Dirty Ho: Technical Notes

SIGHT
Thankfully, DIRTY HO is presented in the original Shawscope ratio of 2.35.1. The source print used for the transfer is sharp and colorful, considering the 1979 vintage. The source print is also remarkably free from scratches and blemishes, although some are glimpsed periodically. The transfer is somewhat dark, but the colors stand out from the blacks, depending on the amount of backlighting. The detail level is hazy at times, but the cinematography is pure eye-candy. Lots of reds, greens, and golds in the backgrounds. The Shaw Brothers certainly invested some dollars to make DIRTY HO look stunning, and the widescreen transfer preserves the production and costume design, despite a few imperfections. It's very refreshing to see Chia Liang Liu's fight choreography intact, without any cropping of the sides. For instance, the part where Gordon Liu and Wang Yu traverse through a windy valley bathed in red light are phenomenal--as is the fight choreography that accompanies the scene. The transfer is easily as good as the widescreen presentation of Ground Zero's KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARMS.

SOUND
The acoustics on this DVD are very impressive for a Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 presentation. The combat scenes exhibit the most punch, with the strikes, screams, and clanging of weapons attaining almost stereophonic levels. It's all delivered without any flaws like hissing, crackles, or distortion. The English dubbed track is also prominent, and the exaggerated voices match quite well with the comic tone of DIRTY HO. The dubbing may not go over well with purists, as DIRTY HO is about 80% story/dialog, and maybe %20 percent fights. Another unusual element to DIRTY HO, is the musical score by Eddie H. Wong. It's not what you normally hear in a Kung Fu film—it is neither Canton pop or acoustic period music, but the only way to describe it perhaps is electric opera. Nevertheless, it's effective and seeing how DIRTY HO is one unusual Kung Fu film, it should have an unusual score.

CONCLUSION
...Ground Zero has done it again, and hopefully they'll continue to bring more Shaw Brothers classics to DVD. The only downside is the complete lack of extras; they at least included talent bios and the like on their KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM and CHINESE SUPER NINJAS DVDs. But DIRTY HO is presented widescreen, so I'm ain't gonna complain!