"Actor: Tin Leung"

• Legend Of A Fighter | DVD | (05/03/2001) from £13.73   |  Saving you £6.26 (45.59%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In the historically based Kung fu drama Legend of a Fighter director Yuen Woo Ping offers his version of the early life of martial artist Fok Yuen Gap (played by Leung Kar Yan). Set at the beginning of the 20th century, Fok is considered too weak to learn the family Kung fu style. Still, as his father can break eggs by growling, he probably considers most people weak. The teenager forms a bond with his humane Japanese tutor (Kurata Yusuaki), who secretly teaches martial arts. The story builds to a moving climax as 12 years later pupil and now ageing master are forced by honour into a deadly duel. The opening and closing acts are by far the strongest, the plentiful fight scenes being balanced by gentle humour and emotions torn between friendship and duty. Both lead actors are excellent, with Yusuaki being particularly fine as the noble warrior-teacher. The middle, a series of disconnected tableaux in which Fok establishes his stature as a Kung fu expert, goes on much too long to sustain interest. Nevertheless the story of Fok Yuen Gap, a genuine Chinese hero who was also the inspiration for Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (1972), is fine and Woo Ping delivers the one-on-one Kung fu action with the touch of a master.On the DVD: The 1.77:1 image doesn't benefit at all from its anamorphic enhancement, the entire film being presented slightly out of focus so that by the end eyes are likely to be aching. The opening 4:3 Academy ratio archive footage has been distorted to 1.77:1, while the original trailer shows Legend of a Fighter was shot in an extremely wide format--possibly the Hong Kong equivalent of early 2.66:1 CinemaScope, or even 2.74:1 Techniscope--which means that large amounts of the original image are missing. This is very obvious as characters constantly vanish off the sides of the screen or are cropped in half. Additionally, and again compared to the crisp, sharp trailer, colours are washed out, while the mono sound distorts whenever the music gets loud. The film is available in Mandarin with optional English subtitles, or in an awful English dub littered with inappropriate obscene language. There is a nine-minute interview with Leung Kar Yan, and a 23-minute interview with Yuen Woo Ping, which is a slightly longer version of the conversation presented on the Magnificent Butcher DVD: it's notable how he expresses his love of science fiction and indicates he would like to make a SF Kung-fu movie, something he achieved with The Matrix (1999). There is a Hong Kong Legends' promo for the film, together with seven further new trailers. The photo gallery is pointless, simply cropping some shots even further than the main presentation. --Gary S Dalkin

• Death By Misadventure | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £3.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (50.13%)   |  RRP £5.99

  He was the greatest master of unarmed combat the world has ever seen. How could the self proclaimed world's fittest man die so suddenly at the very height of his career? Could foul play have been involved or even murder? Death By Misadventure goes in depth behind the scenes as we unfold the greatest mystery of the martial arts movie world. It also highlights a profile of Bruce Lee's legacy Brandon Lee which charts the rising star's emergence as a major force in action cinema of the 90's until his tragic and untimely death in March 1993.

• Inner Senses | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £18.88   |  Saving you £-3.89 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Are you ready to be possessed and believe that ghosts are real? A young woman haunted by fleeting images of ghosts visits a psychologist who tells her that the visions are all in her mind. But when the psychologist starts having the same visions the two begin to unravel a mystery that leads to a forgotten past... This was the final big screen performance from the wonderful Leslie Cheung (1956-2003) who took his own life shortly after the film was released.

• Death By Misadventure | DVD | (07/02/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Dragon Takeaway | DVD | (04/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A triple DVD box set brimming with marvellous martial arts movie action! Legend Of The Drunken Tiger: Cheong San is opposed to the Ching Dynasty and the film begins with him and his betrothed battling government officials in a war of attrition. Unfortunately for Cheong just as they force the officials to flee the occupation forces of Europe and the US turn up. Now a far greater challenge than before now stands in the way of freedom... (Dir. Robert Tai 1992) Martial Art