Duel to the Death :: Hong Kong Legends
Originally posted by: Hussain on Jan 08, 2006 - 12:14 PM
A classic in the genre of HK swordplay movies came surprisingly fast after HKL announced they would release it. It was a pleasure for me to re-visit this wonderful piece of movie-making.
We bring you a detailed movie and DVD review for HKL's DVD release of Duel to the Death...
Alternative Titles: Sang Sei Kuet / Sheng Si Jue / The Duel
Director: Ching Siu Tung
Main Stars: Tsui Siu Kung, Lau Chong Yan, Flora Cheung, Chang Chong, Kao Hsiung
Production Year: 1983
Studio: Hong Kong Legends (Contender Group)
Packaging: Amaray
Extras: DVD transfer sourced from High Definition Master, Exclusive feature-length audio commentary with Asian Cinema Expert, Bey Logan, No Strings attached: discover the secrets of Hong Kong wire-assisted fight action, Princess Blade: an interview with leading lady, Flora Cheung, Duel Identity: an exclusive interview with leading man, Tsui Siu-keung, Trailer Gallery
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio Tracks: Original Cantonese Mono track, Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1, English dub Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary 2.0
Subtitles: English, Dutch, SDH English
Regional Coding: Region 2 PAL
Running Time: 83 minutes
Rating / Certificate: 18
Release Date: April 4th 2005
The Film
Every 10 years, the best fighters from China and Japan meet for a historical duel. The Chinese swordsman, Bo Ching Wan (Damian Lau Chong Yan), starts his journey to the castle of the mighty Master Ha Hou. On his way, Bo saves Ha Hou's beautiful daughter from a dangerous attack by a group of ninjas. Little do both know about Ha Hou's connection to the ninjas, who stole scriptures from a Shaolin-temple. The scriptures feature the names of all great fighters in China and with the help of this scripture, Ha Hou plans to reign the country.
The Japanese participant of the duel is Hashimoto Kada (Norman Tsui Siu Keung). Before he starts his journey, he encounters a tragic moment which makes him strive for his goal, to win the duel, even more.
Unlike a lot of other Hong Kong films, Duel to the Death does not portray the Japanese lead-character as a villainous person. In fact, the two protagonists live with almost similar ideals. They spend the days before the duel together and get to know each other. The ninja gang, lead by Master Kenji (Eddie Ko), is their shared enemy and as they find out about each other's grudge against them, they join their forces to finish them off. Although this aspect sounds quite similar to the story of Corey Yuen's Ninja in the Dragon's Den, it is not as humourous and rather a tragic film. The duel, which is the actual reason for their meeting, has not been fought and the finale sees the two heroes, and maybe even friends, facing each other in a duel to the death.
The wild directorial debut of actor and martial arts director Ching Siu Tung (son of Shaw Bros. director Ching Gong) not only reflects the influence of his idol filmmakers' films, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Jimmy Wang Yu's Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman. It also shows his mastership and brilliance in terms of motion sequences, camera angles and editing which he would later make use of again in his other masterpieces (A Chinese Ghost Story-trilogy, The Swordsman, A Terracotta Warrior). This style would later turn into what we see in films like Hero or House of Flying Daggers for which he directed the action.
Just like Tsui Hark revived the fantasy genre with Zu - Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Ching Siu Tung did the same with the swordfight genre. He even managed to rapidly reanimate the ninja-genre, which had almost lost importance due to Joseph Lai's and Tomas Tang's uncountable trash productions. Siu Tung's "ninjas" act like forerunners to his ghost-armies from the A Chinese Ghost Story-trilogy. They don't know any gravity and use the most cleverly ways to kill their opponents. One example would be the death of one character (whom I won't specify here in order not to spoil the film). He gets be-headed, but the head still comments the fight in a few ironic words and then simply explodes. Scenes like this brake the unbelievable fight sequences, which find their conclusion during the climatic in-the-famous-title-mentioned duel. It takes place on a cliff surrounded by a roaring sea. This location made the stunts even more dangerous and it shows.
