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Shawscope Vol. 3 Blu-ray box |
Comparison between the Celestial version, represented here by the HD version on Amazon Prime Video, and the 2024 restoration from Arrow Video, contained on the British/American Blu-ray from Arrow Video
- 25 relevant missing bits Several other master errors/framecuts with a duration of less than 1 sec each were not listed in the report.
At the end of 2021, Arrow Video in the UK/USA released the ‘Shawscope Vol. 1’ box set, which contained 12 films from the legendary Hong Kong film studio. In addition to 5 well-known HD masters from the licensor Celestial, there were 7 new HD restorations that did not have the infamous framecuts that run through much of the Celestial catalogue. We have documented this in more detail in several editing reports, for example the comparison to Five Venoms. At the end of 2022, ‘Shawscope Vol. 2’ followed with 9 out of a total of 14 films in new HD restorations without framecuts, for example the report on Ten Tigers of Kwantung. From 25 November 2024 (UK) and 6 December 2024 (USA) respectively, ‘Shawscope Vol. 3’ is available. Fortunately, this time even all 14 films included are new restorations, so that there is added value across the board compared to the previously known Celestial versions. Particularly exciting are Clans of Intrigue, which has only been available in a censored version worldwide so far, and The New One-Armed Swordsman, which was only released by T.V.P. in an incomplete reconstruction instead of fully uncut. The Avenging Eagle is a similar case which had a half-baked "uncut" reconstruction in Germany by filmArt. Arrow presents all these problem cases in the longest versions to date, along with much more. Disc 3 contains Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan and The Lady Hermit from 1971. The latter attempted to establish Shih Szu as a new female star, with Cheng Pei-Pei (Come Drink With Me, Tiger & Dragon), who was already successful at the time, and Lo Lieh at her side. A young Sammo Hung can also be spotted in this rather gory film - and from our point of view, there are plenty of frame cuts...
Minus the Celestial logos, the new Arrow version is 5:25 min longer and as you can already guess from this huge difference in runtime, almost every single shot was shortened quite drastically at the end/beginning. You can also find a whole bunch of slightly longer missing parts or completely missing shots, and as usual, we have focused on these more interesting differences.
Runtime information is given according to the scheme The VOD version still has the Celestial logo at the beginning.
+ 10.5 sec To begin with, a small image comparison. Qualitatively, this is certainly not the best title from the Arrow box and the old version already looked quite good. However, a similar tendency towards a rather cool and smooth look on the Celestial version was noticeable here as well. For the Arrow version, one noticeable example is a scene in the finale where you only see massive damage to the image here.
00:40 / 00:32-00:35 A fade was set earlier at Celestial and the shot at night begins a bit earlier. 3.3 sec
02:41 / 02:46-02:52 The sign was visible for about a second (presumably the picture was frozen for that), then it jumps to a later part of the shot. The Arrow version reveals that it was a continuous shot and shows the camera panning down and people walking by earlier. Towards the end, there is a slight change in image quality – the two images below show two consecutive frames in which a smooth colour transition has taken place. This was probably the reason why Celestial made a hard cut here. 6.2 sec
07:32 / 08:07-08:09 Shang turns her head a little longer to the side. 2.1 sec
22:22 / 24:08-24:09 Shang a little earlier. Basically just one of many framecuts that cause the loss of slightly more or less than 0.5 sec at the beginning/end of shots. 0.8 sec
29:51 / 32:23-32:25 After Shang and his men narrowly miss the ceiling with their throwing knives, the medium long shot begins a little earlier. Interestingly, the Celestial version seems more coherent here, because this brief moment takes some of the momentum out of the fast-paced action scene. In any case, Chin and co still look up at the beginning here, and Celestial only begins when the fight continues. 1.5 sec
30:18 / 32:54-32:55 Chin pauses for a moment when she jumps up briefly. This is basically just one of many framecut victims, but the short remaining rest of the shot looked very jumpy in the Celestial version. 0.7 sec
32:21 / 35:09-35:12 The shot is longer at the end, so you can see Shang walking a little further. 2.3 sec
34:39 / 37:45-37:47 The carriage enters from the right. 1.5 sec
50:51 / 55:18-55:20 A shot of the fight begins earlier with Wu entering from the right and attacking. 1.4 sec
52:46 / 57:23-57:26 Chin reaches for her throwing knives much earlier. 3.3 sec
59:37 / 64:48-64:48 Shortly before someone gets their arm cut off, a shot of the fight from above is significantly longer. 1.5 sec
62:00 / 67:24-67:30 At the end of the shot, the camera moves towards the sun. 6 sec.
66:12 / 72:02-72:03 At the end of the shot, Chin turns sideways and walks away. 1 sec
76:51 / 83:39-83:40 The fall into the water is a moment longer. 1 sec
77:09 / 83:59-84:01 One of the many fight scenes on the bridge starts much earlier. 1.7 sec
78:25 / 85:27-85:29 Wu and Shang are walking around earlier. 1.9 sec
81:33 / 89:02-89:04 Chin looks ahead longer. 2.6 sec
82:03 / 89:36-89:50 The shot was cut off earlier at a clever point (lateral movement, as in the following close-up perspective), but the fight actually goes on much longer in the wide shot. In it, Chin kicks one of the fighters so hard that he falls into the water at the front. There is a small jump cut here, which was probably the reason for the intervention. 13.2 sec
82:17 / 90:06-90:07 Before Chin swings over the railing at the top, there are a few more steps up the roof tiles. 1.3 sec
84:08 / 92:17-92:19 Chin looks around earlier. 1.5 sec
84:59 / 93:15-93:18 The last appearance of Sammo Hung's character, of all things, was the victim of a master error at Celestial: After Chin hits him in the stomach, there is a small jump cut at Arrow, which is probably why the scene was cut short. Here she kicks him again and Sammo ends up in the water in a high arc. 2.8 sec
85:02 / 93:22-93:23 The rotation with the claw POV starts much earlier. 1 sec
85:08 / 93:29-93:32 Chin can be seen earlier before she attacks. 2.8 sec
87:20 / 96:02-96:04 The Black Demon's claw comes into view much earlier and it tightens again. 1.8 sec
87:32 / 96:18-96:19 The camera pans down from Shang's face to his stomach with the knife belt. Before she grabs it, there is a small jump cut and the Celestial version starts immediately afterwards. 1.7 sec
The end credits differ.
Once again, only the Celestial version has an additional credit afterwards. |
