Jackie Chan is in love and it hurts in DRAGON LORD, on Blu-ray from 88 Films.

The son of wealthy village leader (Tien Feng, SEX AND ZEN), Lung (Chan) neglects his martial arts training and his studies to fool around with "Cowboy" Chin (Jackie Chan stunt team member Mars, PROJECT A), the son of his father's best friend Squire Wong (Paul Chang, POLICE STORY). They are pretty good at carrying on mischief under their parents' noses until they get in a fight over the affections of Alice (Shirley Yim). Force to make up by their fathers, Lung and Chin go on a pheasant hunt only to run into Tiger (Michael Wai-Man Chan, THE INVINCIBLE KILLER) who is on the run from a gang lead by The Boss (Ing-Sik Whang, THE WAY OF THE DRAGON). Tiger is part of a consortium that has stolen a cache of Chinese antiquities from the local temple but wanted to expose his co-conspirators when they decided to sell the goods to a foreign buyer. Although Lung has stumbled upon the group's activities, he does not want to get involved until he and Chin must save Tiger from a public attack by the gang and bring the danger home when they shelter him at Squire Wong's home, leading The Boss to believe Chin's father is Tiger's partner in betrayal.

Jackie Chan's third directorial effort is more of the same if you've seen THE FEARLESS HYENA or THE YOUNG MASTER – DRAGON LORD is titled THE YOUNG MASTER IN LOVE in some territories – with Chan as a good-natured wastrel who does not take his training seriously until love ones are threatened. Like THE FEARELESS HYENA, the bulk of the film's running time is spent on the a couple action setpieces – here two sporting competitions – spiked with comedy, both romantic and exploiting the disconnect between traditional and "Westernized" Chinese (with Chin wearing jeans and Lung ignorant of the workings of a musket and a later a cannon). It is a full hour until Lung accidentally stumbles upon the gang's hideout while following a stray kite, and another fifteen minutes before the climax. The final confrontation between Lung and Chin against The Boss is worth the wait, however, since the latter is the superior fighter and the injuries Whang deals Chan look quite painful as they are captured in uninterrupted takes. The long take choreography is such that we see how it is a matter of luck and exhaustion that allows Lung to get the upper hand, and even then it is the outcome is still uncertain. DRAGON LORD was the first of Chan's films to feature outtakes during the end credits, but his next feature PROJECT A would represent a quantum leap in ambition, thrills, and laughs.

DRAGON LORD was released theatrically in U.K. but was not released there on tape until 1986 while the film did not appear stateside until Tai Seng's 2001 subtitled DVD followed by Dimension's 2004 dubbed DVD which presented a cut somewhere between the export version and the Hong Kong cut. Hong Kong Legends and Cine Asia put out a good-for-the-time special edition DVD in the U.K., and the SD master unfortunately served as the source for the upscaled Hong Kong Blu-ray. 88 Films' 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray is derived from a new 2K restoration, featuring both the Hong Kong cut (96:04) and a "work-in-progress" cut (103:08) that played in some territories like Taiwan before the Hong Kong domestic release (although the running time difference is only seven minutes, the longer cut actually includes fifteen minutes of different footage). The extensions are mainly character bits including Lung and his father, Lung and Chin, Chin and his father, as well as the subplot involving a matchmaker for Lung, and some additional scenes between Tiger and The Boss. The HD image is crisper than the DVD, looking only paler compared to the boosted colors and contrast of the SD masters. Audio options for the Hong Kong cut include the original Cantonese mix in DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono as well as an alternate home video track also in DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono (I'm note sure what the differences is, but he dialogue seems a bit more recessed in the mix compared to the theatrical dub where the dialogue is louder than the music and effects) as well as the original English export dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 and Fortune Star's 2003 dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The export version ran five minutes shorter than the Hong Kong cut so the export track reverts to Cantonese for certain scenes rather than the 2003 dub where the voice casting was different. The longer cut features the theatrical mix in DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. Both versions include two English subtitle tracks, one that translates all of the dialogue, and another that simplifies the dialogue during the "shuttlecock" match set-piece to allow one to focus on the action (a thoughtful touch).