Shaw Brothers Studio
Encyclopedia
The Shaw Brothers Studio , owned by Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd., was the foremost and the largest movie production company of Hong Kong movies
.
From their distribution base in Singapore
where they founded parent company Shaw Organization
in 1924, and as a strategic development of their movie distribution business in Southeast Asia
, Sir Run Run Shaw
(邵逸夫) and his third brother Runme Shaw
(邵仁枚) founded South Sea Film (南洋影片) in 1930. It was later renamed Shaw Brothers Studio. The studio released Hong Kong
's first movie with sound 《白金龍》 (which translates as "platinum dragon", or one of the slang terms for a pistol
) in 1934, the company's logo borrows from the Warner Bros.
Shield.
, Lau Kar-leung
and Chang Cheh
. King Hu was an early director who is best remembered for his film Come Drink with Me
, a martial arts film which differed from those of Chang Cheh in that it featured a capable female protagonist and revolved around romance in the martial arts world, rather than fast paced action and the tales of brotherhood which Chang Cheh would later popularize. Chang Cheh, who was more fond of the latter components, would go on to be Shaw Studios' best known director, with such films as Five Deadly Venoms
, Brave Archer
(based on the works of Jin Yong), The One Armed Swordsman, and other classics of Wuxia
and Wushu film. Almost equally as famous was fight choreographer turned director Lau Kar-leung, who would produce such highly regarded kung fu films as The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
and Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter
.
, Lu Feng
, Sun Chien, Chiang Sheng
and Kuo Chui, who had been stars in the Shaw studio for years, but did not become memorable faces until the Five Deadly Venoms. Wei Pai, who played the Snake (referred to as "Number Two" throughout the film "Five Deadly Venoms") was also part of the Venom Mob
which numbered over 15 actors which appeared in almost all of the Venom movies.
In the first half of the 1970s two other stars were particularly well known and favoured by Chang Cheh in his movies: Ti Lung
and David Chiang
. Ti Lung is considered one of the most, if not the most handsome martial arts actor to grace Shaw Studios, but is also accredited as a capable actor who reinforced his muscular glamour with strong characterisation over his many films. Chiang on the other hand was slight and wiry and often played sarcastic anti-hero to Lung's standard archetype. In the middle of that decade the duo were overshadowed by the rise of Alexander Fu Sheng
who had played supporting roles opposite them on many occasions. Fu was eventually killed in 1983 in a car accident, at age 28, ending a brief but spectacular career.
Members of the Peking Opera School
, including Jackie Chan
, Yuen Biao
and Sammo Hung
, played extras and bit parts in several Shaw Brothers films in the 1970s, although they were obviously unknowns at the time.
Shaw Studios was not well known for female actors, largely due to Chang Cheh's preference for brotherhood tales, and producer Mona Fong's alleged hatred for beautiful actresses. Nonetheless, actresses like Li Lihua, Ivy Ling Po
, Linda Lin Dai, Betty Loh Ti
, Cheng Pei Pei, Lily Li
and Tien Niu appeared in Shaw films. Cheng Pei Pei in particular is relatively well known for her starring role in King Hu's Come Drink With Me, and more recently in Ang Lee
's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
as Jade Fox.
acquired rights to the studio's legacy and is releasing, on DVD
, 760 out of the nearly 1,000 films with restored picture and sound quality. Many of these DVDs have come under controversy, however, for remixing audio and not including the original mono soundtracks.
Many landmarks in Hong Kong and Singapore are named especially after Sir Run Run Shaw for his generous contributions to charity and medicare. The Shaw Organisation remains a major distribution network in Singapore today.
, Five Deadly Venoms
and The One-Armed Swordsman.
The licensing deal with Karmaloop TV also means that kung fu and action film fans in the United States will see these films in their digitally restored versions, many of which will be premiering for the first time on U.S. television in High Definition. The licensed collection includes more than 60 of the greatest martial arts masterpieces, movies which launched the careers of stars like Jet Li, Ti Lung, David Chiang, Alexander Fu Sheng, Gordon Liu and Jimmy Wang Yu.
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
.
