Two Taoist Tales: A Very Mixed Pair of Martial Arts Classics (Special Edition Blu-ray)

The Films:

In the 1980s, the Hong Kong film industry saw a rise in popularity in films that explored Taoist folklore. These films typically combined several genres, including comedy, fantasy, and perhaps most notably, martial arts, a subject that the beloved Yuen Clan certainly knew a thing or two about. In tribute to this wild style of film, Eureka Entertainment is presenting two Yuen works, "Taoism Drunkard" and "The Young Taoism Fighter," together in a new set dubbed "Two Taoist Tales," which brings these films to Blu-ray for the first time. With the set's release this week, let's dive into these classics to see what made this trend so popular in its day.

Starting with "Taoism Drunkard," it's a little difficult trying to put the plot of the film into words, but it basically entails the villain, known as "The Devil" (Shun-Yee Yuen), attempting to obtain a sacred book that is protected by a young man and his grandmother. Meanwhile, a drunkard (Cheung-Yan Yuen) is instructed by his brother, who is the leader of a temple, to atone for his behavior before the day of an important festival by locating someone born on the day of said festival. The drunkard's search brings him to the young man, while also getting him entangled in The Devil's relentless pursuit of the sacred book. Will our heroes be able to stop him from getting what he's after?

Right off the bat, it has to be mentioned that this is one of the silliest films I've ever seen, and I certainly don't mean that in a bad way. Within the first few minutes, you're treated to a lot of ridiculous spectacle that basically sets the tone for the film, and while you're scratching your head and attempting to put the plot together, it proceeds as if this is all perfectly normal. Eventually it does settle down some, and the pieces do start fitting together a little better (some better than others), but it still manages to keep up a decently consistent level of silliness to keep it moving along at a brisk pace.

Is this what one would call a good movie per se? Maybe, maybe not, but there's no denying that it is a rather entertaining one that doesn't even begin to take itself too seriously as its characters engage in wild kung fu fights with each other and, rather notably, with a bizarre round creature that helps defend the sacred book. If that sounds like a good time to you, then this could be right up your alley.

Moving on to "The Young Taoism Fighter," it becomes even harder to come up with a synopsis, but for an entirely different reason this time. However, as far as the story goes, it primarily involves a young man (Yuen Yat-chor) studying martial arts at school, hoping to learn a very special technique that allows him to separate himself from his body. Eventually he gets entangled with a woman (Hilda Liu Hao-yi) attempting to get revenge for her brother's murder by taking on the evil master of another kung fu school (Yen Shi-kwan), who continually seeks to become more powerful through various & bizarre means.

As to why it was a little more difficult to come up with a description of the film's story this time, the simple answer is that for the vast majority of its runtime, there's hardly any story to be had. Most of the film is concerned with the young man hanging around the school, attempting to find out the secret to the technique, and then trying the technique, with other various scenes acting as filler in the meantime. In fact, much of the film feels like it's made up of comedy skits, most of which don't add anything to the film's already threadbare plot, including scenes of him messing around with a friend while cleaning & cooking, and a random murder subplot thrown in later that comes complete with a kung fu fighting corpse.

When it comes to the woman looking to get revenge for her brother's murder, this part of the story is thrown in with about 20 minutes remaining. Granted, we've seen the woman once or twice throughout the film, and we've seen the evil kung fu master trying to gain more power, but we're not told about their specific part in the story until near its end. From here, at the very least we get an epic final fight that has the young man & woman going all out to stop their nemesis & his minions from attacking the school, but sadly it doesn't even begin to make up for the severe lack of plotting along the way and the film's excessive padding, ultimately making it feel like a short that the filmmakers attempted to stretch out, with the results not going quite the way they hoped.

Video/Audio:

"Two Taoist Tales" presents both "Taoism Drunkard" and "The Young Taoism Fighter" in 2.35:1, 1080p High Definition transfers of excellent quality. The films may be about 40 years old, but these new 2K restorations have them looking perfectly sharp & clear throughout their entire durations. Likewise, the original mono Cantonese & English tracks on both films are fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Eureka Entertainment has done a phenomenal job restoring both films for their Blu-ray debut.

Special Features:

Taoism Drunkard

Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng

Audio Commentary by Mike Leeder & Arne Venema

James Mudge on Taoism Drunkard (18 Minutes)

The Young Taoism Fighter

Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng

Audio Commentary by Mike Leeder & Arne Venema

James Mudge on The Young Taoism Fighter (11 Minutes)

Both films come with a decent selection of special features that include a pair of commentary tracks & a retrospective, all from film scholars specializing in these types of films. Definitely more than enough here for those looking to learn more about them.

Conclusion:

"Two Taoist Tales" presents quite an odd pair of martial arts films. "Taoism Drunkard" is a delightfully silly, entertaining experience that never takes itself seriously as it delivers plenty of spectacle to keep things moving at a quick pace, while "The Young Taoism Fighter" is never quite able to find its footing thanks to choppy plotting that mostly opts for filler instead of a fleshed-out story. Both films considered, this is ultimately a rather mixed set that delivers varying results.

Score: 3/5

Available on Special Edition Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

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