Drunken Master (Zui Quan) (1978)

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General		Extras
Category	Martial Arts	Audio Commentary-Ric Meyers And Jeff Yang Trailer-Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Maximum Risk, The One
Rating
Year Of Production	1978
Running Time	106:40
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Yuen Woo-Ping
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Jackie Chan Yuen Siu-Tien Hwang Jang-Lee
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	Box	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s) Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I mention in the previous paragraph that Drunken Master is only "loosely" a sequel to the former film because in Hong Kong cinema "sequels" are often spawned after a hit film by hastily employing the same actors and crew and overtly borrowing from or referring to the title of the previous hit film, but with the new story and characters being completely unrelated to the first. And so it is in this case, as the story and characters of Drunken Master have nothing to do with the former film, despite the fact that we see all the same faces in often the same costumes and similar settings.

    While the crew is virtually identical to the first film, including director Yuen Woo-Ping and producer Ng See-Yuen, this second film is written by a different writer and is much lighter in tone. This is a more flippant yarn, less concerned with establishing a respectable plot than Snake In The Eagle's Shadow. What we have in the sequel is a basic story of redemption and revenge, appealing to the traditional Asian notions of saving face and gaining one's respect and honour. As explained in the audio commentary on this DVD, the story also appeals much more directly to Cantonese style and humour. When reviewing the film originally, I was tempted to conclude that the inclusion of several fart jokes and other bodily humour was reflective of a sad attempt to "Westernise" the genre, now that the films were starting to attract wider audiences. However, after listening to the commentary, I now appreciate that this is not the case at all. In fact, this is a cultural issue, as the film is appealing much more directly to a Cantonese sense of humour, which is very broad and almost vaudeville in nature. Whether it be the greater reliance on this kind of low-brow humour in the sequel, the less interesting storyline than the predecessor film, or both, I did not find this film as enjoyable as Snake; however I must be in the minority with this opinion, because most fans and critics find this film more enjoyable and more influential than the former film. What can't be denied at all, however, is the fact that the Kung Fu action in Drunken Master is both more frenetic and more inventively choreographed, so there is definitely more "wow factor" this time around. The progression to more complicated martial arts sequences is also born out by the fact that it took no fewer than five different kung fu directors this time to put the film together. You can also see that Jackie Chan is starting to develop his own fluid fighting style more in this film, as there is a notably greater use of everyday props in his fight sequences here, including things such as tables, bowls, towels, chairs and clothes. The comedy of using such props would go on to become his trademark.

    I suppose I should outline the plot. The story is apparently based on a popular folk legend. Wong Fei-Hong (or Freddie Wong, as named by the American subtitles) (Jackie Chan) is the rebellious son of the town's respected Kung Fu instructor Robert Wong. After constantly getting into trouble and with no other means to discipline his son, his exasperated father finally sends for legendary Kung Fu instructor Sam Seed (or So Hai as he is named in these subtitles) (Yuen Siu-Tien). Sam Seed has an unusual training approach that involves various kinds of tortures to strengthen his students' wrists and prepare them mentally. Fei-Hong tries to escape these sadistic training techniques, however after being beaten and completely humiliated by local bully and assassin Thunderfoot (the always impressive Hwang Jang-Lee), Fei-Hong realises that the only way to gain his honour is to return to Sam Seed, resume his training and prepare for the day when he can fight Thunderfoot and so win back not only his own self-respect but also the respect of his father. Sam Seed teaches his student the ultimate Kung Fu fighting technique of the "eight drunken gods", which is based on the erratic and unpredictable moves of a drunkard. These rather comical techniques prove to be highly effective in combat, as your opponent is both lulled into a false sense of security fighting what he believes to be a drunk and also thwarted in attempts to attack such an erratic and constantly moving opponent. You may be tempted into thinking, as I was when first watching this film, that these "eight drunken gods" techniques are pure inventions for the purpose of this film. However, quite amazingly, it turns out that these are in fact real Kung Fu fighting techniques (as is explained in the audio commentary). Fascinating. Anyway, after mastering the eight drunken gods (or does he?), Fei-Hong is finally ready to meet the dreaded Thunderfoot for the film's finale fight.

