88 Films 4K UHD Blu-ray Synopsis: A fearless heroine... a kung-fu master in hiding... a seemingly invincible villain... and a film that's universally regarded as one of the greatest ever made in Hong Kong. The heroine is Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei Pei – Painted Faces; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – in a star-making turn). She's been dispatched by her powerful father to rescue her brother who's been taken hostage by bandits. The kung-fu master is Fan Da-pei (Yuen Hua – Heroes Shed No Tears; Rumble In The Bronx); he may look like a drunken beggar but he's one of the best fighters around. Trouble is, the only man who can beat him in helping the bandits. Directed by the legendary King Hu (A Touch Of Zen; The Fate Of Lee Khan) for the might Shaw Brothers studio, Come Drink With Me shook up martial arts movies and influenced everyone from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan and beyond. No wonder 88 Films are so proud to present this 4K Dolby Vision Premiere. (95 Mins)

 

88 Films UK Blu-ray Synopsis: A fearless heroine... a kung-fu master in hiding... a seemingly invincible villain... and a film that's universally regarded as one of the greatest ever made in Hong Kong. The heroine is Golden Swallow (Cheng Pei Pei – Painted Faces; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – in a star-making turn). She's been dispatched by her powerful father to rescue her brother who's been taken hostage by bandits. The kung-fu master is Fan Da-pei (Yuen Hua – Heroes Shed No Tears; Rumble In The Bronx); he may look like a drunken beggar but he's one of the best fighters around. Trouble is, the only man who can beat him in helping the bandits. Directed by the legendary King Hu (A Touch Of Zen; The Fate Of Lee Khan) for the might Shaw Brothers studio, Come Drink With Me shook up martial arts movies and influenced everyone from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan and beyond. (95 Mins)

 

Views: Shot on location in Taiwan and at the Shaw Brothers studios in Hong Kong, Come Drink With Me tells the story of the beautiful Golden Swallow, an incredible swordswoman out to rescue her brother who has been taken hostage by a very powerful villain. Along the way, she meets a mysterious beggar, the Drunken Cat, who is secretly a kung-fu master and brings a bit of humour to things along the way. Together they stand against corrupt officials, evil swordsman and rebellious monks, and fight for their lives against the Jade-Faced Tiger and his men in a bid to save her brother...

 

The inspiration behind the Oscar winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) as well as a thousand other films, King Hu's wuxia classic Come Drink With Me was, in turn, inspired by the gorgeous Japanese Chanbara movies of the 1950's and early 1960's. To add to that, Shaw Brothers studio brought Japansese cinematographer Tadashi Nishimoto on-board as Director of Photography – having been with the studio from 1960 and went onto be the eye behind titles such as Dragon Creek (1967), Heads For Sale (1970), Valley Of The Fangs (1970), Way Of The Dragon (1972) and Enter The Dragon (1973) among many others. Of course, in regards to this particular film, it was a move that proved to be very welcome with Nishimoto delivering some the most incredible visuals and gorgeously filmed shots of its time. Prior to this, he had already shot the first two films of the wonderful King Hu – The Story Of Sue San was an operatic film adapted from some classic Chinese literature, while Sons Of Good Earth was a tale of the Sino-Japanese war that bagged him a host of awards. But it would be Come Drink With Me that started a whole new chapter for him, with pretty much everything else that followed getting better and better through to the late 70s with films such as Dragon Inn (1967), A Touch Of Zen (1971), The Fate Of Lee Khan (1973), The Valiant Ones (1975) and more, eventually retiring from the industry after Painted Skin in 1993. So it's understandable why King Hu has been called the Akira Kurosawa of Hong Kong cinema in the past!

 

While he did indeed shake things up, he also brought to light one of Hong Kong cinema's greatest names – the beautiful Cheng Pei Pei. While only 18 at the time, this former ballet dancer had only been acting for a couple of years prior starting with a brief appearance in The Last Woman Of Shang (1964) and bigger roles in Lover's Rock (1964), Song Of Orchid Island (1965), The Lotus Lamp (1965), and The Monkey Goes West where she would star as the White-Boned Demon – going onto reprise the role in it's sequel, Princess Iron Fan which were both made in 1966 alongside this. While it was to be her first leading role as a wuxia hero, Pei Pei delivered her role wonderfully and very quickly went onto become one of the most sought after actresses in martial-arts cinema. Starring in a number of Shaw Brothers productions including Dragon Creek (1967), The Jade Raksha (1968), Lady Of Steel (1970), The Shadow Whip (1970), Lady Hermit (1971) and the Chang Cheh directed Golden Swallow (1968) which played as a direct sequel of her character here. Cheng would eventually move onto other studios, appearing in films such as Whiplash (1974), the Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest co-produced Painted Faces (1988), Flirting Scholar (1993), Wing Chun (1994) and many other film and TV productions, but it would be her role as Jade Fox in the aforementioned Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) that would relaunch her to a whole new generation. Over the next 20 years, Cheng Pei Pei would continue to act – although rarely in anything amazing – before leaving the industry in 2019 and unfortunately passing just 5 years later.

