The Crippled Masters 2 + The Crippled Masters
3 (1980 – 81/Apprehensive Films DVD)
Picture:
D Sound: C- Extras: C-/D Films: C-/D
Not long
ago, Apprehensive Films released The
Crippled Masters 2: Two Crippled Heroes and The Crippled Masters 3: Fighting Life, both on DVD for the first
time. Everyone who enjoyed the original
can now finally see the further adventures of Jack Conn and Frank Shum without
having to resort to bootlegging... but has the wait been worth it?
In each
of these films, we follow the adventures of two skillful martial artists – one
who happens to be missing his legs, and the other with short nubs for arms. Two
Crippled Heroes has some alright moments in it, though the fights come less
frequently than they did in the first film – a movie it never manages to top. Ironically, Fighting Life has even less emphasis placed on fighting, and
quickly becomes a chore to sit through.
To help
make things better, the powers that be have seen to it that each of the Crippled Masters discs are accompanied
by a short film, though that doesn't mean we've been assured that they're any
good.
Crippled Masters 2 comes bundled with Ernie
Fosselius' Pagoda Hell – a sort of
mini Kung Pow! Enter The Fist
featuring old kung-fu clips dubbed over with sound clips taken from various
Three Stooges shorts. The third movie is
paired with a recently made short called Farewell
To Arm that features a father-son arm wrestling match, where a reluctant
son's strength means that this match will end with tragic results. These are both pretty lame, but at least
Pagoda Hell kind of makes sense, whereas the other is a complete waste of
space.
Two Crippled Heroes is presented in widescreen, but
is matted for a 1.33:1 frame, while Fighting
Life is shown in 1.33:1 pan and scan. Both of these appear to be sourced from analog
tape, and not a good one at that. With a
level of quality on this level, you'd expect them to be bundled with a handful
of other movies in a bargain basement set instead of being touted individual
releases.
I don't
find that I can give a solid recommendation to either of these titles, but
they're still bound to have their fans. If you like your movies bizarre and
don't mind paying extra for them in spite of middling quality (in terms of both
the film itself and its lackluster presentation), then The Crippled Masters discs might be worth picking up.
- David Milchick