    The film Drunken Master would prove to have an even greater impact on audiences than did Snake In The Eagle's Shadow. So much so that Jackie Chan would go back to revive this character at the peak of his career some 16 years later, for Drunken Master II (also known as The Legend Of The Drunken Master, or Drunken Fist II). There has also been Drunken Master III and a series of other offshoot projects cashing in on the franchise without Jackie Chan. If you want to know how it all began and how Jackie Chan developed his famous martial arts style, then you simply must see this original 1978 film.

Video

    The presented aspect ratio is 2.35:1, close enough to the original 2.39:1 theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer has again been sourced from a newly remastered print. Apparently the remastering process was hindered for this film (more so than for Snake In The Eagles' Shadow) by damage to the source element, so the final result was achieved after a lot of hard work. When you consider the reported state of the source element, the resolution and chrominance achieved in the final remastered DVD transfer is in fact quite extraordinary. As expected, there is visible film grain throughout and the transfer is still riddled with all manner of minor film artefacts (see below). But despite an overall softness to the resolution, the degree of detail on offer here is quite pleasing, evidence that the remastering process has been successful. Sure, focus does wander and background resolution is sometimes found to be lacking, but these are source issues. Shadow detail is also wanting in some scenes, but it is not of great concern given the vast majority of the action takes place in bright daylight exteriors or brightly lit sets. What's important above all these issues is that the amount of detail achieved in foreground images with this transfer makes for enjoyable viewing.

    Colour varies a bit but is for the great majority of the transfer very well balanced. There is acceptable colour saturation for the most part, but the age and quality of the source material means we are prevented from being treated to anything more striking. Colours do appear a bit more washed than they did in Snake In The Eagle's Shadow. Black levels are adequate, but not solid. Skin tones vary a bit, being generally acceptably balanced but occasionally either too washed out or too pink.

    No material MPEG artefacts are noted. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of some obvious telecine wobble in some scenes, however the transfer is largely free of any aliasing issues or other film-to-video artefacts. Film artefacts are prominent in the form of watermarks and dirt on the print, in among other places the opening sequences and also around 103:58. Other film artefacts include film flecks and negative artefacts sprinkled liberally throughout the feature, however despite the number of them they are all relatively minor on the distraction scale. No doubt there were other more distracting film artefacts that the new digital remastering process has addressed.

    The only subtitle language option provided on this DVD is English. I reviewed the subtitle stream in full while listening to the Cantonese audio track and found the subtitle font to be clear, easy to read, well placed and well-timed with the dialogue. Whilst I don't speak Cantonese and so cannot pass judgment on the accuracy of the subtitle translation, as a general comment it would appear to me that many liberties have been taken "Americanising" the dialogue in the translation, as evidenced by such subtitle lines as "my balls are busted!" and "is this your pad?". The audio commentary also alludes to several inaccuracies in the subtitling, mainly due to a lack of understanding of cultural issues.

    The disc is single-layered, so there is no layer change to navigate.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This time there are only two audio tracks on offer for the main feature, again being Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono) mixes at the low rate of 192 Kb/s. The audio tracks are English - again the default track, but why pray tell? - and the original Cantonese language track. If you want to hear the correct original language track, you will need to make a point of selecting it manually from the languages menu before starting the movie. Note that when you do, you are then confronted with the first scene being spoken in English!  This had me wondering if I had selected the correct audio track at first, or worse still, worrying that the Cantonese language track had not been included on the DVD after all! But don't worry, it turns out that English is spoken a few times throughout this film in addition to Cantonese, including as it happens the very first scene. (This is because some parts of the source elements were "incomplete" (read damaged), with the audio for these scenes not recoverable and so had to be re-dubbed. As an aside, the English dubbing of one character towards the end of this film is done by an actor with a very broad South African accent, which in the context of the visuals is quite comical!) The vast majority of the film, however, is spoken in Cantonese. I reviewed the original language (Cantonese) track.

