Jackie Chan gets goes Kubrick on his second directorial effort THE YOUNG MASTER, on Blu-ray from 88 Films.

Every year, the Ching Fung and Wai Yee schools of martial arts participate in the Golden Dragon festival, demonstrating their abilities and competing for a prize. This year, Ching Fung needs it more than ever because they are in danger of bankruptcy, but disaster strikes when senior brother Ah Chung (Wei Pai, FIVE DEADLY VENOMS) falls and twists his ankle. Master Tien (Tien Feng, FIST OF FURY) decides that Ah Lung (Chan) should take his place, and he impresses at the start despite the doubts of his classmates who shun him for being an orphan (despite holding Chung in high regard even though he and Lung were both rescued from the streets together); however, Lung is thrown off when he discovers that Chung has faked his injury and is competing in disguise for the Wai Yee school to win the competition with boastful Brother Cannon Biu (Mei-Sheng Fan, father of RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY's Siu-Wong Fan) taking credit for the win. Master Tien is embarrassed and angered by the loss, more so because of the ribbing from the Wai Yee school's "uncle" Ah Suk (Fung Fung, WE'RE GOING TO EAT YOU) and the revelation that Tien's own pampered students really do not know how to fight. Reluctant to betray his brother Chung, Lung takes the brunt of the master's punishments and the scorn of his colleagues until Chung defiantly reveals the truth before strikng off on his own. Chung thinks he can get a teaching position at the Wai Yee school but Ah Suk reveals that it was just a ploy to get him to compete for them; however, he offers him an irresistible and lucrative alternative: busting out the school's Master Gold (Whong In Sik, THE WAY OF THE DRAGON) from prison. After shaming Master Tien for taking out his frustrations with Chung on the other pupils, Lung resolves to go and retrieve his brother to help restore the school's honor. Unfortunately, a case of mistaken identity has police chief Sang Kung (Shih Kien, ENTER THE DRAGON) and his troublemaking son Fourth Brother (Biao Yuen, MY LUCKY STARS) trying to arrest Lung while he is attempting to clear Chung's name after Master Gold and his cohorts have set him up to be captured and blamed for a bank robbery.

Although erroneously cited as Chan's directorial debut – his first directorial effort was actually THE FEARLESS HYENA – THE YOUNG MASTER was the first film as director in which Chan had real control, relatively free of the constraints of previous producer Lo Wei (who nevertheless caused trouble for the production) with the comparatively lavish resources of Golden Harvest at his fingers. With stories of anywhere from three hundred to five hundred takes of specific shots to obtain perfection, it is no surprise that Chan's initial rough cut of the film was rumored to have run three hours long. The film does drag like some of the Lo Wei pics – not helped by the use of Gustav Holst's classical "The Planets" movements for scoring in place of an original or library score – and Chan has not quite balanced the comic and action timing he would bring to films like POLICE STORY just a couple years later; however, the action set pieces are mostly entertaining in their demonstrations of the acrobatic abilities of the performers, and the fifteen-minute final fight between Lung and Master Gold is both overlong and exciting because of the formidable opponent, some savage-looking body blows, and the use of both wires and talcum powder to make the impact of the blows show up better on film. In spite of its weaknesses, the film was a huge success for Chan and Golden Harvest. His follow-up film DRAGON LORD (also on Blu-ray from 88 Films) was initially intended to be direct sequel with the original title YOUNGER MASTER IN LOVE before much rewriting. Chan contributed an English-language theme song to the end credits for the export versions.

THE YOUNG MASTER exists in at least four release versions. Firstly, there was an earlier cut that appeared in Taiwan theaters and tapes that ran 104 minutes which ran two minutes shorter than the subsequent Hong Kong domestic cut (106 minutes) but also feature some different scene and shots while shortening some of the fights. When the film was being prepared for export, American editor Frank J. Uriostie (who later won an Academy Award for Paul Verhoeven's BASIC INSTINCT) was brought in and created a 99 minute English-dubbed version that premiered in Japan with Japanese sidetitles and an original synthesizer score by Ryudo Uzaki and Akira Inoue which netted a soundtrack LP. This version with the replacement score was further shortened to ninety minutes for the English export version. Unreleased in the U.S. theatrically – apart from possible Chinatown screenings – THE YOUNG MASTER first turned up on television in 1986 (thanks to Chris Poggiali for the info) various unauthorized VHS labels.
In the U.K., the longer Japanese version was released theatrically by Sino Cine followed by VHS releases of the export version.

The export version turned up on DVD in the U.S. from Platinum Disc Corporation before Fortune Star remastered the Hong Kong version for a domestic, English-friendly release from their own label and licensing to Fox in the US for a barebones edition and in the U.K. from Hong Kong Legends with a Bey Logan commentary and interviews. The film debuted on Blu-ray in Hong Kong in an upscale of the Fortune Star SD master which was presumably also what South Korea and Germany got for their editions. Japan also had to use the upscaled master for their Blu-ray which also featured a genuine 1080p transfer of the Japanese version from a 35mm print (with the original English dub and a later Japanese dub even though Japanese subtitles were also burned into the print), and an SD transfer of the Taiwan cut.