From their distribution base in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
where they founded parent company Shaw Organization
Shaw Organization
The Shaw Organisation is a film distribution company and movie theater chain founded by Runme Shaw and Run Run Shaw in 1924 in Singapore.-Movie theatres:...
in 1924, and as a strategic development of their movie distribution business in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, Sir Run Run Shaw
Run Run Shaw
Sir Run Run Shaw CBE, GBM is a Hong Kong media mogul.-Overview:Sir Run Run Shaw was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China in 1907. There has been no official or formal announcement on the exact day and month of his birth. According to A&C Black published Who's Who 2007, Shaw Run Run was born on 14...
(邵逸夫) and his third brother Runme Shaw
Runme Shaw
Tan Sri Dr Runme Shaw, K.St.J was the chairman and founder of the Shaw Organisation of Singapore. Runme Shaw and his brother, Run Run Shaw , together known as the Shaw Brothers, were pioneers in the film and entertainment industry in Singapore and Malaya, and brought to life the movie industry in...
(邵仁枚) founded South Sea Film (南洋影片) in 1930. It was later renamed Shaw Brothers Studio. The studio released Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
's first movie with sound 《白金龍》 (which translates as "platinum dragon", or one of the slang terms for a pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
) in 1934, the company's logo borrows from the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Shield.
Directors
The Shaw Brothers studio is noted for directors King HuKing Hu
King Hu was a Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based Chinese film director whose Wuxia films brought Chinese cinema to new technical and artistic heights. His films Come Drink with Me , Dragon Gate Inn and A Touch of Zen inaugurated a new generation of wuxia films in the late 1960s...
, Lau Kar-leung
Lau Kar-leung
Lau Kar-Leung is a famous Hong Kong martial arts filmmaker, choreographer, and actor.Lau Kar-Leung is best known for his movies which he made during the 1970s and 1980s for the Shaw Brothers Studio...
and Chang Cheh
Chang Cheh
Chang Cheh was Shaw Brothers Studio's best known and most prolific film director, with such films as the Five Venoms, the Brave Archer , the The One-Armed Swordsman, and other classics of wuxia and kung fu film.-Career:Referred to as "The Godfather of Hong Kong cinema", Chang Cheh directed over 100...
. King Hu was an early director who is best remembered for his film Come Drink with Me
Come Drink with Me
Come Drink with Me is a 1966 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by King Hu. Set during the Ming Dynasty, it stars Cheng Pei-pei and Yueh Hua as warriors with Chan Hung-lit as the villain, and features action choreography by Han Ying-chieh. It is widely considered one of the best Hong Kong films ever made...
, a martial arts film which differed from those of Chang Cheh in that it featured a capable female protagonist and revolved around romance in the martial arts world, rather than fast paced action and the tales of brotherhood which Chang Cheh would later popularize. Chang Cheh, who was more fond of the latter components, would go on to be Shaw Studios' best known director, with such films as Five Deadly Venoms
Five Deadly Venoms
Five Venoms aka Five Deadly Venoms is a cult 1978 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Chang Cheh, starring the Venom Mob, and produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio, about five kung-fu fighters with unique animal styles: The Centipede, The Snake, The Scorpion, The Lizard and The Toad...
, Brave Archer
Brave Archer
The Brave Archer, alternatively known as Kungfu Warlord, is a 1977 Hong Kong film adapted from Louis Cha's novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes. The film was produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio and directed by Chang Cheh, starring Alexander Fu and Tanny Tien in the leading roles...
(based on the works of Jin Yong), The One Armed Swordsman, and other classics of Wuxia
Wuxia
Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
and Wushu film. Almost equally as famous was fight choreographer turned director Lau Kar-leung, who would produce such highly regarded kung fu films as The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin , also known as The Master Killer and Shaolin Master Killer, is a 1978 Shaw Brothers kung fu film directed by Liu Chia-liang and starring Gordon Liu....
and Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter
Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter
Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter is a 1983 Shaw Brothers kung fu film directed by Lau Kar-leung, and starring Gordon Liu and Alexander Fu Sheng...
.
