![]() ![]() ![]() From there we see Chang Cheh (arguably Shaw's most prolific director) helm the blood-soaked brutality of The Boxer from Shantung and two self-produced films in his 'Shaolin Cycle' series, Five Shaolin Masters and its prequel Shaolin Temple, before taking a detour into Ho Meng-hua's King Kong-inspired Mighty Peking Man, one of the most unmissably insane giant monster films ever made. This inaugural collection by Arrow Video presents twelve jewels from the Shaw crown, all released within the 1970s, kicking off in 1972 with Korean director Chung Chang-wha's King Boxer, the film that established kung fu cinema as an international box office powerhouse when it hit Stateside cinemas under the title Five Fingers of Death. They swiftly responded by producing hundreds of the most iconic action films ever made, revolutionising the genre through the backbreaking work of top-shelf talent on both sides of the camera as well as unbeatable widescreen production value, much of it shot at 'Movietown', their huge, privately-owned studio on the outskirts of Hong Kong. After an undisputed reign at the peak of Hong Kong's film industry in the 1960s, Shaw Brothers (the studio founded by real-life brothers Run Run and Runme Shaw) found their dominance challenged by up-and-coming rivals in the early 1970s.
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