After six “kung fu-less” months at the New Beverly Cinema, Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow and Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow appeared on their April calendar. Even though I’ve already seen Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow at the New Beverly and even though Monkey’s Shadow isn’t the greatest movie ever, I naturally got very excited. I really missed going to the New Beverly and everything that goes along with it: the traffic, the other audience members, the trailers, the film bumpers, and everything else the makes this theater so special.
We drove to the New Beverly, got some food, and got in line. It was surprising that the line was so long. Usually we’re one of the first 10 or 20 people there, but this time, there were already about 40 or 50 people already waiting. Also, before they opened the box office, one of the employees mentioned that the films will be screened using one projector instead of two unless they can get the other projector fixed before the end of the night. Film reels back them could only hold about 20 minutes, so to play the film without stopping, they would play the first reel on one projector and the second reel on the other projector. But with only one projector, they would have to take a couple minutes to change reels instead of having the next reel already waiting on the other projector.
The New Beverly would usually screen a cartoon or a film serial before the trailers would start. This time, they were screening a different episode of The Crimson Ghost before each double feature during April. From what I’ve been told, The Crimson Ghost is an extremely rare film series to see in 35mm. You know those disclaimers that say “No talking during the movie”? Well, we saw one from the 1940’s before the episode started. The disclaimer said, “If you see anyone being disruptive during the film, report him. He’s working for Hitler.” Of course, this got a huge laugh, but I almost have a feeling that they were being serious.
Episode 7 of The Crimson Ghost entitled “Electrocution” screened before Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow and it was fun to watch. It was really campy and fun to see. The audience really seemed to like the costume which was both obviously fake and still kinda creepy. After that, we got a Chuck Norris trailer reel featuring The Delta Force, Lone Wolf McQuade, A Force of One, and An Eye For an Eye.
We drove to the New Beverly, got some food, and got in line. It was surprising that the line was so long. Usually we’re one of the first 10 or 20 people there, but this time, there were already about 40 or 50 people already waiting. Also, before they opened the box office, one of the employees mentioned that the films will be screened using one projector instead of two unless they can get the other projector fixed before the end of the night. Film reels back them could only hold about 20 minutes, so to play the film without stopping, they would play the first reel on one projector and the second reel on the other projector. But with only one projector, they would have to take a couple minutes to change reels instead of having the next reel already waiting on the other projector.
The New Beverly would usually screen a cartoon or a film serial before the trailers would start. This time, they were screening a different episode of The Crimson Ghost before each double feature during April. From what I’ve been told, The Crimson Ghost is an extremely rare film series to see in 35mm. You know those disclaimers that say “No talking during the movie”? Well, we saw one from the 1940’s before the episode started. The disclaimer said, “If you see anyone being disruptive during the film, report him. He’s working for Hitler.” Of course, this got a huge laugh, but I almost have a feeling that they were being serious.
Episode 7 of The Crimson Ghost entitled “Electrocution” screened before Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow and it was fun to watch. It was really campy and fun to see. The audience really seemed to like the costume which was both obviously fake and still kinda creepy. After that, we got a Chuck Norris trailer reel featuring The Delta Force, Lone Wolf McQuade, A Force of One, and An Eye For an Eye.
The print for Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow was an alternate English version entitled Snake Fist vs. The Dragon which was noticeably shortened. The amazing opening was truncated and there were occasionally short bits of the film missing, but all of the most important scenes were intact. The print was faded a bit, but the quality was still sharp and seeing the film in widescreen was very cool. Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow is pretty great. It’s mostly generic, but there are a few fight scenes and training scenes that show Wilson Tong’s eye for gimmicky kung fu choreography. I wouldn’t really say that it’s one of the better Jackie Chan rip-offs, but it’s still enjoyable and there were some funny bits of unintentional comedy that the audience clearly enjoyed. Going to see these movies reminded me how I love reacting to a movie with the “New Beverly audience.”
Also, it was clear that they had gotten the second projector fixed since we saw the entire movie uninterrupted. After Monkey’s Shadow, there was a short intermission followed by a fun Jackie Chan trailer reel (plus a trailer for True Romance). They showed Jackie Chan’s Visa commercial that also promoted the Beijing Olympics followed by American trailers for Rush Hour, Drunken Master 2 (The Legend of the Drunken Master), Twin Dragons, and True Romance.
Also, it was clear that they had gotten the second projector fixed since we saw the entire movie uninterrupted. After Monkey’s Shadow, there was a short intermission followed by a fun Jackie Chan trailer reel (plus a trailer for True Romance). They showed Jackie Chan’s Visa commercial that also promoted the Beijing Olympics followed by American trailers for Rush Hour, Drunken Master 2 (The Legend of the Drunken Master), Twin Dragons, and True Romance.
The print that was shown for Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow is the same version that I saw back in August 2014. It was an alternate English version of the film (retitled The Eagle’s Shadow; distributed by Cinematic Releasing Corp) that hasn’t been released on DVD or Blu-ray. It has an opening narration and a different music score than the original HK version. The print had very nice colors and didn’t have a lot of damage. This is a very enjoyable version of the film. I really like the international music score and some of the English dialogue is hilarious. The audience laughed really hard when Roy Horan got slapped in the face at the beginning and when Simon Yuen says “What a b***h. I hope she drops dead.” The finale in which Jackie uses his Cat’s Claw technique also got a huge laugh. Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow has always been one of my favorite kung fu movies and it was great seeing it again at the New Beverly.
I had an amazing time watching these movies on the big screen. I love going to the New Beverly to watch these kind of films and the crowd was almost packed. It was probably one of the most popular screenings of the month. I was hoping that the great turnout of this screening would encourage the programmers to include more Hong Kong movies in the coming months. But I was wrong. Next month doesn’t have any. Oh well. I hope to go to the New Beverly again and hopefully my next visit won’t be in six months.
Images from eMoviePoster and Listal
I had an amazing time watching these movies on the big screen. I love going to the New Beverly to watch these kind of films and the crowd was almost packed. It was probably one of the most popular screenings of the month. I was hoping that the great turnout of this screening would encourage the programmers to include more Hong Kong movies in the coming months. But I was wrong. Next month doesn’t have any. Oh well. I hope to go to the New Beverly again and hopefully my next visit won’t be in six months.
Images from eMoviePoster and Listal