Pretty Packaging: The SHAWSCOPE VOLUME 1 Boxset Kicks Shins

Ah, Shaw Brothers... In the 1970s, 80s and 90s the company was a veritable fount of genre films. From martial arts to creature features to crazy horror to sexy exploitation, the studio from China delivered, and in the hundreds of released films during that time, there was everything, from trash to gems.

Distributor Arrow released a boxset of Shaw Brothers films a few months back, and tantalizingly called it Shaw Scope: Volume One, thereby promising several others will follow. This set contains twelve films from the 1970s, many of which are martial arts classics (King Kong clone Mighty Peking Man is added as a bit of a stand-out...). The box also contains a pretty nifty book, and two soundtrack CDs.

On top of that the release also looks mighty pretty, so here is a gallery of shots. Click on the edge of the pictures to scroll through them, or at the center of each to see a bigger version.

Here is the outer box: a nicely shimmering cassette.

Inside are a big disc-holder and the book.

The contents taken out of the cassette.

The contents opened up. That disc-holder is really pretty.

Each double-page in the holder holds a Blu-ray and a short description of the films on them.

All discs shown. They contain:
Disc 1: King Boxer
Disc 2: The Boxer from Shantung
Disc 3: Five Shaolin Masters and Shaolin Temple
Disc 4: Mighty Peking Man
Disc 5: Challenge of the Masters and Executioners from Shaolin
Disc 6: Chinatown Kid
Disc 7: The Five Venoms and Crippled Avengers
Disc 8: Heroes of the East and Dirty Ho

Discs 9 and 10 are soundtrack CDs.

The book is about 60 pages.

In it you get information about all films, lots of pictures, background information about the actors and indeed the studio. Splendid!

The back of the disc-holder.

The (back)end of this release.

A fine set indeed. Note how Arrow calls it "Volume One"... which is basically a promise more of these will follow!