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55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful widescreen transfer of a great kung fu film, January 27, 2005
7 GRANDMASTERS (1978) is a legendary kung fu film that's been a fan favorite for over 25 years. Good home video copies were impossible to come by until this legit DVD which offers the film letter-boxed, with 16:9 enhancement, enabling most of us, for the first time, to see the breathtaking kung fu action in all its widescreen glory. Licensed to Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters by Hong Kong's Mei Ah, the transfer was made from a high-quality print that may be the best non-Shaw Bros. print of a kung fu film yet released in the U.S. The dual language track includes both the familiar English dub and the original Mandarin track, with English subtitles.
7 GRANDMASTERS is almost a pure kung fu film, combining as it does two plot threads which sum up the essence of the genre. First we have a venerated kung fu champion, Shangkuan Chang, who must renew his status before he retires by traveling through China, accompanied by his daughter and three students, and taking on the grand masters of the title in fair bouts to prove he can still beat them. Second, he trains an eager young novice, Hsiao Ying, who has joined the party early on in the two-year journey and who gradually surpasses his existing students. We see a succession of bouts with other masters, experts in weapons and various styles (snake, tiger, mantis, monkey, etc.), all of whom must confront the Pai Mei Fist technique of Shangkuan. And we also see the young student go through the grueling process of being grudgingly accepted by the master, putting up with abuse from the other students, and practicing hard before developing his own unique style. During the course of it all, we learn of a threat to the master from his past and a hidden agenda on the part of the student.
It's a kung fu classic featuring fight choreography by Yuen Cheung Yan (one of the famed Yuen Clan) and Corey Yuen, who went on to become a top director of HK action films in his own right (YES, MADAM!, FONG SAI YUK, SO CLOSE, etc.). Corey also appears in the film as a weapons expert who is one of the grand masters. The stars are Jack Long as the kung fu master, Lee Yi Min as the new student, and Mark Long as the senior student. All three also co-starred, to great effect, in NINJA CHECKMATE (aka MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING), also reviewed on this site. As kung fu films go, it rarely gets better than this. If I can offer one mild criticism, it's that there are so many good fights throughout the film that when we get to the final bout with the villain from the master's past, it's almost anti-climactic.
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DVD ~ Hwang Jang Lee
DVD ~ Shun-Yee Yuen
DVD ~ Idy Chan
DVD ~ Chia Hui Liu
DVD ~ Mark Long
