The first time I saw The Crippled Masters was last year on Turner Classic Movies. You’d imagine this was part of the TCM Underground double feature (which needs to be brought back). This film about two unique martial arts fighters was shown during the primetime “Disabilities Reclaimed” series that was curated by Lawrence Carter-Long. He explained how the film related to the theme since it was about two men that were missing limbs who come together to overcome their enemies. The film was so entertaining that I hoped it would come out on physical media since the recording on my DVR would vanish in a matter of months. The Crippled Masters has arrived on Blu-ray.
Lee Ho (Frankie Shum) is accused of betraying his master Lin Chang Cao (Chen Mu Chuan). Before he can protest the accusation, Lee Ho finds his arms being chopped off with a sword. Overseeing the punishment is Tang (Jackie Conn) who is indifferent to the hacking of Lee Ho’s appendages. He is thrown onto the street and forced to deal with his bloody stumps. He ends up at a restaurant where the management teases him as he struggles to eat chicken. Things get worse when the guy who chopped off his arms shows up with another big goon. He’s beaten senseless until he finds himself inside a coffin at a funeral home. He wakes up and finds even more trouble when he gets out of the casket. He splits to the country and helps a farmer. He adapts to a life without arms. Tang finds himself on the wrong side of Lin Chang Cao. Instead of losing his arms, his wicked boss has acid poured on his legs. He’s dumped off in the woods and is discovered by Lee Ho. Tang finds that Lee Ho wants to put him out of his misery by stomping him to death. Before things can turn fatal, the fight is interrupted by a very flexible stranger. He promises to train the two men so they can get their revenge on Lin Chang Cao. Can he get these two men working together as a single super fighter?
The Crippled Masters shouldn’t be confused with the Shaw Brothers film The Crippled Avengers. That film was about an evil guy maiming four fighters (Venom Mob members) so they had to overcome their disabilities to get revenge. The Venom Mob faked their serious injuries with special effects and make up. Frankie Shum was born with thalidomide syndrome which is why he doesn’t have arms although one side has a small hand-like part. Jackie Conn’s legs don’t work and so he fights with them interlocked Indian style. The duo don’t rely on CGI or green screen. Both men look impressive during the fight scenes. I can easily believe they could beat up anyone in this movie. The best is when they combine their better attributes during one battle. The Crippled Masters is an exciting kung fu film that allows Frankie Shum and Jackie Conn to shine.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. As you’ll see from the demos, there was a lot of restoration work done to the only existing 35mm print to make it look so good. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 2.0 and Dolby Digital 2.0 of the original English dub track. There’s also the Mandarin track DTS-HD MA 2.0. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary by Will Sloan and Justin Decloux of The Important Cinema Club. The duo point out that perhaps the biggest fan of The Crippled Masters is director John Waters (Hairspray). He wrote about the movie in a book back in the mid-80s. He also stressed it when presenting a reward to the head of New Line Cinema, who released his movies and The Crippled Masters. Waters loved how the movie put two unlikely action heroes together into a killing machine. The commentary comes with a subtitle track.
Kings of Kung Fu: Releasing the Legends (30:48) gives us history of how Chinese martial arts movies arrived at American cinemas in the ’70s. Narrator Chris Piggiali co-wrote These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World so he knows how the martial arts films rose up and eventually took over TV with various black belt theater packages. He does talk about Crippled Masters and the few other movies that starred Jackie Conn and Frankie Shum,
Kung Fu Film Trailer Compilation from Something Weird (18:31) includes The Soul of Bruce Lee, Game of Death, Black Samauri (with Jim Kelly), The Star, The Rogue and the Kung Fu King, Fists of Vengeance, King of Boxing, Fists For Revenge, Master Samauri, The Martialmates and The Diaond Trap with Sonny Chiba,
2024 re-cut trailer for The Crippled Masters (3;57) has the clips refreshed with the restored footage. You’ll fully appreciate what the people involved in this restoration has done for your viewing pleasures.
Original Raw Scan of The Crippled Masters feature film (91:33) is the 35mm film print before the restoration. They had to digitally remove the German and French subtitles that were burned onto the print.
The Crippled Masters original theatrical trailer (4:05) is the English version. You get to see a lot of them fighting.
The Crippled Masters before/after restoration (2:21) demonstrates how they repaired the film with a split screen of the raw 2K scan and the final image. They did amazing job.
Booklet has essays by Lawrence Carter-Long (who put the film on Turner Classic Movies) and Phillip Elliott Hopkins (who tracked down the 35mm print).
Film Masters present The Crippled Masters. Directed by Joe Law. Starring Jackie Conn, Frankie Shum & Chen Mu Chuan. Running Time: 91 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: July 23, 2024.
