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Out there in the sea of palm-trees lies a hidden cove of bizarre yet amazing and unexplainable films. The Crippled Masters is one of those gems that serves as an example for not just cringing content but cringing art. It features not one but two severely disabled martial artist actors; Frankie Shum and Jackie Conn from Hong Kong. Although this movie may appear as exploitative on the surface, it contains so much more than what is at face value. I was extremely shocked when I first layed my eyes on the disc that was produced by Film Masters. They worked so hard on it.
Lee Ho (Frankie Shum) and Tang (Jackie Conn) have lived a life of crime but are betrayed by Lin Chang Cao (Chen Mu Chuan), their criminal boss. They are tortured, disfigured, and left for dead until they cross paths. An old monk rescues them and teaches them to cope with their disabilities as well as trust one another. Together they can focus on vengeance against Lin. Learning to live a new life filled with trust, faith, and hard work is not easy and Lee Ho and Tang question if it is even possible to defeat Lin Chang Cao and his crew. Chang Cao’s crew is vicious, and defeating them seems impossible but the duo jumps into the action headfirst, all in the hopes of surviving.
In the beginning, it is unbelievable because when you watch them, the only thing that comes to mind is how is that even possible. But eventually, it turns out to be inspiring to see these two gentlemen manage to turn their disabilities into an advantage. Frankie Shum has no arms and Jackie Conn has no legs. They tend to do really well in the action scenes and the end is absolutely insane. The best thing is there are no stunt men so the performers handle everything themselves. The plot is quite basic, but the actors manage to steal the show.
Make no mistake, it is an absolute exploitation and grindhouse film to the core from the first frame. But maybe if you look closer, you may be able to get the same perspective that I do. Shum and Conn have worked together in three more movies and as for me, I would really like to watch them too.
The process of restoring the film by Film Masters Group is rather phenomenal. For good reason, they take immense pride in their work. They enabled us to watch some of the selected scenes not only from the 2K scan, but also from the scan that underwent a rigorous restoration process. The difference is striking. One of the features that impressed me on this restoration was the use of color palettes that were more vibrant. The restoration is much cleaner than the original, and the scratches and pops are nowhere in sight.
A lot more work went into the restoration than I initially thought. To start off, Film Masters Group included a second version of the movie, which is very interesting due to the German subtitles burned onto the print. Then there’s the fact his ‘look fine’ my overly exceed my paycheck. I never would’ve guessed the subtitles existed in the first place. The perks only keep getting better. There’s also an English vocabulary dubbed Mandarin track, not to mention a few other documentaries, trailers, and extensive notes by Lawrence Carter-Long.
This may be the most interesting part of this disc since the movie itself is so different from any other film they made. It is certainly out there, besides the third film, and the starring of udn puts this at a much higher level than elsewhere.
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