Actors
Shaw Brothers was a studio which was modeled after the classic Hollywood system with hundreds of actors signed to exclusive contracts. While other studios rotated a good number of cast members, the Shaw Brothers assigned certain groups of actors to work exclusively with certain directors. The group from the 1978 release Five Deadly Venoms—who would become known by that namesake—were among the most memorable. These five were Lo MangLo Mang
Lo Mang is a Hong Kong based veteran martial artist who was born as Lo Hin Lam in Hong Kong on 23 July 1956. Primarily known for starring in Shaw Brothers kung fu movies in the latter part of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s...
, Lu Feng
Lu Feng
Lu Feng is a Chinese football midfielder, who currently plays for Henan Jianye in Chinese Super League.-Club career:...
, Sun Chien, Chiang Sheng
Chiang Sheng
Chiang Sheng was a martial art actor, one of the Venom Mob, renowned for their acrobatic and martial arts skills. He joined the Chang Cheh's Cohorts as an actor, and also worked with Chang Cheh as an assistant director and choreographer. Along with Alexander Fu Sheng, Chiang Sheng was one of the...
and Kuo Chui, who had been stars in the Shaw studio for years, but did not become memorable faces until the Five Deadly Venoms. Wei Pai, who played the Snake (referred to as "Number Two" throughout the film "Five Deadly Venoms") was also part of the Venom Mob
Venom Mob
The Venom Mob is a group of actors from the Shaw Brothers Studio, popular creators of martial arts films in the 1970s and 1980s. Most were friends since childhood and attended the Peking Opera School in Taiwan before meeting director Chang Cheh and moving on to the Shaw Brothers studio in Hong...
which numbered over 15 actors which appeared in almost all of the Venom movies.
In the first half of the 1970s two other stars were particularly well known and favoured by Chang Cheh in his movies: Ti Lung
Ti Lung
Tommy Tam Fu-Wing, also known as Ti Lung , or Dik Lung, is a Hong Kong actor.-Background:He studied Wing Chun under the martial arts master Chu Wan. In 1969, Ti was found by the Shaw Brothers and cast in Return of the One-Armed Swordsman opposite Jimmy Wang Yu, a role which would launch his career...
and David Chiang
David Chiang
John Chiang is a Hong Kong actor. His Chinese name is Chiang Da-wei . He is sometimes credited as David Chiang.-Biography:...
. Ti Lung is considered one of the most, if not the most handsome martial arts actor to grace Shaw Studios, but is also accredited as a capable actor who reinforced his muscular glamour with strong characterisation over his many films. Chiang on the other hand was slight and wiry and often played sarcastic anti-hero to Lung's standard archetype. In the middle of that decade the duo were overshadowed by the rise of Alexander Fu Sheng
Alexander Fu Sheng
Alexander Fu Sheng was a major Hong Kong martial arts film star in the 1970s.-Biography:...
who had played supporting roles opposite them on many occasions. Fu was eventually killed in 1983 in a car accident, at age 28, ending a brief but spectacular career.
Members of the Peking Opera School
Peking Opera School
The Peking Opera Schools were boarding schools located throughout Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, specialising in teaching Peking opera...
, including Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
, Yuen Biao
Yuen Biao
Yuen Biao is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist. He specialises in acrobatics and Chinese martial arts and has worked on over 80 films as actor, stuntman and action choreographer...
and Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema...
, played extras and bit parts in several Shaw Brothers films in the 1970s, although they were obviously unknowns at the time.
Shaw Studios was not well known for female actors, largely due to Chang Cheh's preference for brotherhood tales, and producer Mona Fong's alleged hatred for beautiful actresses. Nonetheless, actresses like Li Lihua, Ivy Ling Po
Ivy Ling Po
Ivy Ling Po is a Chinese actress and Huangmei opera singer. She played an important role in the entertainment industry for preserving the art form.-1950s - 1960s:...
, Linda Lin Dai, Betty Loh Ti
Betty Loh Ti
Betty Loh Ti was a Chinese actress who was often described as the 'Chinese Classic Beauty'. In the 1960s, she was popular among both Chinese and Western filmgoers.- Biography :...
, Cheng Pei Pei, Lily Li
Lily Li
Lily Li is a Hong Kong actress.-Filmography:* State of Divinity * Centre Stage* The Young Master* Disciples of the 36th Chamber* Shatter* Shaolin Mantis* Challenge of the Masters...
and Tien Niu appeared in Shaw films. Cheng Pei Pei in particular is relatively well known for her starring role in King Hu's Come Drink With Me, and more recently in Ang Lee
Ang Lee
Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
as Jade Fox.
