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MYSTERY
OF CHESS BOXING (1978)
Xenon
Entertainment
Produced and Directed by Joeseph Kuo
Executive Produced by Wang Yang
Music by Huang Mou Sen
Cast: Jack Long, Lee Yi Min, Mark Long, Simon Yuen, Jeanie Chang,
Video:
Full Frame (1.33:1)
Audio: Dolby Digital Mono 2.0
Subtitles: None
Packaging:
Keepcase
Chapter Stops: 20
88 Minutes
MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING has made its
way to DVD courtesy of Xenon Entertainment. The movie originally opened in the
US in 1976 amid the martial-arts movie boom, and did quite well on New York's
42nd Street. The film stars Lee Yi Min as Apau the young apprentice and 
the
great Jack Long as Chi Sue Tin, the wise master. Together, the stars and
director created the superior SEVEN GRANDMASTERS. The villain of this classic
kung-fu film is the notorious Ghost-Faced Killer, master of the Five Element
Fist technique. The Ghost Faced Killer is on a hunt for the individuals who
wronged him, one of which is Lee Yi Min’s character’s father whom he
executed. So the revenge motive is in place for the eager apprentice to learn
from the old master in order to take revenge on the Ghost Faced Killer. I won’t
go further into the plot because you can pretty much figure it out from here.
The fighting scenes are fast and
furious. Lee Yi Min’s starts out in the film barely able to fight but by the
end his master (who is also Ghost Faced Killer’s enemy) has cross-trained him
with the Five 
Element Fist and another style called Chess Boxing. This
combination proves too much for the Ghost Face Killer who gets his arms
stretched (obviously dummy arms) out in the climax. In one training scene,
before the master teaches Lee Yi Min the advanced techniques, he makes him take
weeks to master the board game of chess boxing (presumably to get his mental
acuity up for training) before physical training begins. In another early scene,
at a martial arts school, Lee Yi Min’s character agrees to kowtow to the other
students and they assign him cleaning duties, whereupon he performs fantastic
martial arts exhibitions with bowls and plates and the like.
The Ghost-Faced Killer kills his victims by:
- Wraps his legs around his victims neck and twists it and we hear it snap.
- Uses a bamboo pole to pull his victims neck backwards until he dies.
- Uses a death blow to the temples of another victim.
- Delivers a death blow to the rib cage of an opponent.
There is also a lot of Jackie Chan style humor in the film between fights, which I find heightens the enjoyability of the film (and cuts down on the between-fight-boredom that most of these films suffer from). Chi Sue Tin’s daughter (Jeanie Chang) and her relationship with the apprentice is the source of much of the humor. They are attracted to each other, but that relationship is never explored. In another hilarious scene, the chef (who is also a kung fu master) of the hero’s kung fu school, tells him that if he can take one grain of rice from him, he will get free meals. So the chef begins eating his rice and avoiding the hero’s clumsy attempts to grab a rice grain. The chef uses funky moves to stay ahead of the student and the result is riotous.
SIGHT
Unfortunately, the video quality of the
film is terrible. Not only does Xenon release this as full-frame, it looks like
they used a VHS as a video master! This is the worst picture quality I’ve yet
to see on DVD. There are nics, scars, grain, in the video. I don’t believe it
is problematic mastering, rather poor source material (the film is 20+ years
old). If Xenon expects to release a successful line of martial arts films on
DVD, they are going to have to at least deliver letterbox prints. I imagine they
might have to contact film sources in Hong Kong to get original film sources
(which will become costly for them), but charge more if you have to because
letterboxing is a must for these films.
SOUND
The audio is a two channel mono mix. The same sound comes out of all front speakers. There is no bass at all in the mix, but the campy dubbed voices and the authentic Chinese score (by composer Huang Mou Sen) come through clear, although a little flat. Thankfully, the sound is a lot better than the video quality.
FEATURES
3 theatrical trailers for Xenon
features (non-martial arts related): WELCOME TO DEATH ROW (black & white,
full-frame, stereo, 55 seconds), ILL BEGOTTEN GAINS (black & white, full
frame, stereo, 115 seconds), SHAOLIN DOLEMITE (color, letterboxed at 1.85.1,
mono, 75 seconds). The trailers are of pretty good video quality. Too bad the
feature itself could not match their video quality. There is no trailer for
MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING on this DVD.
CONCLUSION
This is a truly classic kung-fu film that deserves better than the shoddy video treatment it receives on this DVD. The movie is well made for its time, and this martial arts classic is worthy of recommending. However, due to the non-letterbox treatment and poor video, I would not advise purchasing this one; but it is worth a rental for enthusiasts. It’s too bad Xenon choose to make this release one of their first. Hopefully, they are just testing the waters a bit as this video quality just won’t do it. If they saved this release for later after they assessed the collectors market, the movie may have gotten the quality attention it deserved. I must mention that the keepcase packaging for this DVD is quite high quality and eye catching. When and if Xenon catches up with the video transfer quality, we may see an interesting and successful classic martial arts collectors series evolve. Right now, there are not too many 70’s era kung-fu classics available on DVD, so this may have to do until something better comes along.
-- Tony Mustafa
| Movie: |
3.5 |
| Video: |
2.5 |
| Audio: |
3.0 |
| Extras: |
1.5 |
| Overall: |
3.5 |
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