Drunken Master (Zui Quan) (Blu-ray) (1978)

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General		Extras
Category	Martial Arts	Audio Commentary-Ric Meyers And Jeff Yang Interviews-Crew-Producer Ng See-yuen (14:15) More…-UK Music Promo (1:26) Theatrical Trailer More…-Kicking Showcase (1:31) Deleted Scenes-x 1
Rating
Year Of Production	1978
Running Time	111:10
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Yuen Woo-Ping
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Jackie Chan Yuen Siu-Tien Hwang Jang-Lee Lam Kau
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Chow Fu Liang

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (640Kb/s) Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (640Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (640Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     By the late 1970s Jackie Chan had been around for a while before he appeared in Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978) for producer Ng See-yuen and director Yuen Woo-ping, a film which mixed martial arts with comedy. That film was successful so the same team made Drunken Master (Zui Quan), a hugely successful film at the Hong Kong box office which launched Jackie’s career. The rest, as they say, is history.

     Wong Fei-hung, or as the subtitles have it, Freddie Wong (Jackie Chan), is a silly, rude and irreverent young man, hanging around with his friends and making mischief to the despair of his father (Lam Kau), a respected martial arts teacher. Wong senior has tried many things to get his son into line and he finally calls upon Su Hau (Yuen Siu Tin), a harsh disciplinarian and exponent of the Drunken style of kung fu, to teach Fei-hung. Fei-hung wants none of it and attempts to run away but he meets up with and is easily defeated, in fact humiliated, in a fight with professional assassin Thunderleg (Hwang Jang-lee). Chastened, Fei-hung returns to be trained by Su Hau, learning the techniques of the Eight Drunken gods. This training comes in handy when Thunderleg is hired to kill Wong senior by a rival; a showdown of hung fu styles ensues.

     The plot of Drunken Master is, however, pretty much superfluous to the action and the comedy. Director Yuen Woo-ping is by now well known in the west for providing the action sequences for The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon among others, and he was in his element with Drunken Master which is pretty much a non-stop display of fight sequences. There are no mass brawls here but a secession of athletic one on one combats that are varied and exhilarating featuring acrobatics, punches, kicks, a bamboo pole, a sword, a wooden bench and in one case the iron head of a fighter. There is no quick intercutting in these fights but static widescreen photography which shows genuine martial artists strutting their skills. The result is fights that are more balletic than gritty, and in keeping with the light hearted nature of the film blood is minimal. Many fights are played for comedy, such as the very funny one between Fei-hung and the King of Bamboo (Hsu Hsia), but even the more serious have comedy elements. Indeed the comedy throughout the film can be very broad, with a fart in the face, a disgusting scene in a restaurant or a fighter getting a face full of dog poo prime examples of humour.

     Wong Fei-Hung is a venerated and legendary Chinese physician, martial artist and revolutionary who has been portrayed numerous times in film and on TV (the IMDb currently lists 100 titles), perhaps most recognisably for western audiences by Jet Li in the Once Upon a Time in China series. In Drunken Master Jackie Chan delivers a far more young and frivolous Wong than had been seen before, which would have shocked the Chinese audience. But it is easy to see why this portrayal by Jackie kick-started his career for he is funny, mischievous, cheeky and charismatic, all backed by his amazing athleticism and physicality, jumps, kicks, headstands, somersaults, sit ups, push ups and the like, which the widescreen frame shows to full extent. This is a slim, toned and very fit young Jackie, as the numerous shirt off training sequences reveal!

     Drunken Master has had a chequered home release history. Made in Cantonese, the Hong Kong DVD apparently had a running time of about 96 minutes. International releases of around 110 minutes replaced the missing Cantonese dialogue with either English or Mandarin. This Blu-ray retains the longer cut, in the proper aspect ratio, but unfortunately does switch between Cantonese and English on a number of occasions, pretty much corresponding to the additional footage. See the Movie Censorship site here for more information about the additional scenes.

     More than 45 years after being made, Drunken Master is still great fun, insanely entertaining and a must for fans of Jackie Chan or anyone even remotely interested in classic martial arts.

Video

     Drunken Master is presented in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     While there are numerous small marks, a few bigger ones and the occasional vertical scratch, they are not distracting. Overall, this is a nice sharp print with depth and pleasant natural colours, especially the greens of the countryside and the blue sky while blacks and shadow detail are fine, skin tones (especially Jackie’s bronzed torso) good. Grain is also evident, and an occasional variation in brightness.

     Yellow English subtitles are available ( from the remote, not the menu) which are error free.

Video Ratings Summary

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Shadow Detail
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Audio

     The Blu-ray case of Drunken Master indicates a DTS-HD MA audio but audio options in fact are Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (which does switch to English as mentioned above), English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono and an English commentary track, also Dolby Digital 2.0. All are at the higher 640 Kbps. The menu does not actually provide an audio option, so the remote is required.

     Dialogue was clear. The music and the effects were predictably flat but OK including the whoosh sounds of the arm and leg movements, so beloved of Hong Kong martial arts films of this period, and the thud of impacts. The score by Chow Fu Liang sounds rather generic, like many of the martial arts films of the period, and it does include the iconic Wong Fei-hung theme used in many films. There was obviously no surround or subwoofer use. There was no hiss or pops.

     No sound was recorded on set during filming in Hong Kong during this period and, even without the switching between Cantonese and English, the lip synchronisation is all over the place. Which adds to the charm of watching these films!

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
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Audio Commentary

     Author and Hong Kong film expert Ric Myers and Jeff Yang, co-author with Jackie of his biography, sit together and chat non-stop about this film, Jackie and Hong Kong martial arts cinema in general. They discuss the cuts made to the film, the dubbing and subtitles, Jackie’s career before and after the film, the careers of other cast members and the character of Wong Fei-hung; they have their pet themes, including the differences between Hong Kong and American martial arts films, but this is an informative and entertaining commentary.

Interview with Producer Ng See-yuen (14:15)

     Ng talks about his time at Shaw Bros., his subsequent producing and directing career, actors he used and his view of the future of the H.K. film industry but he only mentions Jackie Chan slightly. The date of the interview is not given, but it is not recent and looks to be filmed with an old cam recorder with jerky video and sound so it is sometimes hard to hear who he is talking about. In English, no subtitles.

UK Music Promo (1:26)

     A montage of action sequences set to music.

Original Theatrical Trailer (4:17)

     The English language trailer.

Kicking Showcase (1:31)

     A fight sequence with kicking but no Jackie.

Deleted Scene (1:44)

     An additional Jackie drunken training scene.

     This Australian release of Drunken Master is the only Blu-ray version currently listed on Amazon.

     Drunken Master is a classic Hong Kong kung ku film and Jackie Chan’s breakout hit from 1978. It is a fabulous martial arts action / comedy which pretty much launched both the genre and Jackie’s career and it is easy to see why. The comedy may be broad and slapstick, but it is funny, the young Jackie is wonderful and the action sequences are energetic, balletic and varied.

     Drunken Master has been released before on DVD in Australia (the link to the review on this site is here). This Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment has very good video, retains the excellent audio commentary from that previous release and adds the interview and a few other minor extras, including the long trailer.

     If you have the DVD and enjoy the film I think it is worth an upgrade. If you like classic martial arts comedy, or are a Jackie fan and don’t have this wonderful film, don’t hesitate to add it to your collection.

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Audio
Extras
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