What Got You Into Shaw Brothers Movies?

[legendaryweaponsofla]

I'm curious how all you Shaw Brothers fans got into their films?  A lot of people I know seem to have discovered them through Kung Fu Theatre programs on Saturday mornings in their childhood.  I didn't have that (very jealous).  I think I had a friend in the VCR days who brought over 36 Chambers and 5 Deadly Venoms, becoming instant favorites.  I'm not sure how it proliferated from there, but there was a point where I knew what I was getting when I saw the Shaw shield in the intro. 

[One Armed Boxer]

For me it was back in early 2003 (almost 15 years ago, time flies!).  I'd gotten into the kung-fu genre in general around the same time as DVD's hit the market, so as I was based in the UK most of my hits were coming from the Hong Kong Legends label.  But I used to do some shopping online via a store called cdwow (not defunct) that would also sell DVD's from overseas, and one of the titles that caught my eye was the cover for what would turn out to be Chang Cheh's 'Heroes Two', one of the very first IVL Celestial releases.  So that was my introduction to their movies.  I'd known about the studio for a long time, thanks to Bey Logan's (I know today isn't the best day to bring him up) book 'Hong Kong Action Cinema', which I picked up in 2000, but just hadn't had any opportunity to watch one of the studios productions.  Soon after that I watched 'Blood Brothers', and I'd continue to pick up the IVL Celestial releases for the duration that they put them out.

[Ah_Tao]

2002/3. My folks had the VHS Challenge of the Masters and others. I must of been 3 then, but I've enjoyed them ever since

[whitesnake]

It was April 1973.  A trailer for 5 Fingers of Death played on TV, and was so enticing I had to go see it opening night.  Other Shaw Brothers movies (dubbed, like Seven Blows of the Dragon and Triple Irons) came to town later, and the sets, costumes, choreography seemed superior to the usual run of dubbed kung fu movies that played locally.  Somewhere between 1973 and 1974 I discovered the Great Star Theater in SF Chinatown (it advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle) and started going to see those (subtitled) movies too.  On a vacation to Hawaii I found the Shaw theater in Honolulu and got to see Friends.  I continued to watch Shaw Brothers movies at the Great Star until the studio quit making movies.  

[DragonClaws]

I never picked any up during my days of buying VHS, not that there was a great selection in the U.K at the time. Then I started reading IMPACT magazine, which opened me up to the stars of Shaw Brothers. Then the IVL release were starting to get atttion, again the U.K got thort sck with those too. I'd pretty much been collecting movies from the Golden Harvest studio, along with any independents I could get my hands on. A T.V screening of Vengeance back in 2006, turned me into a full blown fan.

[CoolBlackKnight]

For me, as a young teenager on Saturday morning during the 80's.

 

Watch cartoons with that big bowl of Apple Jack or Honeycomb cereal on the table, then clean up the room, do yard work till about 1pm when the "Chinese Cinema" would begin. 

...Get ready to go kick it with the fellas that afternoon or, later on that night if I worked it right, a honey.

 

 

.....

 

[thekfc]

Early 70's.

I used to pass by the movie theaters almost daily.

There were 2 movies theaters that show "karate" movies (back then we call all kung fu movies karate movies). One movie house showed mostly Shaws (and some independent), ''xsploitation", war & other action movies while the other mainly focus on GH, other independent, drama & romance.

Many of the movies that came out in the 70's, I saw on the big screen.

 

[panku]

I was watching TV on Saturday October 3, 1981 and this movie came on called The Five Deadly Venoms. A month later I saw Kid With the Golden Arm.

Thanks to this site for the exact dates: http://dvddrive-in.com/TV Guide/driveinmovie5.htm

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

About a handful of Shaws were released here in Denmark on the Warner Video label in the latter half of the 80's, so I rented most of those. Alongside that, the German channels showed some of them on Friday nights in the correct aspect ratio so I would record those and wear out the tapes. In the mid 90's I started buying import tapes from the UK labels Eastern Heroes and Made In Hong Kong which put out a handful of Shaws among their many great releases. When the Celestial DVDs started coming out in the early 00's I started collecting those.

[lilmanjs]

Almost as long as I have loved Martial Arts cinema, starting like a lot of US people with Jackie Chan, I've known that Shaw Brothers does exist. It wasn't till Dragon Dynasty became a thing and I started buying their releases that I took the chance on a Shaw title, 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Got hooked from then on, and realized I'd seen the lone Jet Li, Martial Arts of Shaolin movie many years before as a dub.

