SHANGHAI SHANGHAI – Eureka Review: Sammo Hung And Yuen Biao Headline All-Star Hong Kong Classic
Shanghai Shanghai is the third of three feature films on Eureka Entertainment’s Triple Threat: Three Films With Sammo Hung, which arrives on Blu-Ray from December 9.
Teddy Robin Kwan’s 1990 action comedy, Shanghai Shanghai, marks a phenomenal closer to Eureka’s select bundle release coming this month. It’s a sizeable culmination of action star Sammo Hung’s extensive career in the industry, and with a film role that places him back on screen next to honorary Yuen Clan member and fellow former “Little Fortune,” screen legend Yuen Biao.
Joined by a plethora of Hong Kong stardom faves like Anita Mui, Mang Hoi, George Lam, and Sandy Lam to name a few, Biao and Hung lead the way for the 1930s-set tale of a young village man named Little Tiger (Biao), who makes his way to the city to reunite with his older brother, Big Tiger (Lam), who serves in the police. This brings us to Little Tiger’s immediate hardship when he’s haphazardly thrust into a triad war, befriending a circus performance troupe whose venue becomes a warzone following a firebombing.
Little do either of them know that the incident is one of several connected to the criminal underpinnings of Gam (Hung), who happens to be the latest owner of a lost satchel of millions of dollars in American currency after a deal gone awry at the top of the movie. Meanwhile, Little Tiger may be in way over his head when he’s compelled to help give the circus performers a fighting chance against a notorious crime boss trying to run them out of town, resulting in Little Tiger’s own instantaneous rise to power.
What that means for Gam remains to be seen, as well as for Gam’s connection to goddaughter Mary (Mui), which will all come full circle as revolution and conspiracy erupt in the city, and the bond between brothers is tested. With the city crippled by dirty politics and underworld tumult, does Little Tiger have the stripes it takes to go toe to toe with Shanghai’s hardest hitting gangster?
Gangland upheaval and period tumult be damned, Shanghai Shanghai is an absolute party. Leonard Ho is producer on the film alongside the late Corey Yuen Kwai who also serves as action director, and who brings his talents to the table next to martial arts choreographers Dion Lam and co-star Yuen Tak.
Actress Lam is terrific as Pao, the only female member of her troupe and can provenly hold her own under certain circumstances; She and Little Tiger have a great shot during an action sequence in which she’s held hostage until they turn the tables. Lam also brings a touch of hilarity to her poise opposite Mui in a scene where Mary and Little Tiger take to the dance floor to talk covertly, misleading the Pao to try and top her during their elaborate dance sequence.
This particular scene is one of the best shots of the film as it highlights Mui’s competency as a performance artist, and really sets up the rest of her screentime in the film; From drama to high-caliber action, Mui had the moves and she compliments her cast and crew exquisitely for this film. Other notable laureates include Lo Lieh who makes his entry into the film before an uneventful departure, as well as Jackie Chan mentee, Sam Wong, who plays one of the circus performers.
Actor Lam gives us the big brother performance to Biao’s character as the cop who also engineers and builds things. This aspect of his character comes handy by the second half of the film leading up to the pivotal climax between Little Tiger and Gam. This ultimately culminates into a really cool hero shot of both brothers shooting up Gam’s mansion, all preambled by Hung and Biao in an admirable feat of action performance as screen rivals.
The film’s presentation also comes in English and Cantonese, along with a feature length commentary intro’d by F.J. DeSanto and Frank Djeng who buffer things up nicely as the film begins and continues onward, sharing the usual requisite and great trivia about the film and the cast. Apparently there’s a Stanley Kubrick connection in here of some kind, and Djeng even has a favorite Shanghaiese dish that I’m curious to try because, well… food.
This second disc on which Shanghai Shanghai is printed includes a classic trailer, and while there aren’t any other special features attached, the third disc of Eureka Entertainment’s Triple Threat: Three Films With Sammo Hung, come bearing gifts: Extended international versions of both The Manchu Boxer and Shanghai Shanghai.
I couldn’t give these versions a full watch due to time constraints, but both films are presented in Mandarin and Cantonese, respectively, and are longer by an additional five or six minutes each. I’d say that makes for a nice little celebration of Hung’s career, and with movies that I haven’t really seen marketed in the U.S. via physical media at all in the past few decades to my knowledge, and you were lucky if you could score an DVD if such a product was available.
On that note, get your copy of Eureka Entertainment’s Triple Threat: Three Films With Sammo Hung on Blu-Ray from MVDshop.com!
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