| IVL presents the remastered print by Celestial in a 2.32:1 framed aspect ratio approximately. Minimal defects such as staining and print damage turn up in an otherwise immaculate presentation. Colours are rich, black levels very good, sharpness high and even though a handful of shots look worse, it's more likely due to errors made during filming.
Director Ching Gong was someone who pushed for Cantonese cinema prior to joining Shaw Brother's and while the dialect is referred to in the subtitles, it's in all likelihood a movie suited for Mandarin dialect. The Dolby Digital 5.1 remix remain mostly true to the mono roots although the instances where cricket noises and bird chirping foley effects are added on becomes distracting. The Celestial sound people even has these elements mixed in at high volume during one scene indoors! A Cantonese 5.1 option is also available.
The English subtitles are mostly error free (bitch becomes ditch at one point) but at times repeats themselves and contains signs that clearly shouldn't be there. Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia are traditional Chinese are the other subtitle selections.
Thankfully the original trailer have been included along with newly created, subtitled trailers for Kidnap, Hong Kong Playboy, Till The End Of Time, The Bride Napping and The Anonymous Heroes. 7 stills from the movie, image of the original poster, the usual plot synopsis disguising itself as production notes (claiming the film is a hybrid between kung-fu and drama) and short biographies/filmographies for director Ching Gong, actors Lo Lieh and Hu Chin are the remainder of the extras. |
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