[sym8]

I was a fan of Kung fu movies before I even saw a shaw brother film.my first memory of watching them was I think when the new one armed swordsman with david Chang was released on a thorn emi video back in the 80s in the U.K.Warner brothers video then released a bunch of shaw goodness including 8 diagram,legendary weapons,36th chamber and five super fighters and I was hooked 👍

[AgriWuxia]

I discovered Shaw Brothers films entirely by chance. It was September 2008 and I was browsing a small world cinema section of a specialist cd/dvd store. The colourful artwork on a dvd cover caught my attention. The title, Lust For Love of a Chinese Courtesan, with "The Shaw Brothers Collection" proudly written across the top. At the time I had no idea who or what The Shaw Brothers were but, as a male, the subject matter of the synopsis appealed and the dvd was going cheap. Little did I suspect that viewing this one film would set in motion an interest in the studios work that would span all genres, and continue unabated to this day. That I would be sourcing films from around the world, and that I would eventually join an internet forum to share my interest with like minded people.

Martial Arts as a genre had never featured prominently in my childhood television viewing. My early love was the Western; later during my teenage years it was Science Fiction. But for a short period in the 70's, viewing Westerns introduced me to Eastern Martial Arts philosophy by default. The release of the television series Kung Fu, starring David Carradine, was a real eye-opener. A Shaolin Priest  who used martial arts (physical violence, to my young mind!) as a means of self defence seemed a complete paradox. Brought up in a Presbyterian family, which had a Reverend Minister as a close friend, I had fixed western preconceptions of how a minister/priest should look and behave. I really couldn't conceive the Reverend Bartlett acting in such a manner (or would he!). Ah! The innocence and wonder of childhood. Anyway, I retain fond memories of this series; the theme tune and opening credits remaining especially vivid.

As I entered adulthood, I tired of the crowds at multiplex cinemas and the blockbuster releases. Together with my Taiwanese friend, I began viewing foreign films at boutique cinemas. This broadened my appreciation for a wide range of genres, and I finally realised that reading subtitles really did not detract from the viewing experience, and that a whole new world of cinematic gold lay before me. I did not know it at the time, but this was good preparation, for I was now ready to be introduced to the Shaw Brothers!

[Shaolivevil]

I had already been exposed to martial arts movies before ever seeing a Shaw Bros film, having already seen Bruce Lee films and a number of other non-Shaw productions, thanks to my dad who was a fan of martial arts movies so I became a fan as well.

In 1985, the first Shaw Bros movie I saw was The Duel aka Duel Of The Iron Fist on WNUV 54 Baltimore on a Saturday afternoon and from that, I was hooked...

[Omni Dragon]

On 12/13/2017 at 6:12 PM, One Armed Boxer said:

I'd known about the studio for a long time, thanks to Bey Logan's (I know today isn't the best day to bring him up) book 'Hong Kong Action Cinema'

I don't think it's going to be easy mentioning him ever again. Like I said in another thread recently; 'I'll have to think twice before referencing the name 'Bey Logan' due to it's association and how it might be interpreted'.

I assume, I became aware slightly of Shaw Brothers from HKL commentaries (by a certain someone) but kind of forgot SB/SB was slightly abstract, since they were not easy to find, until I got a Dragon Dynasty DVD of Heroes of the East (HOTE) in early 2009. I have to admit I only really found out about Dragon Dynasty because Bey Logan was doing commentaries for them.

For rest of my 'What Got You Into Shaw Brothers Movies?' I'll quote from this thread:

 'I had to go through shit to get Shaw Brothers; basically after coming home from school I had just enough time to look at the case of HOTE, when my dad asked me to help him put a garden fence back up, the fences use to frequently blow down in strong winds. At some point while the fence was down the neighbour’s, boyfriends, dog (the boyfriend and dog didn't even live next door officially) must have done a shit in our garden and I unsuspectingly stepped in it while putting the fence back up. And so after going through shit I got to watch a Shaw Brothers production

Edited December 17, 2017 by Silver and Gold Dragon
Great thread BTW, I often like the threads where people mention their personal history with movies.

