All Men Are Brothers - Dong kai ji

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Dong kai ji" or "The Story of Punishment" or "7 Soldiers of Kung Fu")

directed by Cheh Chang
Hong Kong 1975

Seven Liang Shun warriors are given the task of assassinating a rebel leader who opposes the emperor.

All Men are Brothers is a sequel to the 1972 Shaw Brothers production The Water Margin. This film like its predecessor was adapted from a 14th century Chinese novel titled 'Outlaws of the Marsh'. The opening act in which the alliance between the Liang Shun warriors and Emperor is flawlessly laid out. Unfortunately after this opening set up the film quickly settles into a series of grandiose action sequences. And while I didn't expect there to be a lot of character development. I was still disappointed that after each of the main characters introductions, little if any attempt was made at building up the characters. The predictability of the story and lack of character development aside. There are a few areas where this film does deliver, the action sequences and the performances from its entire cast. This film's most surprising performance and arguably its best performance comes from Yue Fung in the role Sun Erh-niang (the only female chosen out of the seven assassins).

Michael Den Boer

Poster

Theatrical Release: Hong Kong, May 10th, 1975

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Well Go USA (Sword Masters) - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Michael Den Boer for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Well Go USA Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:41:38
Video	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Mandarin (Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Stereo)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Well Go USA Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Trailers for All Men Are Brothers (16:9; 1:05) • Ip Man (16:9; 1:42) • White Wall (16:9; 2:01) • Assualt Girls (16:9; 1:43) DVD Release Date: September 14th, 2010 Keep Case Chapters 10

Comments

All Men are Brothers gets a clean looking anamorphic widescreen release that preserves the film original 2.35:1 'Shawscope' aspect ratio. Colors look vibrant, flesh tones look healthy and black levels look very good. The image remains stable throughout with no major issues with 'combing' and edge enhancement is minimal.

This release comes with four audio options, two in Mandarin (5.1 and Stereo) and two in English (5.1 and Stereo). Even though all the audio mixes sounds clean, clear and consistent throughout. Range wise none of the ever sound overpowering and these differences between the 5.1 and stereo mixes are minimal. This English subtitles are easy to follow and error free.