Peking Opera Blues - Hong Kong Cinema Classics #7 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Set in 1913, only a few years before what came to be known as China’s Warlord Era, Peking Opera Blues weaves a tale of drama, gangsters, and spies. Seriously, this movie has it all. Three women find themselves wrapped up in double-crosses against friends and family as the future of their country remains uncertain. All three of them have different reasons for involvement, but whether their motivation is for the love of their homeland, or for personal gain, they face seemingly insurmountable odds—even if death seems likely.

Tsao Wan (Brigitte Lin, who was in Police Story with Jackie Chan) is a general’s daughter. She loves her father very much, but her dedication to her country is more important than anything to her, and she’s willing to betray his trust. Sheung Hung (Cherie Chung) is in it for the money. She finds herself wrapped up in this web of deceit, an unwilling participant and a reluctant foot soldier, but quickly learns how to game the system in her favor, holding out crucial information for more money. Bai Niu (Sally Yeh), who grew up in an opera troupe, hides her involvement with the spy group from the rest of her family. Her motivations are patriotic, and she gets sick of the greed and betrayal surrounding her.

The three women at the center of the story are accompanied by two men: One a hardened killer and assassin, a professional through and through; the other, like Sheung Hung, finds himself swept up in the movement. But they’re not here to rescue their damsels in distress. They do just fine on their own, running, gunning, and leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

Although the story sounds deathly serious, and sometimes it is, it’s merely a starting point for a film that combines history, comedy, action, and lavish stage productions into something ultimately wild and original. Director Tsui Hark has an uncanny ability to combine theatricality and cinema for a set-piece that absorbs the viewer fully. The plot comes to a complete standstill as we become immersed in a sequence that is so fully cinematic that nothing else matters. Dancers twirl and dance on stage, drama ensues off-stage, then the two worlds collide, bloody, chaotically, and beautifully. It’s dizzying, exhilarating filmmaking. This is something of a trademark for Hark, who had similar, equally exhilarating scenes that combined film drama and stage drama in Once Upon a Time in China.

Peking Opera Blues is an awesome film that tries its hand at a lot of things and succeeds at most of them. As a drama, it’s endlessly engaging, and we understand each character’s motivation for involvement. They make tough decisions, and we understand the courage and the bravery required for their sacrifice. As a comedy, it has some very slapstick moments that could have fit right in on an episode of I Love Lucy, so carefully orchestrated are its antics. And as an action movie, it’s badass. It doesn’t pull its punches, either. Gunshots are gruesome and bloody, a reminder of the kill-or-be-killed world that our characters inhabit.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Peking Opera Blues sings the opera blues on 4K UHD Blu-ray from Shout! Factory’s Hong Kong Cinema Classics division. The film is contained on a 4K UHD Blu-ray disc and a second Blu-ray disc in 1080p HD, with the second disc containing its supplemental features. Both discs are housed in a standard case with a removable slipcover, featuring classic poster artwork from previous releases.

Like most Hong Kong productions of its era, there’s a dreamlike haze throughout the video presentation of Peking Opera Blues, although it’s tastefully restrained here. I’ve seen some films made during this time that look like they were filmed inside Silent Hill. Here, the haze adds a very 80s element to it, where everything shimmers and sparkles like a television commercial. Even though it’s set in the 1910s, it’s about as 1980s as a Patrick Nagel painting, and I mean that as a compliment. I absolutely adored the aesthetic combining turn-of-the-century architecture and costuming, juxtaposed with a more then-modern cinematography and set design. It’s a unique look that suits the feature brilliantly.

Graded in Dolby Vision HDR, colors are brilliant, and shadows are a thick, inky black. There are numerous Peking opera performances where the details on ornate costumes look absolutely stellar. And a backstage sequence, with lamplight filtered through a red shade, that looks straight out of Suspiria. Peking Opera Blues was shot on film and scanned in 4K from its original camera negative for this release, retaining a distinctly filmic look, bathed in subtle film grain.

Both audio options, original Cantonese and English dub, are available in 2.0 mono, encoded in DTS-HD MA. Both options sound great, although I favored the Cantonese version, subtitled in English. Given its mono mix, this will be a front-stage-only presentation, and it’s perfectly balanced given its large number of effects. Gunshots, punches, smacks, a rousing musical score, on-stage performances with singing, they’re all leveled to pack a punch, without ever losing sight of the dialogue. The film is jam-packed with excitement, so it’s a busy mix that knows how to prioritize its fury to never feel overwhelming.

Shout! Factory has created some great new features for its release of Peking Opera Blues. We have interviews with the cast and crew, a look at the historical setting of the story, and an audio commentary.

4K Disc

• Audio Commentary - Film Critic James Mudge

Blu-ray Disc

• An Opus For Peking (HD 21:58) – Interview With Actor Mark Cheng
• An Operatic Achievement (HD 11:11) – Interview With Cinematographer Ray Wong
• Hong Kong Confidential (HD 14:22) – Inside Peking Opera Blues With Author Grady Hendrix
• Peking Provocations (HD 25:02) – An Interview With Author And Critic David West On The Cinema Of Tsui Hark
• Peking History Blues (HD 23:42) – Professor Lars Laamann On The Setting And Time Of A Tsui Hark Masterpiece
• Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery

Peking Opera Blues is another terrific entry in the world of Hong Kong Cinema from Tsui Hark. Melodramatic highs, slapstick comedy, pulse-pounding and bloody action, this is a film that preternaturally understands the language of cinema. So rarely does a movie set out to do so many things and succeed at all of them. Shout! Factory’s release complements a great film with awesome A/V stats, a killer picture, and awesome audio; plus, some great new special features. Peking Opera Blues from Shout! Factory and Hong Kong Cinema Classics is Highly Recommended.