[reason108]

On 12/16/2017 at 5:07 PM, Silver and Gold Dragon said:

I don't think it's going to be easy mentioning him ever again. Like I said in another thread recently; 'I'll have to think twice before referencing the name 'Bey Logan' due to it's association and how it might be interpreted'.

I assume, I became aware slightly of Shaw Brothers from HKL commentaries (by a certain someone) but kind of forgot SB/SB was slightly abstract, since they were not easy to find, until I got a Dragon Dynasty DVD of Heroes of the East (HOTE) in early 2009. I have to admit I only really found out about Dragon Dynasty because Bey Logan was doing commentaries for them.

For rest of my 'What Got You Into Shaw Brothers Movies?' I'll quote from this thread:

 'I had to go through shit to get Shaw Brothers; basically after coming home from school I had just enough time to look at the case of HOTE, when my dad asked me to help him put a garden fence back up, the fences use to frequently blow down in strong winds. At some point while the fence was down the neighbour’s, boyfriends, dog (the boyfriend and dog didn't even live next door officially) must have done a shit in our garden and I unsuspectingly stepped in it while putting the fence back up. And so after going through shit I got to watch a Shaw Brothers production

 

Not to derail the thread, but, shocking! I had not heard anything about Bey`s behavior. But, then again, not like Bey is a household name here in the States. Did a little reading up on what happened. Wow! If what they are saying is true then that really sucks. 

 

Anyways, back to the topic...

 

Always loved martial arts and martial arts movies. My introduction to Shaws came in separate waves. Like a lot of you, I loved Kung-fu Theater and/or Black Belt Theater, etc. But, I just watched whatever they had playing, so there was never anything specific. I really did not know "Shaw Brothers" at that time. All I knew was whether a particular movie was one that I liked or not. I didn't know to look for a SB movie. But, was able to catch Super Inframan playing at a local movie theater where I lived (dubbed in English/US cut of the film). But, I didn't really get into the Shaws until the early VHS days with those boots put out by Ground Zero (and others, like Steeplechase). And, of course, once Celestial/IVL released all those Region 3 dvd`s, I hacked my dvd player to play them. That is when I really started collecting Shaw films. 

 

[KUNG FU BOB]

On 12/16/2017 at 7:07 PM, Silver and Gold Dragon said:

I don't think it's going to be easy mentioning him ever again. Like I said in another thread recently; 'I'll have to think twice before referencing the name 'Bey Logan' due to it's association and how it might be interpreted'.

I assume, I became aware slightly of Shaw Brothers from HKL commentaries (by a certain someone) but kind of forgot SB/SB was slightly abstract, since they were not easy to find, until I got a Dragon Dynasty DVD of Heroes of the East (HOTE) in early 2009. I have to admit I only really found out about Dragon Dynasty because Bey Logan was doing commentaries for them.

@Silver and Gold Dragon you don't have to worry about mentioning Bey Logan's name here. The things he is accused of are awful and I feel very sympathetic to everyone that may have suffered at such intolerable behavior. However, his audio commentaries, interviews, book, etc are all still valid to fans of the genre. We'll just have to add him to the list of "people whose work we enjoy but that we would not want to hang out with": Steven Seagal, Keven Spacey, Mel Gibson, John Liu...

 

8 hours ago, reason108 said:

Not to derail the thread, but, shocking! I had not heard anything about Bey`s behavior. But, then again, not like Bey is a household name here in the States. Did a little reading up on what happened. Wow! If what they are saying is true then that really sucks.

There is a dedicated thread about it @reason108.

If anyone wants to discuss that subject further, lets do it there: http://www.shaolinchamber36.com/kungfufandom/index.php?/topic/23181-harvey-weinstiens-hong-kong-associate-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-by-multiple-women/

[TheFlyingPanda]

My Father Placed me in Isshin-ryu Karate at 5 yrs old and showed me martial arts films as a kid. One of them was Five Fingers of Death or (King Boxer) I loved the Bruce Lee films since I was about 6 or 7 yrs old, but what exposed SB to me mostly was Kung Fu Theater  on Television back in the 80's 

 

 

[Omni Dragon]

On 12/21/2017 at 4:54 PM, KUNG FU BOB said:

@Silver and Gold Dragon you don't have to worry about mentioning Bey Logan's name here. The things he is accused of are awful and I feel very sympathetic to everyone that may have suffered at such intolerable behavior. However, his audio commentaries, interviews, book, etc are all still valid to fans of the genre. We'll just have to add him to the list of "people whose work we enjoy but that we would not want to hang out with": Steven Seagal, Keven Spacey, Mel Gibson, John Liu...