    The centre speaker does literally all of the work in this movie if your Dolby ProLogic decoder is turned on. Dialogue quality is perfectly clear throughout. Every line is well delivered and the audio transfer cannot be wanting in this department.

    Audio sync is again atrocious, irrespective of whether it is Cantonese or English being spoken, but this is of course a source issue with the complete lack of effort put into the ADR process by films of the time, and so this is not a reflection of the delivery of the DVD's audio transfer. But again, rather than being annoying, this is as we expect for Hong Kong cinema and somehow only just adds to the charm and fun of the genre.

    The music for this film is uncredited. It is rather strident and intended to play none-too-subtly on the heartstrings at appropriate moments. Of  course the mono audio transfer does little for the music and sound effects, which come across as tinny and hollow. And nor is there any oomph to the numerous crashes and bumps. But still, what is most important in this transfer is the quality of the delivery of the dialogue and corny sound effects of the fighting; on this front the DVD transfer delivers.
   

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Audio Commentary: Ric Myers and Jeff Yang

    Ric Myers is the author of numerous martial arts movies and a respected Kung Fu movie magazine columnist. He knows his Hong Kong cinema. Jeff Yang is co-author, with Jackie Chan, of the biography "I Am Jackie Chan: My Life In Action". He is also the author of the upcoming book "Once Upon A Time In China - An Enthusiast's Guide To The Cinema of Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong". Naturally enough, he knows his Jackie Chan history.

    This audio commentary was recorded by the pair together only very recently (post-2000) for the most recent DVD release of the film in the US. The commentary is screen-specific, but also wanders about in a general discussion of not only this film, but also aspects of Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, Hong Kong cinema generally and the histories of Jackie Chan, Yuen Woo-Ping and  Yuen Siu-Tien in particular. This commentary is authoritative and fascinating to listen to. The pair are talkative, informative and work quite well together, so there are hardly any blank spots at all. Better still, the commentary provides a detailed understanding of the film's context, many of the cultural issues/references in the film, and the history of all those involved. Consequently, this extra will improve your knowledge of Jackie Chan and of Hong Kong cinema no end.

Trailers:

• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (1:25): presented in 2.35:1, not 16x9 enhanced, and with 2.0 surround audio,
• Maximum Risk (1:18): presented in 1.33:1 and 5-channel audio, and
• The One (2:17): presented in 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced and with aggressive 5.1 audio.

    The quality of all the trailers is good. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a nice enough inclusion on this DVD, given Yuen Woo-Ping's involvement in it as martial arts choreographer. However the other two trailers are completely unrelated to those involved in Drunken Master and presumably only included simply because they are of the genre. This is a wasted extra then, when 3 trailers of any other Jackie Chan films would have been much preferred instead.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    In comparison to the Region 4 (and Region 1) version of this DVD, Region 2 receives:

• No original Cantonese language audio track - instead, an alternate Mandarin dub track is provided in addition to the English dub track.
• A cropped 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced aspect ratio.
  However, Region 2 also gets.....
• Several extras, including: a featurette interview with producer Ng See-Yuen (appears to be exactly the same interview featurette extra as appears on the R2 release of Snake); a "Kicking Showcase" featurette with Hwang Jang-Lee (again, appears to be the same extra as on the R2 release of Snake); detailed cast and crew bios (Jackie Chan's bio is reported to be 32 pages long!); a 2-minute edit of the film's fighting highlights to music; a photo gallery; and a theatrical trailer. This is quite an extras package, but it does not include the audio commentary.

    The Region 2 version might appear to be the arguable winner in terms of overall extras package, but when you break it down note that, apart from the bio screens, the only really meaty extra is an interview featurette (time unknown but probably short) and a short "Kicking Showcase" featurette with Hwang Jang-Lee. Again you must weigh this up against the loss of the original language track, a cropped 1.78:1 transfer and a great audio commentary. Note also that our Region 4 release is also the clear winner for price, given the pairing of two films together in one affordably priced DVD package. I am calling this a Region 4 winner.

    The video transfer delivers a pleasing image, given the age and quality of the source material.

    The audio is the original mono mix, but is nonetheless quite satisfactory.

    The audio commentary extra is invaluable.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall