by Alan Mount
Arrow Video have established themselves as purveyors of the cream of the crop when it comes to quality releases of cult cinema from a variety of genres, and this weighty 10-disc 4K collection of the classic martial arts movies the legendary Bruce Lee made for Hong Kong’s Golden Harvest studios in the ’70s should be quickly recognised as their most impressive achievement yet and rightly so. The films included are The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, and the uncompleted Game of Death, the film Lee was working on at the time of his tragic death in 1973. A slew of extras accompanies each film, many of them new and exclusive to Arrow. Lee’s most famous film, Enter the Dragon, is also included here as an additional Blu-ray release from Warner Brothers, who are releasing their own 4K version of this most iconic of movies later in the year. Two feature-length archive documentaries about Lee are also included.
These movies have been available for years, having been repackaged ad infinitum, but they have never been so impressively presented as they are here in glorious 4K; they’re uncut and can be viewed in their original Mandarin language with subtitles or dubbed into English or indeed with audio commentaries from experts in HK cinema and Lee in particular.
This mighty collection will be treasured by martial arts fans young and old, but it’s most likely to be cherished by fans who discovered Lee back in their younger days when these movies were first released and who, watching these beloved films in such pristine condition now, will feel the decades slipping away and remind them of how and why they became enamoured with this giant of action cinema in the first place.
Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest is available now from Arrow Video.