 

Starring alongside her as the character of Drunken Knight Fan Dapei, is Shaw Brothers legend Yueh Hua. Interestingly though, at this stage, Hua had followed a similar path to Pei Pei having only appeared in a handful of other films prior to this – two of which were alongside his co-star in 1966's The Monkey Goes West and Princess Iron Fan which would see him star as the Monkey King, Sun Wu-Kong. I really enjoyed his role here as the secret kung-fu master and leader of the Beggar Clan, bringing a little humour to the storyline although without being too ridiculous, which balanced out Pei Pei's more serious performance. While there's a hint of romance between the two, nothing ever goes anywhere overall. Of course, Yueh Hua would go onto star in over 140 films throughout his career – not to mention many television productions – including titles such as Killer Darts (1968), The 14 Amazons (1972), Iron Bodyguard (1973), Killer Clans (1976), Death Duel (1977), and modern flicks such as The Imp (1981), In The Line Of Duty 3: Force Of The Dragon (1988), Wo Hu (2006) and Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon (2008) as well as others.

 

Director Hu fleshes out the rest of the cast with a who's-who of regular 60's Shaw Brothers faces such as the brilliant Chen Hung Lieh who stars as Jade Faced Tiger. While, much like his two heroic co-stars, he had a small number of titles behind him already – including a small role in King Hu's aforementioned film The Story Of Sue San (1964) and two Jimmy Wang Yu hits with Temple Of The Red Lotus and it's sequel, The Twin Swords, from 1965. It's fair to say that Chen certainly left an impression as the menacing villain of Come Drink With Me. Throughout his career, he would go onto appear in over 150 films up until 2008's Hong Kong Bronx, as well as directing four titles of his own. Joining him is the very prolific Yang Chi Ching as the rebel Abbot, the great Lee Wan Chung as the sly Smiling Tiger, along with the legendary Ku Feng, Shum Lo and the Drunken Master himself, Simon Yuen, who all appear as villains. The equally popular Big Boss himself, Han Ying Chieh, also joins the dark-side while doubling up duties as the main fight director of the piece. It's also worth noting that (then) child actors Mars, Alan Chui and famed-director Tony Ching Siu Tung show-up as Yueh Hua's beggar-children that help him drop a song or two along the way. Incidentally, Tony Ching's own father Cheng Kang had been a prolific writer and director for the studio around this period...

 

While the studio was dishing out title after title in the same year, Hu wanted to go down a different path, refining the fantastical side of the action, reducing the Chinese Opera styled approach and focused on a whole new way of filming – especially during the fight scenes. Han Ying Chieh and team provide some fantastic action sequences, and while they're obviously a little slower than today's fast-cut choreography, they still prove to be very exciting and highly enjoyable to watch. Although some opera-inspired movements slip through, the fights still offer enough fresh energy that help Come Drink With Me step aside from a lot of other wuxia films of this period such as the Chanbara inspired sword action that makes Cheng Pei Pei look like a skilled samurai warrior. Things do get a little more brutal in the end fight between Hua and his old monk brother, with plenty of blood splatter and violent attacks – and while there's very little wire-fu involved, I did feel that the 'Wind Blast' move used by them both seemed a tad out of place. Still, it's only fair to say that Come Drink With Me is a stunning slice of Hong Kong cinema, and while there may be better out there, its still stands strong as a seminal piece and a huge inspiration to many. It's unfortunate that King Hu was so unhappy with the studio and left Shaw's before the films release, as I'd love to have seen Hu's take on the sequel, Golden Swallow – as much as I love Chang Cheh's version. Thankfully, with this new 4K UHD release by 88 Films, fans can now enjoy this film the best it has ever looked with Tadashi Nishimoto's gorgeous cinematography just leaping off the screen. The release also comes with a host of great extra features including a number of interviews with the stars who reveal just how important and fantastic Come Drink With Me was to their careers – a release worthy of a place in any true fan's collection!

 

Overall: A genuine classic of Hong Kong cinema, Come Drink With Me is beautifully directed, shot and acted, and deserves a place in any fans collection!

 

88 Films 4K UHD Blu-ray Extras: 4K Restoration, Audio Commentary by Samm Deighan, Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng, Interview with Mars Cheung, Archival Interviews with Cheng Pei Pei, Yueh Hua, and Chen Hung-lieh, Tsui Hark remembers King Hu, Stills Gallery and Original Trailer

 

88 Films Blu-ray Extras: 2K Restoration, Audio Commentary by Samm Deighan, Original Trailer

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