Arrow Video UK Blu-ray Synopsis (Book): Ho Tao marries a Japanese girl, Yumiko, in a marriage arranged by his father, a merchant based in Japan, who wishes to cement his business relations with the girls father, Kar Tin. Ho Tao is a scholar and a martial artist who practices Chinese martial arts. Ho Tao knew Yumiko in his youth in Japan, but after he was sent back to China for further studies, he forgot about her until his father brought her to China to arrange their marriage. Ho's neighbours thinks he beats his wife, making her cry out every morning. Ho is surprised by the rumours and one morning, he wakes up early and follows her. He finds her practising karate and judo and realises that the cries she makes as she practices is what the neighbours have heard. Ho wants his wife to practice Chinese kung fu instead of Japanese martial arts, but she refuses, leading to constant arguments between the couple. One day, Yumiko discovers a martial arts practice room filled with Chinese weapons. She places all her martial arts instruments in the room and puts aside her husbands weapons. When Ho returns home and sees what his wife has done, he is furious and challenges her to a martial arts competition, Japanese-style versus Chinese-style. After their battle, Yumiko returns to Japan, making Ho's father annoyed and her own father angry. At home in Japan, she practices her Japanese martial arts with a handsome Japanese martial artist, Takeno. Ho's father returns to China to scold his son and insists that he brings Yumiko back to China. Ho's servant advises him that Yumiko may return if he writes her a letter, challenging her to another martial arts competition. However, this letter arouses the national feeling of the Japan Martial Arts Association and it sends a representative of each of the Japanese fighting styles, kendo, karate, judo, etc, to China to take part in the challenge and defend the perceived slight on Japan's martial arts tradition. Ho Tao takes up the mantle of Chinese martial arts and goes up against each of the Japanese fighters, showing his skill and bravery in a series of one-on-one fights. (104 Mins)

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Warner Home Video UK VHS Synopsis: Ho Tao, a Chinese is married to a Japanese girl Kun Tse. It is a stormy marriage for Ho Tao insists upon practising Chinese Martial Arts whereas Kun Tse stubbornly continues to practise in the Japanese style. Eventually Kun Tse returns to Japan where she meets a handsome Japanese Martial Artist. Ho is persuaded by his father to win back the favours of his wife and this leaves for Japan. The stage is set for a terrifying confrontation where only the most skilled exponents of the Martial Arts can survive: Shaolin Challenges Ninja in a fight to the death. (97 Mins)

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Views: I first saw this film at the age of 14 when I bought it on VHS under the title of Shaolin Challenges Ninja, and I loved it. I had just discovered Gordon Liu (and Lau Kar Leung unknowingly) when I picked up Return To The 36th Chamber about a year previous, and although he had hair for this role (or a wig I should say) I could tell it was him. Now, about 30 years later, Heroes Of The East makes its UK debut on glorious Blu-ray as part of the Arrow Video Shaw Scope Vol.1 – complete with a 2K restoration, and it has never looked better! As with many other Shaw Brothers films of this period, the story jumps right into it and misses out on showing us a backstory on how Ho Tao (Gordon Liu) met his future wife as kids while growing up in Japan. Throughout the film, the story jumps through time here-and-there without any sign that days, months, or years have passed by. This is something I've noticed quite a bit with Shaw Brothers movies and can often be lost to viewers unless pointed out. Once again, the film was written by prolific writer Ni Kuang who made his screenwriting debut just over a decade before with Chang Cheh's One-Armed Swordsman – although he has been delivering stories for other screenwriters since the early 60s. 1978 proved to be one hell of a year for his penmanship, with no less than 20 productions bringing his work to life including 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, Shaolin Hand Lock, The Brave Archer 2, Avenging Eagle, The Five Venoms, Crippled Avengers, Sammo Hung's classic Enter The Fat Dragon, and this of course. Set in the 1930s, Ni Kuang delivers a martial arts rom-com that tells the tale of a young married couple who are constantly at loggerheads because of the styles they practice. I'd like to say it's a little bit of West Side Story meets Mr & Mrs Smith – but maybe that's too much of a stretch!

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As a director, the legendary Lau Kar Leung gives fans his third production of the year alongside the ever-popular 36th Chamber Of Shaolin and Shaolin Mantis, and much like with Executioners Of Shaolin from the year before, Kar Leung makes a fun cameo in Heroes Of The East just to let viewers know that he can still bust a move. Lau appears as Drunken Beggar So to give Ho Tao a quick demonstration of the infamous Drunken Fist, along with a little help from his friend Chun Keung (Norman Tsui Siu Keung) who volunteers to get beat up by him so that his friend can see the beggars moves. Interestingly enough, Ho Tao is sent to find Beggar So by the original drunken master himself, Simon Yuen, who cameos as a kung-fu instructor throughout the film – hot off the success from his son's Snake In The Eagles Shadow and Drunken Master with Jackie Chan. Interestingly enough, Lau Kar Leung would serve as the martial arts consultant (alongside Chin Yuet Sang) on Gordon Liu's cheap-but-fun Shaolin Drunken Monk just a few years later before returning to work with the same style of kung-fu over a decade later on Jackie Chan's Drunken Master 2, as well as his own Drunken Master 3 and Drunken Monkey yet another decade on...

