Blu-ray Review: Come Drink With Me

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A title such as Come Drink With Me wouldn’t sound like a movie that revolutionized martial arts and swordplay in Hong Kong cinema. If you’d see the title on a marquee, you’d probably think it was some sort of romance involving exotic beverages. While there is a touch of romance and drinks, the Shawscope wide screen is full of action presented in full color. Director King Hu gave film that pushed the boundaries of fight choreography and included a female character more than up for the battle. For many fans of Hong Kong cinema, Come Drink With Me‘s arrival in 1966 is when prime of Shaw Brothers began.

The notorious Tiger Clan ambushes a prisoner convoy in hopes of releasing their leader. Except their man isn’t part of the prisoners being kept inside cages on wheels going cross country. The Tiger Bandits including Jade Faced Tiger (The Winged Tiger‘s Chan Hung-lit) decide to take a hostage which turns out to be the governor’s son. The governor isn’t happy and send the infamous Golden Swallow to retrieve his son and punish the Tiger Clan. What the Tiger Clan doesn’t know is that the Golden Swallow (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon‘s Cheng Pei-pei) is really the general’s daughter. The Tiger clan think she’s a man when she arrives at their town. The bandits attempt to jump her in a restaurant at the command of Smiling Tiger (Lee Wan-chung). While she was handling things fine by herself, she gets an unexpected fighting partner in the boozy Drunken Cat (Killer Clan‘s Yueh Hua). He comes in handy since there’s tigers all over the town and they aren’t interested in turning over their hostage and being arrested.

Come Drink With Me has so much packed into it’s 94 minute running time. Besides dazzling fight scenes, there’s a musical number led by Drunken Cat and a children’s band and choir. There’s something for everyone in the movie. Cheng Pei-pei pulls off the role of Golden Swallow as holds her own in the fights with the Tiger clan. The actress was a dancer and not a fighter. There’s a smoothness to her moves during the battles. You can easily believe her as a trained fighter who can take on whatever the Tiger Clan throws at her. She’s an action hero. She has a very worthy opponent in Jade Faced Tiger. The guy is already creepy with his white make up. His attitude towards her (even when he thinks she’s a man) makes their battle at the temple so satisfying to watch.

Director King Hu made a masterpiece that remains enthralling after all these decades. The story is as compelling as the action. There is so much happening on the screen, but your eyes don’t get completely lost in the flashes of blades. Cheng Pei-pei keeps it all together. Come Drink With Me is revolutionary in its elevating the approach to action. This is essential Shaw Brothers viewing.

The video is 2.35:1 anamorphic to give you the full Shawscope effect. The transfer looks great outside of a few soft focus shots that come off as jarring with the resolution. The audio is DTS-HD MA Mandarin language. There’s also a DTS-HD MA English dub. The movie is subtitled in English.

Audio Commentary with Tony Rayns. The cinematic expert gives plenty of details about the movie, cast and crew. He goes into the Peking Opera version of the tale. He puts the film into context in how it changed the way wuxia films were made by the Shaw Brothers.

Interview with Cheng Pei-pei (51:55) was recorded back in 2003 by Frederic Ambroisine. She talks about being a dancer before being an actress. She realized she was too big to pursue a career in ballet. She goes into how she worked with the Shaw Brothers in musicals before turning into an action star. There’s a lot of great photographs from her history with the studio.

Interview with Yueh Hua (30:15) was recorded in 2007. He talked about playing the Drunken Cat. He started working for the Shaw Brothers in 1963. He starred in Monkey Goes West playing a Monkey King. He admits he didn’t know how to drink when he was cast in the role of the drunk. He also recounts sneaking off to Tawain to make films while still dealing with the Shaw Brothers.

Interview with Chen Hung-lieh (43:33) catches up with the Jade Face Tiger in 2003. He was discovered crossing the street by someone associated with the Shaw Brothers. Come Drink With Me was his first film. He explains his character’s costume and make up. He also points out that the swords were made of steel, so it was dangerous during the fights. He goes indepth on the casting of the roles including how King Hu wanted to direct and act in the film.

Talk Story with Cheng Pei-pei (10:47) is a Q&A session from the University of Hawaii in 2016. This appears to be part of a film class. What a cool class that not only did they show Come Drink With Me, but they brought in the star. She talks about how the film was supposed to be the Drunken Master and Yueh Hua the star. But things changed during production. She also talks about issues with making Golden Swallow with director Chang Cheh being more male-centric in his films.

Cinema Hong Kong: Swordfighting (50:21) is the second part of a three-part series about Chinese Cinema and the Shaw Brothers legacy. There’s behind the scenes footage of Movietown with the various backlots that will look familiar as you watch more Shaw Brothers titles. John Woo, Gordon Liu, Cheng Pei Pei, Jackie Chan and more reflect on their time with swords. The first part is in Shawscope Volume One.

Trailer Gallery includes the original theatrical trailer (3:49), the trailer to Golden Swallow, the sequel to Come Drink With Me (3:39) and the Digital Reissue Trailer (1:09).

Image Gallery includes 48 press photos, posters, lobby cards and DVD boxes.

Arrow Video presents Come Drink With Me. Directed by King Hu. Screenplay by King Hu & Ting Shan-hsi. Starring Cheng Pei-pei, Yueh Hua, Chan Hung-lit, Lee Wan-chung, Yeung Chi-hing, Shum Lo, Han Ying-chieh, Fung Ngai, Simon Yuen and Ku Feng. Running Time: 94 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: March 22, 2022.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.