Review of Hong Kong 1941

Introduction

Hong Kong 1941 is a double award winning war-time drama - Chow Yun Fat won best actor at the 1984 Golden Horse awards, and the film picked up the cinematography prize at the 1985 Hong Kong Film awards. It also marks a bit of a departure for Hong Kong Legends as it features very little in the way of martial arts, concentrating instead on the story of three people and their struggles with life during the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in 1941.

The story is told in flashback and begins when the three friends first meet up. We then follow their relationship as they become parted and re-united, as life on the island gets harder and harder. It does descend into a bit more of a love triangle story towards the end, and there`s almost a French feel to it at times. It certainly won`t appeal to all fans of Hong Kong cinema.

Video

A 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is on offer here, and it looks very good indeed given the age and probable poor condition of the print. It`s another excellent job, with just a few minor problems here and there. There is some grain hanging around in various scenes, but it`s not really enough to distract you for too long. I can`t recall seeing any dust, dirt or scratches - a very impressive feat.

And it`s just as well that we have such a good transfer, as we get to see the award winning cinematography just as it should be seen. It`s definitely one of the highlights of the film.

Audio

A choice of soundtracks - DD2.0 Cantonese, or DD5.1 English - I went for the original language as ever, despite it having fewer channels of audio. I believe that both Cantonese & Mandarin DD5.1 soundtracks exist for this film, but it would seem that HKL either couldn`t get hold of them or they weren`t good enough to use.

The DD2.0 Cantonese track is fine on the whole, and the film really doesn`t need much more as there`s not lots of blockbusting high-octane action for your ears. The only thing that really annoys is the score, as it is rather basic and does sound distorted at times. It really doesn`t add much to the experience and in fact it does rather detract from it at times.

Features

Another quality collection of extras.

We start with the obligatory Bey Logan commentary track - this is the first time he has commentated on a Chow Yun Fat film for HKL, so he`s just bursting with information about the man, as well as about the film itself. There`s also time for a bit of a history lesson. Excellent as ever.

There are two interviews - featuring Chow Yun Fat and Cecilia Yip Tong. Chow Yun Fat talks mostly about John Woo, and not about the film in question, whereas Cecilia talks more about this film, and her interview goes on for twice as long. Cecilia`s is the more interesting of the two.

To wrap up we have a biography, gallery section and trailers (including trailers for other discs from HKL).

Conclusion

An interesting film featuring excellent cinematography, some solid performances and an engaging story. The pace is slow (perhaps just a bit too slow at times), but stick with it if you can since it`s a good war time drama (and they`re not usually my cup of tea). It`s unlikely to appeal to all Hong Kong fans, but it`s certainly worth a rental if you`re a Chow Yun Fat fan. Don`t rent it if you`re looking for a flurry of kicks and punches though, since you won`t find them here.

The picture is very good, the sound is average (although there are no specific problems) and another great commentary track is the highlight of the extras. A worthy addition to the HKL range, and worth a rental at the very least.