You're right I shouldn't (and should not have) been so cautious about mentioning Bey Logan's name. But that said there is somewhat of a change, in light of hearing about his behaviour for example; before I would not have thought twice about saying something like Bey Logan is "the man", "top class" etc, but not so much now.

[morpheus]

"Black Belt Theater" that played on Friday nights after the 10:00pm news.  The shows were badly dubbed, but we all stayed up to watch.  We knew we were in for a Shaw Brother's film when that World Northal Corporation logo would show up on screen with "Pictures at An Exhibition" playing in the background. 

 

[Tex Killer]

Either vhs blind purchase by dutch mail order company "cine city"(I think he is still active) when looked titles at brochure and names appeared interesting or did read Shaws about eastern heroes mag and then ordered some from abroad. Or maybe bought used import tape from local movie store.Can be conbination of mentioned things tho...

No internet then, Shaws were not shown in telly and not released over here on vhs either.

 

[Rodolphe Dux]

Honestly, before internet and the remaster, it was almost impossible to watch here, so I watched a few in crappy quality . But after the Celestial remasters, it was such a delight, the fact that it was in madarin and in decent quality was mesmerizing to me, there's a lot of charm in SB movies, the music, the sceneries, the mandarin language, the history... Once you have delved into the SB world, you can't get out. And let's be honest, the Wu-Tang hip-hop band paved the way with many audio samples.

Edited May 5, 2019 by Rodolphe Dux

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Tarantino got me into Shaw bros

 

[ShawAngela]

Two movies watched in a cinema when I was young (Virgins of the seven seas and 12 gold medallions), but I didn't even know that they were Shaw Brothers. (1970's)

20 years later, I got VHS of some venoms movies, Shaolin abbot, Convict killer and a few other ones, some in good quality print, some in awful quality print and I became addicted. Each time I recognized the covers on vhs, I bought them.

2000's : I began to find some dvds here, and I bought them ! As @Rodolphe Dux said, these movies are a delight not only for the plots and fights, but also for the music, ths clothes, the sceneries in summary, EVERYTHING ! And it's such amazing how they were already skilled regarding the special effects at that time.

2010 : I bought my computer, and then, it was an open hunt to track all the titles I hadn't  found in France (only 60 Shaws' released here, a real shame !!) and that I discovered on a list of all Shaws' movies!

And I also found some Shaws' Malay movies that are also in my collection...

2019 : Thanks to youtube, I got some new movies such as the ones that have been shown for free on Celestial channel, and Partisan lovers that I found on a Korean channel, and I'm sure that there are still a lot of movies to discover !

 

I think that I'll never been tired of Shaws' movies and that I'll keep my collection until the end...hoping that the discs won't be damaged as time goes by...

Edited May 7, 2019 by ShawAngela

[DragonClaws]

 

I read about the Shaw Brothers titles in the pages of Impact magazine. That was my first exposure to them. They were not all that common on VHS in the U.K. At least not where I lived. I would often prefer to purchase a bunch of cheaper indies, rather than one expensive Shaw title. With only a few limited titles avialable from Warner Brothers and Eastern Heroes anyway. This way I could aslo pick up the work of more actors, while on a small budget. A cheap Chan Sing title, along with one of Jackie Chans Lo Wei movies. Tagged with some low budget Korean Asso Asia movie. This way the studio just passed by me during my ealry interest in Martial Arts cinema.

Watching a copy of the movie Vengeance, when it was screened in the U.K. Was my first taste of the studios work, and what way to get introduced. Shortly followed up by viewings Spiritual Boxer and New One Armed Swordsman with David Chaing and Chan Sing. There's still a lot of movies from Shaw's, I've yet to see. I'm equally a big, if not bigger fan of Golden Harvest and Indiependent movies.

Edited May 5, 2019 by DragonClaws

[sym8]

This was my first Shaw brothers movie(in the mid 80s I think)but this didn’t get me into there movies.I then saw Shaolin temple,Five superfighters,8 Diagram and various others released on Warner brothers vhs but I still wasn’t hooked.It wasn’t until my friend gave me the venom movie Killer army that I became a fan and began to hunt the rest down and rewatch the above mentioned films.👍👍