Master with Cracked Fingers – FilmArt (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1979
Director: Chu Mu
Writer: Sun Liu
Cast: Jackie Chan, Chow Bin, Tien Feng, Hon Kwok Choi Pickpocket, Yuen Biao, Yuen Siu Tien, Dean Shek, Kwan Ying Moon

Release Date: December 16th, 2022
Approximate Running Time: 85 Minutes 13 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: FSK 16 (Germany)
Sound: LPCM Mono Mandarin, LPCM Mono German
Subtitles: English, German
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: €15.99 (Germany)

"Jackie's father and uncle are members of the Master of the Golden Mask's organization. When they refuse to kill a righteous citizen for their master, he wants to punish them both. Jackie's father is killed, but Jackie's uncle escapes and takes care of the still young Jackie. However, he forbids him from ever learning the martial arts and fighting himself. When troubles arise in the village with a gang of gangsters, Jackie can no longer keep the promise he made to his uncle and looks for a master to teach him kung fu. As luck would have it, he quickly found his father's killer. A final duel is inevitable..." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.5/5

Master with Cracked Fingers comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 34.3 GB

Feature: 17.7 GB (Hong Kong Theatrical Version), 14.1 GB (German Theatrical Version)

Though no information is provided about the source used for this transfer, the source used is clean and free of any debris. Colors and flesh tones look correct, the image looks crisp, black levels fare well, and compression is very good. This release, like all other releases for this film, has digital noise reduction.

Audio: 3.75/5 (LPCM Mono Mandarin)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Mandarin and a LPCM mono mix in German. For this review, I only listened to the Mandarin-language track. This track is in very good shape; dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, things sound robust when they should, though some of the sound effects have a post-sync dub feel to them. Included are removable English and German subtitles. It should be noted that the English subtitles match up with the Mandarin track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include reversible cover art, a slideshow (lobby cards/posters/home video art), a deleted scene (3 minutes 55 seconds, LPCM mono German, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 37 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), and German theatrical version of Master with Cracked Fingers (72 minutes 10 seconds, 2.35:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono German, no subtitles).

Summary:

Using footage from another film as a starting point for another film is not a good foundation to build from. Case in point: Master with Cracked Fingers, a film that uses footage from a 1973 film titled Little Tiger of Canton (filmed in 1971). And though some of the footage newly shot for Master with Cracked Fingers blends in well, There are many moments that stick out like sore thumbs. Notably, there are moments where an obvious double for Jackie Chan appears on screen.

The narrative revolves around Lung, a young man who goes against his uncle's wishes and learns martial arts from an elderly beggar. Though Lung tries his best not to show off his fighting skills, he constantly finds himself in fights. Things come to a head when some men burn down Lung’s home, killing his uncle, and from there he vows to avenge his uncle's death.

Master with Cracked Fingers was clearly made to cash in on Jackie Chan’s rising fame in the late 1970s because of films like Drunken Master and Snake in an Eagle’s Shadow. And though he would achieve even greater successes by the mid-1980s, Master with Cracked Fingers is not going to be considered one of his better films. With most of his onscreen time being limited outside of a few fight sequences.

The rest of the cast is best described as serviceable. That said, there are a few notable cast members, like Yuen Siu Tien (Drunken Master) in the role of a beggar and Dean Shek (Mad Mission) in the role of a landlord who extorts protection money from his tenants. These two characters provide most of the comic relief.

Music from other sources makes its way into Master with Cracked Fingers; one scene uses Popeye the Sailor Man's song, and Goblin’s music for Dawn of the Dead appears in multiple scenes. When it comes to the fight scenes, the only one that stands out is a scene where an outnumbered Lung tries to rescue his friend, who is tied up to a boat's mast. Though Jackie Chan has a few fight scenes, most of them are underwhelming. Ultimately, Master with Cracked Fingers would have been forgotten like so many martial arts films from the 1970s if it were not for Jackie Chan’s appearance.

Master with Cracked Fingers gets a strong audio/video presentation from FilmArt.

Written by Michael Den Boer