King of Beggars - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

King of Beggars



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
While Jackie Chan was widely considered to be the king of martial arts comedy during the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, few of us will ever forget his biggest rival in that arena. That being one Stephen Chow. While Chow was a contemporary of Chan by about a decade, the young man grew up in the shadow of Bruce Lee and trained to become a martial artist like the heroes he grew up with (Chan, Sammo Hung, Bruce Lee, Yuen Biao, etc.). Unfortunately, he had a hard time breaking into the martial arts film world, essentially working as a children’s host for his first major gig, and trying his best to get into the market. However, 1990 rolled around, and he got his first big break in All for the Winner, a parody of Chow Yun Fat’s God of Gamblers from the year before. After that, the floodgates opened for the 28-year-old martial artist, and with his unique brand of slapstick comedy, he took the Hong Kong market by storm. Sadly, Stephen never got the critical acclaim or western market share like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and others did, but he did get a taste of it in the early 2000s (right as the whole Kung-Fu craze was coming to a close) with films like Kung-Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer.

While Chow was never the powerhouse in the west as he deserved, I’ve been a rabid follower of his ever since I saw an old VHS copy of The Royal Tramp during the late 90s. And what better way to celebrate his legacy than one of his early films, completely remastered in 2K by Eureka Entertainment, in a 2000-copy limited edition release.

Picking up the mantle of a legendary character, Stephen Chow plays So Chan (or Beggar So in some translations), the infamous King of the Beggar clan. This time, we get to see his origin story as a lazy nobleman’s son, willing to cheat and doze his way through the challenges of becoming a scholar martial artist, only to get betrayed by a sleazy official of the emperor. Found out for his cheating ways, he and his father (Man-Tat Ng) are banished from the world of the elites and cursed to be beggars for the rest of their lives. Depressed and beaten down, So Chan and his father do their best to panhandle to find food, only to find nothing but derision from the rest of the people.

However, their luck changes for the better when Yu-Shang (Sharla Cheung), of the Beggar’s clan, takes pity on the young man and takes him and his father into their clan. Despite the added benefit of a benefactor, So Chan still wallows in his own misery and self-pity, refusing to rise above his challenges and take his life into his own hands. That is, until Yu-Shang is captured by the very same court official who destroyed his life, forcing the newly minted beggar into learning a martial arts style so deadly that even he can defeat the official.

While not surprising, it bears mentioning that King of Beggars takes many of the same tropes and thematic elements of many other films that have starred So Chan over the years, but this one takes a much more unique twist on the character due to Chow’s legendary slapstick comedic style. While Jackie Chan used his stunts and facial expressions to pull out the comedy in a film, Chow always pushed the boundaries of the absurd. Laughing at himself and those around him into a sort of “one man three stooges” caricature. And here is no different. The first 45 minutes of the film feature Chow at his comedic best, making fun of court officials, beating up opponents with ease, and generally causing mischief and mayhem whenever he could. But it’s the 2nd half of the film that features a sharp tonal change that gets much more serious. While Chow still flexes his comedic muscles, the 2nd half is more of a deconstruction of the political climate of that time period, with a few jokes thrown in.

And let's not leave out the martial arts. While there’s a good bit of wire fu and classic period piece weapons fight, the 2nd half also deviates pretty heavily from the first half’s choreography as well. While So Chan is hamming it up as an arrogant prick and pulling his typical slapstick fights (including beating someone with a chewed-up pear), the 2nd half borrows heavily from Wu Xia wire fu, with an almost Tsui Hark style bent towards the supernatural wizardry. And while the tonal shifts (both in narrative tone and the fights) can seem glaring and sort of harsh, it somehow works out in the end.




Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Presented in a brand new 2K restoration, King of Beggars looks WAAAY better than I’ve ever seen it before. Granted, I got access to a Hong Kong bootleg back in 2001, and that is my only frame of reference, but this 2K image looks amazingly good. Grain is nice and light, with strong colors (seriously, that opening scene in the brothel with Madam Pimp is amazing color-wise), great fine details, and good black levels. Some of the scenes out in the fields with the poison gas can sometimes look a bit rough (probably a wonky source), but overall, this is a nice look transfer. Facial tones are nice and pink, saturation on the primary shades is a bit hot and warm, but this is a huge upgrade over anything that’s come before it.









Audio:

Eureka provides us with a brace of LPCM 2.0 stereo mixes, both in English Dub and in Cantonese. And while you know that I tend to lean towards original language tracks over English Dubs out of principle, this is one of those early '90s English dubs that simply doesn’t hold up that well. The Cantonese (which is partially a dub as well, considering half the cast spoke Mandarin) sounds a lot more authentic, and the voice acting fits the period well. The front sound stage sounds quite good, with strong sound effects for the fisticuffs. BUT I did notice that the dialog was a bit harsh and had some raspy distortion going on. Nothing major, just enough to remind us of the cheap recording equipment used back then for these flicks.








Extras:

• Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng
• Kung Fu Scholar
• So Chan and Stephen Chow
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on King of Beggars and director Gordon Chan by Andy Willis [2000 copies]
• Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Sam Gilbey [2000 copies]

Final Score: ​

King of Beggars isn’t one of Chow’s BEST films, but it’s a solid entry in his early life when he was just starting as the comedic powerhouse that he would become. The Blu-ray looks fantastic compared to the aging Hong Kong bootleg I had in my college days, and while the audio isn’t bad, the extras are pretty decent. Considering that this is only a limited edition of 2000 copies by Eureka, fans may want to move fast, as this will most likely be the last time it’s printed domestically, considering how low-key Stephen Chow is in the West. Recommended for classic Kung-Fu fans.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Stephen Chow, Sharla Cheung, Norman Chiu, Man-Tat Ng, Chung Wang, King-Tan Yuen
Directed by: Gordon Chan
Written by: Kin Chung Chang, Gordon Chan
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: LPCM 2.0, Cantonese LPCM 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Eureka Entertainment
Rated: NR
Runtime: 100 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: January 27th, 2026

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Jon Liu]

Just watched Kung Fu Hustle again about a month ago… I enjoy every Stephen Chow movie I’ve seen, but never seen this one. I’ll have to check King of Beggars out, especially since you consider it one of his best!

 

[Michael Scott]

Just watched Kung Fu Hustle again about a month ago… I enjoy every Stephen Chow movie I’ve seen, but never seen this one. I’ll have to check King of Beggars out, especially since you consider it one of his best!

I mentioned it's NOT one of his best, but it's a solid entry in his early work. I find Royal Tramp and Kung Fu Hustle his best... but this is a fun watch, especailly if you like the old school Wu Xia style films

and to make it more intriguing, this is a hard film to track down (it's one of his very first films after he broke into the market) and Eureka only is printing 2,000 copies TOTAL world wide

 

[Jon Liu]

I mentioned it's NOT one of his best, but it's a solid entry in his early work. I find Royal Tramp and Kung Fu Hustle his best... but this is a fun watch, especailly if you like the old school Wu Xia style films

and to make it more intriguing, this is a hard film to track down (it's one of his very first films after he broke into the market) and Eureka only is printing 2,000 copies TOTAL world wide

Oh oops. Apparently misread and read things speedily. For sure, the old school Wu Xia.

Good to know about the limited release, as well. Clicked the link and put it in my amazon cart already!

Thanks for the info and the review!

 

[Michael Scott]

Oh oops. Apparently misread and read things speedily. For sure, the old school Wu Xia.

Good to know about the limited release, as well. Clicked the link and put it in my amazon cart already!

Thanks for the info and the review!

you should enjoy it. it's a fun release, and it looks GORGEOUS in Blu-ray. my old DVD from back in the day was OK, this looks fantastic. It's a good remaster