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The general consensus is a pirate movie will contain lots of epic sea battles and hidden treasures. Well “The Valiant Ones” may contain treasure of the stolen kind but there is barely a sighting of a ship throughout, despite the coastal setting. Yet this is a King Hu feature so put that initial concern to one side and prepare to rediscover one of his less prominent works as Eureka entertainment release it in a new 4K scan.

on Terracotta by clicking on the image below

Pirates are attacking the coast of China and the Emperor (Chao Lei) tasks General Zhu Wan (Tu Kuang-chi) to assemble a small group to defeat them. Under the command of General Yu Dayou (Roy Chiao), they include the husband and wife sword fighters Wu Ji-yuan (Wing Bai) and Wu Ruo-shi (Feng Hsu). As they learn more about their opponents, it becomes evident...

King Hu’s place in the history of world cinema as the man who reinvigorated and evolved the wuxia genre is well cemented, and “Raining in the Mountain”, which was selected as one of the Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures by the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005, is another testament to the fact.

The story is set in a remote Buddhist Monastery during the 16th century, whose ageing Abbot is about to retire and announce his successor. The Abbot invites three outsiders to advise him on the matter, but all three of them have their own agendas. Esquire Wen, a wealthy patron of the monastery, has brought with him White Fox, a legendary thief who poses as his concubine and another sidekick, to help him steal the legendary scriptural text of “The Mahayana Sutra,” hand-copied by Tripitaka. General Wang, commander-in-chief of the local military has come along his fearsome Lieutenant Chang,...