Celestial Pictures acquisition and distribution
Many Shaw Brothers classic films have become subject to bootlegging over the years due to the popularity of particular kung fu/martial arts titles. Celestial PicturesCelestial Pictures
Celestial Pictures is a diversified entertainment company focusing on Asian-language film and television content including production, aggregation, distribution and the operation of TV channels....
acquired rights to the studio's legacy and is releasing, on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, 760 out of the nearly 1,000 films with restored picture and sound quality. Many of these DVDs have come under controversy, however, for remixing audio and not including the original mono soundtracks.
Many landmarks in Hong Kong and Singapore are named especially after Sir Run Run Shaw for his generous contributions to charity and medicare. The Shaw Organisation remains a major distribution network in Singapore today.
Karmaloop TV Secures Licensing Deal with Shaw Brothers
Karmaloop TV, the new multi-platform programming network designed to help operators "reclaim" viewership among the 18 to 34 year old demographic, has announced its first film licensing deal with Celestial Pictures. The Hong Kong based company owns, restores and licenses the world's largest collection of Chinese-made films including the Shaw Brothers library of fan favorite kung fu and action classics such as The 36th Chamber of ShaolinThe 36th Chamber of Shaolin
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin , also known as The Master Killer and Shaolin Master Killer, is a 1978 Shaw Brothers kung fu film directed by Liu Chia-liang and starring Gordon Liu....
, Five Deadly Venoms
Five Deadly Venoms
Five Venoms aka Five Deadly Venoms is a cult 1978 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Chang Cheh, starring the Venom Mob, and produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio, about five kung-fu fighters with unique animal styles: The Centipede, The Snake, The Scorpion, The Lizard and The Toad...
and The One-Armed Swordsman.
The licensing deal with Karmaloop TV also means that kung fu and action film fans in the United States will see these films in their digitally restored versions, many of which will be premiering for the first time on U.S. television in High Definition. The licensed collection includes more than 60 of the greatest martial arts masterpieces, movies which launched the careers of stars like Jet Li, Ti Lung, David Chiang, Alexander Fu Sheng, Gordon Liu and Jimmy Wang Yu.
See also
- Celestial’s Shaw Brothers Film LibraryCelestial’s Shaw Brothers Film LibraryThe Celestial's Shaw Brothers Film Library is the World's Largest Chinese Film Library consisting of over 760 feature films originally released over a forty-year time frame from the 1950s to the 1990s produced by Shaw Brothers Studio...
- Golden HarvestGolden HarvestGolden Harvest is a film production, distribution, and exhibition company based in Hong Kong. It played a major role in becoming the first Chinese film company to successfully enter the western market for an extended period of time, especially with the films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan...
- Hong Kong action cinemaHong Kong action cinemaHong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
- List of Shaw Brothers films
- Ocean Shore
Further reading
- Glaessner, Verina. Kung Fu: Cinema of Vengeance. London: Lorimer; New York: Bounty Books, 1974. ISBN 0-85647-045-7, ISBN 0-517-51831-7.
- Wong, Ain-ling. The Shaw Screen: A Preliminary Study. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive, 2003. ISBN 962-8050-21-4.
- Zhong, Baoxian. "Hollywood of the East" in the Making: The Cathay Organization Vs. the Shaw Organization in Post-War Hong Kong. [Hong Kong]: Centre for China Urban and Regional Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2004. ISBN 962-8804-44-8.
- Zhong, Baoxian. Moguls of the Chinese Cinema: The Story of the Shaw Brothers in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, 1924–2002. Working paper series (David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies); no. 44. Hong Kong: David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2005.
External links
- Shaw Studios
- Shaw.intercontinental.com—official site (/ (Big5Big5Big-5 or Big5 is a character encoding method used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau for Traditional Chinese characters.Mainland China, which uses Simplified Chinese Characters, uses the GB instead.- Organization :...
)) - The Shaw Story—at the official company website.
- Shaw Brothers History — at Hong Kong Cinema UK.
- Shaw-Brothers_Reloaded - Global international site
- The Rise and Fall of the House of Shaw - scholarly essay by Tom Green.