NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (November 2023): Criterion have transferred 6 films as part of their "Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstar" four Blu-ray set. The films are 1978's Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Spiritual Kung Fu on the first Blu-ray. The Fearless Hyena from 1979 and Fearless Hyena II from 1983 on Blu-ray 2. 1980's excellent The Young Master is by itself on Blu-ray 3 and 1985's My Lucky Stars is on the last Blu-ray.

They are cited as being from "2K digital restorations of Spiritual Kung Fu, The Fearless Hyena, Fearless Hyena II, The Young Master, and My Lucky Stars and high-definition digital restoration of Half a Loaf of Kung Fu".

Most of these have been on Blu-ray in the UK. 88 Films' Half a Loaf of Kung Fu 2022 Blu-ray HERE, their Blu-ray of Spiritual Kung Fu HERE, we have reviewed 88 Films, 2020, Blu-ray of The Fearless Hyena HERE and compared some captures below. My Lucky Stars was part of Eureka's Lucky Stars 3 Films Collection Blu-ray Boxset HERE. Also, The Young Master is on another 88 Films UK Blu-ray, HERE.

The 1080P transfers have a variety of quality levels an I presume match well with their UK Blu-ray counterparts. Half a Loaf of Kung Fu is easily the poorest looking film of the boxset - and appears to be a bump from a lower generation source and occasionally shows ratio distortions on the edge of the frame. The texture is very blocky and thick as if from 16mm. I'll wager though that it is entirely based on the source. Like all, there are few marks or scratches and Spiritual Kung Fu advances a full notch over Loaf. Other than that the rest are acceptable with The Fearless Hyena looking crisp and sharp and matching the 88 Films transfer almost exactly. Fearless Hyena II is weaker looking a shade waxy with less depth. The Young Master is also imperfect loosing some sharpness with less-crisp visuals. It is consistent. My Lucky Stars may be the best looking HD presentation - it has strong colors and detail presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Minor teal does surface, inconsequentially.   

NOTE: We have added 206 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion audio - with a couple of exceptions the general format is linear PCM uncompressed monaural soundtracks with alternate DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround Cantonese bumps as well as "classic English-dubbed tracks", in lossy Dolby, for Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, Spiritual Kung Fu, The Fearless Hyena, and Fearless Hyena II, plus a second English-dubbed alternate track for Fearless Hyena II. There are more contemporary English-dubbed tracks for The Young Master and My Lucky Stars. The first three films, Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, Spiritual Kung Fu, The Fearless Hyena, have scores by Frankie Chan (The Prodigal Son, Fallen Angels, Chungking Express, Odd Couple.) He is best known to Hong Kong action cinema fans as the main antagonist in Sammo Hung's The Prodigal Son, in which he faces Yuen Biao in the final reel. Fearless Hyena II has music including John Williams The Desert Chase (From Raiders of the Lost Ark) and his "End Title" from Brian De Palma's "The Fury" where The Young Master has Li Tai-Hsiang performing Show Me Your Face. My Lucky Stars has a score by Siu-Tin Lai (Rouge, Police Story 2) and Siu-Lam Tang (The Postman Fights Back, Wheels on Meals.) Kung Fu Fighting Man was the first song recorded and performed by Jackie Chan and is featured at the end of The Young Master. With a few minor inconsistencies in Half a Loaf of Kung Fu - the mono tracks sound is authentically flat and a bit tinny where the surround bumps offer marginal separations in supporting the action conflicts. I found the English DUBs pretty weak in most cases but overall the lighter slapstick (cartoon sound effects in Half a Loaf) add to the proper joke-y, or deadly serious, tone. Criterion offer optional English subtitles, for translations and also for the DUB on Spiritual Kung Fu. These are Region 'A'-locked Blu-rays.

