Before we get too deep into this Blu-ray review of Kid From Kwang Tung, a few of you might have a simple question: Where’s Kwang Tung? This is a province in Southern China against the South China Sea. The province borders Hong Kong. It’s also referred to as Canton. It’s now known as Guangdong if you want to check it out on the map. Enough of the geography lesson, let’s talk about the fighting in the Kid From Kwang Tung.
There’s a fierce rivalry between two martial arts schools. Yue Wong (Dirty Ho) and Kam Cheung (Buddha’s Palm) are not just students at the rival schools, but the sons of the Masters that run them. During a religious holiday ceremony where Yue is dressed in a rooster suit and Kam is part of a centipede with classmates, they have an acrobatic mascot fight. During the fight, both schools have their sign boards wrecked. This upsets their fathers. But the two keep up their rivalry including seeing who is brave enough to snatch the coin out of the mouth of a recently deceased man at the funeral parlor. They don’t count on a group of hopping corpses showing up during their feat of bravery. Things get even more complicated when the wicked Luo Yihu (Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave‘s Jeong-lee Hwang) and his goons arrive in town looking to take out both masters and their students. Can the two unite for an epic battle?
The movie was released in 1982 when Jackie Chan had made his brand of slapstick Kung Fu a hit in the international market. I get the sense that The Shaw Brothers were positioning Kam Cheung to be their own version of Sammo Hung. He’s more like man-child Joe Besser of the Three Stooges with martial art skills. His comic skills are a touch better than his fighting which works for this film. Director Hsia Hsu had been an actor previously and had appeared in both Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master with Jackie Chan. He had a sense of how to mix comedy with dynamic fight scenes. The “fight” scene in the funeral parlor is hilarious and creepy. He keeps a strange sense of balance in the film. Hwang plays a rather vile character, but how can you fully hate a guy who holds a cute black cat with a dazzling collar? The film has plenty of great little moments that add to an enjoyable whole. Making things even cooler, there’s monkey kung fu on the screen.
Kid from Kwang Tung is an exciting late era Shaw Brother film (the studio got out of theatrical production in 1985). Yue Wong and Kam Cheung are a fun duo to watch for both the comedy and fighting aspects of the film. They’re like a black belt Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Director Hsia Hsu proves that he knew what to do when he got behind the camera. Visually Kid from Kwang Tung keeps popping with the fists, kicks and comedy. This is so worth adding to your martial arts collection.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The HD transfer from the original negative brings out the details in the dark funeral parlor. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 Cantonese mono. This is appropriate since Kwang Tung is Canton. There’s also a LPCM 2.0 English mono dub track. The movie is subtitled.
Trailer (1:13) sets up the rivalry and the slapstick. This is from a 2007 re-issue.
Stills Gallery (2:40) includes press photos.
4 Collector’s Art Cards that are suitable for framing.
Slipcase with new art.
88 Films present Kid From Kwang Tung: Limited Edition. Directed by Hsia Hsu. Screenplay by Keith Li. Starring Yue Wong, Jeong-lee Hwang, Kam Cheung, Pan Pan Yeung, Shi-Kwan Yen, Tak Yuen, Kuan-Chung Ku, Kar-Yung Lau, Yung Chan & Han Chiang. Running Time: 99 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: November 12, 2024.
