Epic, ambitious, action-packed and bloody violence galore! Martial arts and women who can kick some serious butt can be seen in the film “The 14 Amazons”. The Shaw Brothers film makes its first appearance on DVD via FUNimation Entertainment’s Hong Kong Connection featuring the restored original master and also featuring the original Mandarin and English dub soundtrack. If you are a fan of the Shaw Brothers, these DVD releases are definitely recommended!
Images courtesy of © 2005 Celestial Pictures, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: The 14 Amazons (Shi si nu ying hano)
DURATION: 117 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: NTSC, Region 1, Anamorphic Widescreen 16×9
RATED: Not Rated: Parental Guidance Suggested
COMPANY: Celestial Pictures/FUNimation Entertainment
Released on March 23, 2010
Directed by Kang Cheng, Shao-yung Tung
Original Screenplay by Yang Kao
Screenplay by Kang Cheng
Produced by Run Run Shaw
Music by Fu-lin Wang
Cinematography by Hsin Chang, Chia Hsin Chu, Chieh Huang, Shan Hua, Shao-yung Tung, Toru Watanabe, Chi Yu
Edited by Hsing-lung Chiang, Kung Wing Fan
Art Direction by Chi-Jui Chen
Costume Design by Chi-Yu Liu
Starring:
Lisa Lu as the Grand matriarch
Ivy Ling Po as Mu Kuei Ying
Chen Yen Yen as Grandmother
Ouyang Sha Fei as Chai Chau Chu
Lily Ho as Yang Wen
Li Ching as Tsou Lan
Huang Chin Feng as Ma Sai Ying
Tina Chin Fei as Tu Chin Ngo
Yeh Ling Chih as Yang Chiu Mei
Liu Wu Chih as Yang Chiu Lan
Shu Pei Pei as Yang Pai Feng
Ching Miao as Wang Ching
Tien Feng as King of Western Xia
Wang Hsieh as First Prince
Nian Kung as Second Prince
Tien Ching as Third Prince
Chin Pei as Fourth Prince
Yuen Biao as Yang soldier
Long before feminism made it to Hong Kong, women proved themselves more than equal to men in this martial arts classic, a forerunner to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Set in ancient China, a matriarchal clan proves as adept with sword, fist, and gravity-defying leaps as anything conjured up by the Crouching Tiger ladies thirty years later.
The cast is a veritable “who’s who” of the golden age of Shaw Brothers swordplay adventures, and was not only a major box office hit (ranking fourth for 1972), but also a top prize winner, including Best Supporting Actress for Lisa Lu, a special citation for outstanding lead female performance for Lily Ho, Best Director for Cheng Kang, and an award for Honorable Mention For Drama.
The Shaw Brothers, the company known for their many releases of Hong Kong films for many decades ran by producer Sir Run Run Shaw, knighted by the British government and founder of Shaw University in Hong Kong and even founded the HK-TVB TV network was a major power behind the company and his third brother Runme Shaw (who founded South Sea Film), the film company would become known as Shaw Brothers Studio and become the first studio to bring Hong Kong cinema with sound in 1934.
The Shaw Brothers have created over a thousand films and with several having been aired on US television and some being released on video, “The 14 Amazons” gets its release on DVD courtesy of Celestial Pictures and FUNimation Entertainment via their Hong Kong Connection line featuring original masters of the original film and both the Mandarin and English dub dialogue.
In 1972, the film “The 14 Amazons” was released in theaters and won Best Director (Cheng Kang), Best Supporting Actress (Lisa Lu), Best Sound Recording and Honorable Mention for Drama for the 11th Golden Horse Awards in 1973 and earn Lily Ho the “Oustanding Female Lead Performance” for the 19th Asian Film Festival (1973).
“The 14 Amazons” (Shu si nu ying hao) begins with General Yang Tsung Pao being ambushed and killed in battle. He manages to send two of his men back home to their country (Northern Sung) to inform his people of what has happened to them.
Back at home in Northern Sung, the Yang family is ran by the Grand Matriarch (played by Lisa Lu) who has all the daughters celebrating the General’s birthday but the celebrations are quickly dampered when the women are informed that General Pao was ambushed and has been killed while defending his country by the army of the King of Western Xia.
