Although Martial arts films played an important role in Asian cinema since the end of World War II, it wasn’t until the golden age of the late 1970s that they became such big business across the world. While the West started to fall in love with the likes of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, it was a male dominated arena. Cheng Pei Pei was an early star for the Shaw Brothers Studio, but few other women had a similar influence. Angela Mao built up a cult following during the decade. Eureka brings two of her best performances together in Angela Mao: Hapkido and Lady Whirlwind.
Hapkido
During the Japanese occupation, three Chinese students (Mao, Carter Wong and Sammo Hung) complete their hapkido training in Korea, returning to their homeland to set up a new school. However, they fall foul of a rival Japanese academy. Styling itself on a popular martial arts concepts of the time, Feng Huang’s film is an action-packed riff on rival schools which stands out thanks to having three very charismatic stars.
Lady Whirlwind
After being left for dead by a group of gangsters, a man (Yi Chang) is nursed back to health by a young woman (Kyung-Ah Oh). Three years later, now fully recovered, he vows revenge. At the same time, Miss Tien (Mao) arrives in town seeking vengeance after he abandoned her sister. Feng Huang’s film has lots of aerial martial arts and injects a fair amount of blood into proceedings. It’s good fun and highly entertaining.
Special features:
- Limited Edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling [2000 copies]
- Limited Edition Reversible Poster featuring original theatrical poster artwork [2000 copies]
- 1080p presentations of both films across two Blu-ray discs, from new 2K restorations
- Hapkido – Original mono Mandarin and English audio options, including two variations of the classic English dub
- Hapkido – DTS-HD MA 5.1 English dub (newer dub originally created for the film’s original DVD release)
- Lady Whirlwind – Original mono Mandarin and English audio options
- Optional English Subtitles, newly translated for this release
- Hapkido – New feature length audio commentary with Asian film experts Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) & Michael Worth
- Hapkido – New feature length audio commentary with Frank Djeng & martial artist / actor Robert “Bobby” Samuels
- Lady Whirlwind – New feature length audio commentary with Asian film experts Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) & Michael Worth
- Lady Whirlwind – New feature length audio commentary with Frank Djeng & martial artist / actor Robert “Bobby” Samuels
- Lady Whirlwind – New feature length audio commentary by film journalist and author Samm Deighan
- Brand new interview with Angela Mao, filmed in 2022
- Archival interview with Angela Mao
- Archival interview with Carter Wong
- Archival interview with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao
- Hapkido – Alternate opening credits
- Selection of trailers and TV spots
- Stills Galleries
- Reversible sleeve featuring original Hong Kong poster artwork
- A Limited Edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing by James Oliver [2000 copies]
Angela Mao: Hapkido and Lady Whirlwind is released on Blu-ray by Eureka Entertainment on 3 October.
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