88 Films has been able to make use of a new 2K restoration of the original camera negative for the Hong Kong version (106:18) while the Japanese version (99:47) was derived from 40th anniversary restoration commissioned by Golden Harvest and the international export version (90:58) presumably created using the longer Japanese version as a base (both have the same English opening and closing credits while the element is free of the burned-in sidetitles of the Japanese release prints). The new transfers are undoubtedly the best the films have looked, with the Hong Kong version having slightly more contrast and warmth than the export versions. They appear to be free of any archival damage or any faults of the original cinematography – unlike some of the Lo Wei Chan films – and the vibrant colors and predominance of bright exterior locations (in contrast to the setbound Shaw Brothers films or the "any old location backdrop will do" Wei films) gives the viewer a lot to drink in on these HD restorations.

The Hong Kong cut features four audio options: the original Cantonese dub, a home video mix with some music variations, and a hybrid of the Cantonese dub and the Japanese score – all in LPCM 2.0 mono – as well as an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix of a newer dub that appeared on the Fortune Star SD remaster. The original Cantonese track or the hybrid track are recommended while the English dub is just bland in performance and sound design. English subtitle tracks are included for each Cantonese track. The Japanese and export cuts include the original export English dub in LPCM 2.0 mono with the Chan theme song. Fans of the classic dubs will enjoy them, but there are some downright terrible performances. Both cuts include full SDH English subtitles.
The Hong Kong cut is accompanied by an audio commentary by HK cinema expert Brandon 'OldPangYau' Bentley who provides background on Chan moving from Wei to Golden Harvest, ripping up his contract after discovering that it had been altered, and Wei's attempts to sabotage and intimidate Chan during the production of THE YOUNG MASTER before a deal was brokered out by fellow actor Jimmy Wang Yu (ISLAND OF FIRE), agreeing to minimal participation in FEARLESS HYENA 2 which was otherwise patched together with footage from the first film. He notes that Chan hated the workprint cut of the film and demanded the footage be sent stateside where he was shooting BATTLE CREEK BRAWL, and discusses the differences between the various cuts of the film including scenes specific to the export versions and the lengths of the fight scenes in different cuts. He also suggests that Lung's odd loyalty to his despicable "brother" may have an autobiographical analog in Chan's Peking Opera days where close bonds were encouraged (and may have included covering up for the mischief of a senior brother). Bentley's flip delivery might seem obnoxious at times, but a view of the export version shows just how dead-on he is with his vocal impressions of the Wei Pei's English dubbing, and the track is very informative. The export version is accompanied by an audio commentary by HK cinema aficionados & game producers Aud Sorlie and Chris Ling. There is some overlap with the production anecdotes but Ling provides some background on the cultural context of the film – including the dragon festival and the odd prize of lettuce – the Japanese release history of the film, and the influence of Chan's films on video games (and vice versa in later years).

Extras on disc one include an archival interview with Chan (7:42) in which discusses the ways he was trying to get away from the genre trends, an emphasis on full contact in the fight scenes, more of a street-fighting style over traditional choreography, and the use of wirework and dust in the body blows. In "The Master" (28:02), Whang In Sik recalls training various Hong Kong-bound martial artists – among them Angela Mao – in Korea before being invited by Golden Harvest to Hong Kong where he did public martial arts demonstrations and a number of small roles in Golden Harvest productions before returning to Korea before being invited back again by Chan who cast him in a larger role in THE YOUNG MASTER. In "Rick Baker on THE YOUNG MASTER" (10:05), the Eastern Heroes magazine editor contrasts Lo Wei's style of Jackie Chan vehicles with the freedom the actor/director had on THE YOUNG MASTER whilst still being somewhat tied to the conventions of the genre he was trying to innovate.

Most interesting is "The Art Of The Cut: Editing of THE YOUNG MASTER" (20:26) in which editor Radek Sienksi discusses the differences between the cuts of the film, noting the restoration of material from the fight scenes into the Hong Kong cut after the rough cut that Taiwan got and then the subsequent cutting down of the fight scenes by Urioste for export. He notes that while the three hour cut will probably not resurface – as much due to archiving as Chan's possible indifference about the end result after so much editing compromises – that unused bits have turned up in different places like the film's trailers from which he has reinstated shots into the fight scenes to create "Extended Fight Scenes" (6:14) – which were thankfully not reinstated into the film as it would not have been a legitimate version – while "The Cut Master" (13:24) is a collection of rare deleted, extended, and alternate footage from the Taiwanese cut.

The "NG (No Good) Shots" compilation (9:49) is not just an outtakes reel but a promotional piece use in Japan (Japan would also create these for other Chan films including the LUCKY STARS trilogy, the Eureka Blu-rays of which include them). The "Alternate Export Dub Audio Cues" (1:03) are alternate line readings that differ from the classic dub which were discovered as bridging dialogue between music cues on the Japanese LP soundtrack. The first disc also includes a trailer gallery featuring the Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3:26), and extended Hong Kong trailer (3:56), the Japanese theatrical trailer (2:28), an English export trailer (2:28), and the U.S. home video trailer (1:38), as well as bonus trailers for DRAGON LORD, NEW FIST OF FURY, THE FEARLESS HYENA, SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN, SPIRITUAL KUNG FU, and THE MASTER.