Immediately Genera Pao’s widow Mu Kuei Ying (played by Ivy Ling Po) wants revenge as does his only son Yang Wen (played by Lily Ho) and the heir to the Yang family. So, the Yang family join together with their countrymen to exact revenge against the King of Western Xia.
The King of Western Xia rules his country with an iron fist and instilling fear to everyone. With his sons as ruthless as he is and a much larger army outnumbering the Yang family, they look unbeatable.
Who will emerge victorious in the end?
VIDEO:
“The 14 Amazons” is presented in 16:9 and received restoration by Celestial Pictures. I was absolutely impressed by the restoration since a lot of the older Shaw films I have seen definitely shows its age. Watching this film, I was impressed by the colors and how the film looks as if it was made recently versus in 1972. I can definitely imagine how beautiful the print would be on Blu-ray where I’m sure the colors of the film would definitely pop.
The film utilizes quite a bit of colors and since the characters are seen during the outdoors, a good level of natural light is shown through the film. Details on mountains and lush scenery can be seen and of course, a lot of red for the blood seen on this film.
But aside from the colors which I enjoy, there are some problems that I did find. There is a blurring effect when the camera pans quickly and also some parts, was not sure if it was intentional (to be artistic) when you see the picture pause for a split second. Also, one scene where I felt the editing was cut to abruptly.
But overall, aside from those few negatives, it doesn’t ruin the enjoyment of the film at all. The restoration of “The 14 Amazons” is quite impressive.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
As for audio, the film is presented in English Dolby Digital stereo and Mandarin Mono. Personally, having endured these Shaw films with the terrible (yet humorous) English dubs back in the late ’70s and early ’80s, just watching it again with the English dub just didn’t make sense anymore (unless you get a kick of how bad they were acted). So, watching it with the Mandarin mono track was my choice and preference.
I felt the English stereo soundtrack was OK but felt the Mandarin mono to be much better. For listening, I had my receiver set for stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundtrack.
Some may be wondering why the film is presented in Mandarin when Hong Kong films are typically in Cantonese. The Shaw Brothers Studio had films split into Mandarin and Cantonese. Kang Cheng spearheaded the Mandarin division and was known for his violent martial arts films which were box office hits for the Shaw Brothers.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The 14 Amazons” comes with trailers of upcoming releases.
EXTRAS:
The DVD comes with a slipcase.
“The 14 Amazons” was actually quite an epic film and at first I was expecting a cheesy film but I was very impressed by the sheer amount of action, violence and also how many talent were featured in this film to showcase the battles between the two clans. I use the word “epic” but not in the way that you see many people onscreen like John Woo’s “Red Cliff” but for a ’70s film, there’s a lot of extras on this film to create the feeling of war.
And in some ways, I felt that this film was quite ambitious with the amount of obstacles the Yang Family had to endure during their march towards Western Xia and showing the sheer violence of the King and his sons.
Also, different compared to other Hong Kong Wuxia films is that the cast is mostly all female (for the Yang family). Although General Pao’s remaining son Yang Wen is played by a woman (Lily Ho), the film which the actress really shines in but can see her in other Shaw Bros. films such as “The Golden Knight”, “Jade Faced Assassin”, “Silver Fox” and “Angel” films.
But “The 14 Amazons” was definitely an exciting adventure/martial arts film. The amount of action and violence worked well with each other as well as having a clan full of women who can kick ass makes things a bit more exciting as well. Interesting to note is a short early appearance by now world renown martial arts actor Yuen Biao (who trained with Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Corey Yuen) who has a role of a Yang soldier.
As for the DVD, I’m glad that you do have the option of the Mandarin or English dub track and the restoration of the film definitely adds to the enjoyment of the film as well. A shame that there are no special features but then again, since the Shaw Bros. churned out films one after the other, I’m not sure if that type of footage of the making of the film is lost.
But on its own, FUNimation Entertainment and Celestial Pictures are doing a great service for fans of these classic martial arts films by releasing it on DVD in the US.  If you are a fan of the Shaw Brothers, these restored DVD releases are worth watching!