal regions have come under attack by "wokou" – Japanese pirates under the leadership of the infamous Hakatatsu (Sammo Hung, Game of Death) who maintain a fortified hideaway on an island just off the coast and come to the mainland and embark on murderous raids. To combat this pirate incursion the Emperor tasks a trusted general, Zhu Wan (Tu Kuang-chi), with assembling a group of skilled warriors to find and eliminate the pirates, by way of General Yu Dayou (Roy Chiao, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), and a husband-and-wife sword-fighting duo Wu Ji-yuan (Wing Bai, Lady Kung Fu) and Wu Ruo-shi (Feng Hsu, A Touch of Zen), who are legendary fighters, together they hatch a plan to draw Hakatatsu and his ally Xu Dong (Han Ying-chieh, The Big BossThe Big Boss) and engage in a series of spectacular showdowns chock full of high-flying wuxia-style martial arts action, swordplay and character intrigue.
My favorite sequence involves Wu Ji-yuan and Wu Ruo-shi, easily the coolest characters in the flick, pretending to defect to Hakatatsu, arriving at their fortress they are repeatedly challenged by Hakatatsu's lieutenants to test their fighting skills and easily besting their opponents. I love the tone, it has the look and style of a lavish historical period epics, the costuming looks wonderful, the locations are gorgeous rural areas along the coast, and the tone wavers a bit between the more seriou sided and then will slip into an over-the-top action scenes that are well-choreographed and quite entertaining, not to mention a visually sumptuous lensing that looks terrific and catches the eyes continually.
Audio/Video: The Valiant Ones (1975) makes its North American home video debut on region-free 4K Ultra HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen, sourced from 4K restoration of the original negatives with Dolby Vision HDR color-grading. The source looks fantastic, grain is thick but well-managed with filmic textures looking organic, and the Dolby Vision enhanced colors are quite pleasing throughout, with pleasing black levels and solid depth and contrast. The film is also available as a separate Blu-ray release with the same extras, also limited to 2000.
Restored audio comes by way of Mandarin PCM 1.0 Mono with optional English subtitles, the track has a limited range and depth but is well-balanced, dialogue sounds natural and the sounds of battles, clanging swords, flung arrows and other action oriented set pieces deliver a pleasing cacophony, while the score by Yun-Dong Wang has a nice presence in the mix.
This edition comes well stocked with extras, starting off with a new Audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival), plus nearly two hours of interviews and video essays, these come by way of the 24-min Tony Rayns on The Valiant Ones – Interview with critic and Asian film expert Tony Rayns; the 22-min Tsar of all the Wuxia - Video essay by David Cairns; the 21-min The Life of a Lucky Stuntman – Interview with stuntman Billy Chan; the 26-min My Father and I – Interview with actor Ng Ming-choi, plus a 26-min Archival 2003 interview with actress Hsu Feng by Frédéric Ambroisine; the 17-min Archival 2003 interview with Roger Garcia (Hong Kong International Film Festival Society) by Frédéric Ambroisine; and the 4-min Archival 2016 interview with actor Ng Ming-choi by Frédéric Ambroisine.
The single-disc 4K UHD arrives in a black keepcase with a two-sided, non-reversible sleeve of artwork as well as a Limited Edition O-Card slipcase, both featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju), the slipcase is limited to the initial 2000 first-pressing. Inside there's a2n illustrated 20-Page Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jonathan Clements, as well as notes about the cast and crew transfer and release credits.
Special Features:
• Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju) [First print run of 2000 copies only]
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation, presented in Dolby Vision HDR from a 4K digital restoration of the original negatives gifted by director King Hu to the Hong Kong Film Archive
• Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju) [First print run of 2000 copies only]
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation, presented in Dolby Vision HDR from a 4K digital restoration of the original negatives gifted by director King Hu to the Hong Kong Film Archive
- Uncompressed original Mandarin mono restored from the original soundtrack negative
• Optional English subtitles newly translated for this release
• NEW! Audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
• NEW! Tony Rayns on The Valiant Ones – Interview with critic and Asian film expert Tony Rayns (23:58)
• NEW! Tsar of all the Wuxia - Video essay by David Cairns (21:44)
• NEW! The Life of a Lucky Stuntman – Interview with stuntman Billy Chan (20:54)
• NEW! My Father and I – Interview with actor Ng Ming-choi (25:50)
• Archival 2003 interview with actress Hsu Feng by Frédéric Ambroisine (26:15)
• Archival 2003 interview with Roger Garcia (Hong Kong International Film Festival Society) by Frédéric Ambroisine (16:54)
• Archival 2016 interview with actor Ng Ming-choi by Frédéric Ambroisine (4:18)
• PLUS: A 20-Page Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jonathan Clements
• Optional English subtitles newly translated for this release
• NEW! Audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
• NEW! Tony Rayns on The Valiant Ones – Interview with critic and Asian film expert Tony Rayns (23:58)
• NEW! Tsar of all the Wuxia - Video essay by David Cairns (21:44)
• NEW! The Life of a Lucky Stuntman – Interview with stuntman Billy Chan (20:54)
• NEW! My Father and I – Interview with actor Ng Ming-choi (25:50)
• Archival 2003 interview with actress Hsu Feng by Frédéric Ambroisine (26:15)
• Archival 2003 interview with Roger Garcia (Hong Kong International Film Festival Society) by Frédéric Ambroisine (16:54)
• Archival 2016 interview with actor Ng Ming-choi by Frédéric Ambroisine (4:18)
• PLUS: A 20-Page Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jonathan Clements
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