The Basher Box: Prodigal Boxer & Awaken Punch from the Pearl River Collection!

[El_Fez]

Saw this pop up in my facebook:

VCI Entertainment’s new Classic Kung Fu cinema focused label The Pearl River Collection will be releasing on Blu-ray “The Basher Box”, punching its way to retailers on April 13, 2021. It will include Ulysess Au-Yeung Jun’s The Prodigal Boxer (1972) and Fong Long-Seung’s The Awaken Punch (1973), to be followed later in the year by the seminal Duel of the Seven Tigers from director Yang Chuen.

The Basher Box features two early Kung Fu films showcasing the transitional shift from the Wuxia Pian sword fighting knights of classics such as Touch of Zen to the more brawling style of action that paved the way for both Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

In a 1973 film that bares many similarities to Bruce Lee’s debut film The Big Boss, The Awaken Punch‘s Henry Yu Yang plays an altruistic fighter who begins to build a name for himself as he violently cleans up a town from within its more seedier elements. But when he must abide by a promise to his dying father to give up his fighting ways, he will be faced with a new challenge in the arrival of the knife-throwing master Tien Feng (Fist of Fury) and his gang. With action from the legendary Yuen Woo-Ping (Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and a cameo from a young Jackie Chan and others, this basher is the epitome of the Punch and Block violence that began a long trend within Martial Arts cinema.

The Prodigal Boxer (1972) is an early take on the legend of martial artist Fong Sai-Yuk (later to be portrayed by the likes of Jet Li and Alexander Fu-Sheng), here played by Mang Fei. Once Fong Inadvertently kills a student of the rival school run by Iron Hand Tan (Kurata Yasuaki), this action leads to a series of near death confrontations between the men concluding in a tournament battle of the ages. Choreographed by Shaw Brothers’ Lau Kar-Wing (the brother of the great Gordon Liu and Lau Kar-Leung) this film represents the brawling style of the time as well as the genesis of the more stylistic “Shapes” trend of martial arts action that would soon follow.


Special Features:
* NEW 4K Transfer of The Prodigal Boxer from a 35mm inter-positive
* NEW 4k Transfer of The Awaken Punch from a 35mm negative
* Audio Commentary on The Prodigal Boxer with actor/director Michael Worth and Clones Cast/Cinema Bushido host Matthew Whittaker
* Creative Chaos: The Basher Genre: an interview with Michael Worth and Action Choreographer John Kreng
* Original Theatrical Trailers to both films
* Newly commissioned artwork from artist Bryan Meredith
* Essay booklet on the Basher genre within Kung Fu Cinema History

Great news, as I'm always on the lookout for more low rent chopsockie flicks! Will grab this one straight away

Prodigal Boxer - YouTube

Wu Tang Collection - Trailer - Fury of the Black Belt aka Awaken Punch - YouTube