The music, composed by Michael Lai, adds a so much to the emotions which the film send out to its viewer. Like it or not, but the synthesizer used is just typical for the film's time (1983) and I think that it is the perfect instrument in combination with a swordsfilm (another example would be Patrick Tam's The Sword, which is 3 years older and also makes use of the synthesizer-music).
Duel to the Death is a classic which resulted in many films trying to immitate it. For years it is looked upon as the swordsfilm prototype and even today, it still fascinates.
The DVD
DVD Menus
Beautifully animated and easy-to-navigate menus accompany this wonderful movie. The music playing over the menus is from the UK Promotional Trailer of the Premier Asia's Bichunmoo, so unfortunately, no newly composed music.
Picture Quality
Although not perfect, this is the best Duel to the Death has ever looked. Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and without cropping (or any of the other faults we unfortunately encounter sometimes), it looks just stunning. The new High Definition transfer from Fortune Star just attracts attention to itself. The colours look beautiful with no blooming at all. Black levels have been handled very good as well.
The only negative aspect I would like to mention is the grain which is visible, especially in the beginning of the film. I guess it is due to the original master of the film's print as this grain is visible in all the versions I have seen so far. You will also have to keep in mind that the film is 23 years old (ed. at the time of writing).
Audio Quality
People who were happy about the Fortune Star HD prints, were less delighted about the FS 5.1 remixes which HKL have used in their release of Warriors Two. But with the release of Duel to the Death, everybody should be satisfied as the original Cantonese mono track is included as well. And on top of that it is also in synch. ;-)
Apart from these tracks, you'll find the usual 5.1 Cantonese and English dubbed remixes. As with so many other 1980's martial arts films there is no massive use of gunplay, car chases or explosions, hence there is not a lot to do for the rear speakers. Dialogue is crisp and clear though and the sound effects and music can all be heard well.
Subtitles
Subtitles are available in English and Dutch, plus the now usual English set of subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.Again, easy to read and error-free, the subtitles not only translate dialogue, but songs and Chinese characters appearing in the film as well. However, some characters, appearing at times in the background, are left untranslated.
Special Features
Bey Logan is back and rocks with another insightful audio commentary. As usual, he provides us with background information on shooting locations, actors information and inside info in terms of the HK movie industry. He also mentions the violence in this film and because the only available version, prior to this DVD, was cut by the BBFC, he hopes that it can now be released uncut. Well, thank God it finally happened.
The most extravagant special feature on this DVD is the little documentary about the wire action that enables swordfighters in Hong Kong films to fly. Jude Poyer, UK originated stuntman working full-time in Hong Kong, directs a little period fight scene, especially for this HKL DVD. The whole feature runs for 27m 13s and only 1m 40s of this running time is the finished, edited piece of work. The rest is all behind-the-scenes stuff and on-set interviews.
One of the stuntmen is introduced by Poyer as 'The man who doubled Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'.
There are two interviews present on this disc as well. Tsui Siu Keung, who played the Japanese character Hashimoto Kada, talks in Cantonese. This 19 minute interview is of course subtitled.
Leading lady Flora Cheung talks in perfect English. The picture quality of her 9 minute interview looks kind of blurry, but one thing I can tell you... even though she must be about 40 now, she still looks gorgeous, even though the use of lots of make up is obvious. I find both interviews interesting, although I must say that Tsui's anecdotes captivated me more.
As usual, there is the UK Promotional Trailer (for which the music of HKL's Moon Warriors trailer was used) and the Original Theatrical Trailer.
'Further Attractions' features UK Promotional Trailers for further titles from HKL and Premier Asia.
Conclusion
After the film's first screening it became an instant classic. At the HK Film Awards in 1984 it was nominated for 'Best Action Choreography' and 'Best Editing'. As a film Duel to the Death stands out from other swordplay films of its time. The DVD is the best version available of this film.
DVD Menus
Picture
Audio
Subtitles
Special Features
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