This Eureka Classics release is a delight for fans of old-school martial arts movies from the glory days of the 1970s and has never been seen before in the UK in its complete 112-minute version rather than the severely truncated 79-minute VHS version that omitted much of the action content and which is also contained in this Blu-ray disc as an extra feature.
A Man Called Tiger stars the inimitable Jimmy Wang Yu in a role originally intended for Bruce Lee before Lee decided instead to make his directorial debut The Way of the Dragon rather than work with director Lo Wei on a third movie. Wang Yu brings his own brand of kick-ass charisma to Tiger as the heroic Chin Fu who tracks down the killers of his father to Japan where he encounters the Yakuza and engages in increasingly spectacular bouts of kung fu action as he infiltrates Tokyo’s criminal underworld.
Eureka has excelled with the brilliant, crisp, and colourful 2K restoration provided here. It is a joy to watch and a perfect companion piece to The Man From Hong Kong, Wang-Yu’s movie best known to Western audiences. The action scenes are superb and include surely the best cable car fight sequence ever committed to film. It’s good to see James Tien and Maria Yi from The Big Boss amongst the supporting cast.
As always, Eureka has not skimped on bonus features, with informative commentaries from experts on Hong Kong cinema, such as Mike Leeder and Frank Djeng. An excellent collector’s booklet with new writings on the film is a welcome addition. Of course, you can watch the film in the original Mandarin language or an English dub. The choice is yours.
This splendid release is thoroughly recommended, and we hope to see future releases from Eureka in the Golden Harvest library.
A MAN CALLED TIGER is now available on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment.