The Criterion Blu-rays offers new commentaries for The Fearless Hyena and The Young Master featuring Hong Kong cinema expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival, Producer on Enter the Clones of Bruce.) We have heard Djeng's expertise on commentates for Blu-rays of Beach of the War Gods, Taxi Hunter, The Skyhawk, Magic Cop, Angela Mao: Hapkido & Lady Whirlwind, Knockabout, The Shaolin Plot, Dreadnaught and on Mr. Vampire II and Vampire vs. Vampire in Eureka's Hopping Mad boxset. He is the "go-to" guy for martial arts cinema and provides great historical context on Jackie Chan directorial efforts of both The Fearless Hyena and, probably the best film in the boxset, The Young Master - made a year apart. The Ultimate Showman: Jackie Chan is a 10-miniute interview with author Grady Hendrix (These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World) about actor-director Jackie Chan. There are archival interviews including two with Chan, actor-director Sammo Hung fro almost 20 minutes, actors Michiko Nishiwaki (the Japanese actress, female bodybuilder and powerlifter) for over 20-minutes and Hwang In-shik, the Korean actor and Hapkido teacher, running 1/2 hour. Criterion include a The Young Master promo reel from the 1980 Cannes Film Festival and deleted scenes from the film - some without audio. There is a 2005 interview with Hong Kong cinema critic Paul Fonoroff (a member of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society and the Performing Artists Guild of Hong Kong, and advisor to the Hong Kong Film Archives) about producer-director Lo Wei running shy of ten minutes. He helped launch the martial arts film careers of both Bruce Lee, in The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, and Jackie Chan, in New Fist of Fury. There are unusable and blooper shots from The Young Master and My Lucky Stars - some without audio. Lastly are trailers - two for Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, Spiritual Kung Fu, two for The Fearless Hyena, Fearless Hyena II and two for My Lucky Stars. The boxset has a liner notes booklet with an essay by Alex Pappademas (co-author of Keanu Reeves: Most Triumphant: The Movies and Meaning of an Irrepressible Icon.).

Half a Loaf of Kung Fu starred, and was also written, by Jackie Chan. He develops his awkward, often over-confident, kung fu student who finds himself embroiled in a few adventures utilizing his acrobatic slapstick martial arts style that fans have grown to love. Like a few in the set this is more a comedy than a serious Wushu effort, although there are some long-ish, and expertly choreographed, fights. Lo Wei's Spiritual Kung Fu has a supernatural angle with the martial arts. It is notable for also starring Yuen Biao as one of the Master of the Five Fists martial arts 'Ghosts' that are causing mischief... and later support. The Fearless Hyena was Jackie Chan's directorial debut and he also wrote the film. It has a ton of long, acrobatic, fight scenes. It's both a funny and a surprising action film. The dress-up stuff is a bit over-the-top but this is an entertaining, early, Jackie flic that is worth a watch. Fearless Hyena II is the worst film of the boxset; it involves a pair of cousins who band together to avenge the death of their fathers. Jackie Chan quit the Lo Wei Motion Picture Company to join Golden Harvest in the middle of the production and in order to complete the film, stunt doubles were hired and they used alternative takes and reused footage from the first film... so it suffers. The Young Master was actually the first film that Jackie Chan worked on for Golden Harvest, and it was his second film as director. It has a complicated Lion dance competition between rival schools, sibling betrayal, seeking a criminal known as 'The White Fan', a bank robbery frame-up and plenty of fast punches and kicks. It's quite an effective, serious, martial arts drama. My Lucky Stars was directed by Sammo Hung, and is the second film in the 'Lucky Stars series', - a quasi-sequel to Winners and Sinners. It has much of the same cast including the "Five Lucky Stars" troupe. It has an Undercover cop played Jackie Chan, requesting assistance from his childhood friends to catch a Yakuza group - requiring them to travel to Japan. Cultural exchanges spark some comedy, female bodybuilder Michiko Nishiwaki, and it genuinely looks like everyone is having a good time, although Jackie's role in the film is fairly minor - a few minutes in the beginning and then he's around for the last half hour. Rumble in the Bronx remains my favorite from this superstar - hopefully it will get the 'Criterion treatment'. Criterion's "Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstar" four Blu-ray set is an appropriate jumping-off platform for those wishing to enjoy Jackie's successful style of gymnastic martial arts and fun-loving humor. And what a head of hair! Plenty of entertainment here. Recommended!

Gary Tooze