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Of course, it's not like he was busy enough handling both the direction and the fight choreography, delivering a hefty 17 fights in all with the help of kung-fu superstar and choreographer Wilson Tong, who had also assisted Kar Leung that same year on 36th Chamber Of Shaolin – as well as appearing in supporting roles in both films. Tong launched his acting career with the Shaw Brothers studio in the late 60s, soon moving into the role of martial arts director and eventually a director in 1979 with the classic Kung Fu Genius. Between them both, kung-fu fans are spoilt with a host of fun fight scenes from the get-go, with the majority of battles of the first half that pits husband against wife before the latter heads back to Japan in a huff. It's only after Ho sends his wife a letter that offers a little friendly competition, do we get a fresh range of fighters led by the amazing Yasuaki Kurata – leader of the Japanese Martial Arts Association and Ho's love rival who is determined to steal his wife by proving he is the better fighter. It would be fair to say that Ho's challenge against the Japanese fighters is a lengthy grand-finale that gives viewers a great tour of the Shaw Brothers set at Clearwater Bay, before splitting his battle against Kurata in two - with the second part taking the stars out of the studio altogether in a scene that looks like it was spliced from another film altogether. This time dressed as farmers, Ho and Kurata cross paths once final time - which I felt was a little kooky but completely let it fly over my head once they started fighting. It's definitely one of the most memorable fights in the film and introduced me to the awesome Crab Fist, which I often used on my younger brothers as we were growing up. I must mention that I did laugh at Cheng Kang Yeh oiling-up during the judo match earlier on, which was a nice throwback to the same stunt he pulled in Challenge Of The Masters just a couple of years previous. 

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The great Gordon Liu shines (as best he can in a wig) as Ho Tao, the young martial artist and scholar that just wants his wife to practise Chinese kung-fu. After training with Lau Kar Leung's father, Lau Cham (who himself was taught be Wong Fei Hung's infamous student Butcher Wing), Gordon was soon adopted into the family and moved into the film industry with the rest of the Lau brothers. Moving up from stuntman and extra, Liu made enough of an impression in Breakout From Oppression to bag himself a role in Chang Cheh's Shaolin Martial Arts and Five Shaolin Masters before landing his first leading role with Lau Kar Leung as a young Wong Fei Hung in Challenge Of The Masters. The pair quickly followed up with Executioners From Shaolin, but it would be Lau's classic 36th Chamber Of Shaolin (just prior to this) that would really project Gordon Liu to leading man status. Now, in high demand, Liu would go on to star in over 100 films (not including television shows), moving into modern-day action films in the late 80s with films like Tiger On The Beat 1 & 2, A Bloody Fight, Killer Angels, Cheetah On Fire, Last Hero In China, and hitting Hollywood hard with his roles in Kill Bill 1 & 2, as well as The Man With The Iron Fists in 2012. But it would be after this, that Gordon would suffer from a stroke and a bad fall that has since seen him step out of the industry for the last decade unfortunately – quite possibly destined never to return to the screen.

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The lovely Mizuno Yuka stars as Liu's wife, in her second role for Shaw Brothers after appearing in The Deadly Angels alongside Evelyn Kraft. While she totally gets to show her stuff in the first half of the movie – both as an actress and martial artist, it's fair to say that Yuka gets much less screen time in the second half with the arrival of her Japanese counterparts. As mentioned, these are led by the legendary Yasuaki Kurata who had already appeared in over 30 Hong Kong/Taiwanese productions by this stage since his debut in Chang Cheh's The Angry Guest, in 1971. Of course, with his great acting ability and incredible martial arts skills, Kurata fast gained a following all with fans all over and went onto star in many classic titles including Legend Of A Fighter, A Book Of Heroes, Millionaires Express, Eastern Condors, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars, Fist Of Legend, and many more. He is joined by Japanese actors and martial artists Kato Naozo as their master, Harada Riki as the kendo master, Sumi Tetsu as the karate master, Shirai Manabu as the nunchaku master – who looks more than a little like Bruce Lee when in action – Yana Nobuo as the spear master, Nakazaki Yasutaka as the hilarious master of the sai, and Omae Hitoshi as the judo master. The great Norman Tsui Siu Keung, who had also starred (or co-starred) in over 30 productions at this point of his career, plays a smaller role than expected to allow Liu to shine – although does get the chance to trade moves with Lau Kar Leung's drunken fist as mentioned. And eagled-eyed viewers can also keep an eye out for the young faces of Lee Hoi Sang, Peter Chan Lung, Hsiao Ho, Yeung Wah, Teresa Ha Ping, and others...

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The film is neatly shot by actor and cinematographer Arthur Wong, who also shot Kar Leung's 36th Chamber Of Shaolin and Shaolin Mantis for him that same year. Wong would continue to work with Lau on Spiritual Boxer 2, Dirty Ho, and Mad Monkey Kung Fu before going on to lens some of Hong Kong cinemas most memorable films including Aces Go Places 1 & 2, Wheels On Meals, My Lucky Stars, Once Upon A Time In China, Crime Story, Iron Monkey, and more modern flicks such as Bodyguards & Assassins, The Warlords, Painted Skin, and League Of Gods with Jet Li. It's also worth noting that apart from his work behind the camera and appearances in films like Viva Erotica, Beast Cops, Infernal Affairs 2, and Gangster Payday, Wong also directed The Fool Escape starring Lau Kar Wing in 1980, Cynthia Khan's In The Line Of Duty 3: Force Of The Dragon in '88, and Ulterior Motive in 2015 with Gordon Lam and Simon Yam. All in all, Heroes From The East is an absolute joy to watch – especially uncut and restored in such amazing quality. And while it may have its flaws here-and-there, I don't think I could ever bore of watching this classic from the Shaw Brothers studio!

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Overall: Yet another kung-fu hit from Lau Kar Leung, Heroes From The East is a lot of fun and well worth the watch!

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Blu-ray Extras: 2K Restoration, Audio Commentary by Jonathan Clements, Appreciation Film by Tony Rayns, Interview with Yasuaki Kurata, Alternate Opening of International Version, Trailers, TV Spot, Image Gallery

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Watch my unboxing video of this Arrow Video release HERE