Shaw Brothers Books

There are some books out there and I haven't found too many that are even remotely useful...unless you are one of the Woo Worshipers
The glaring exception is:

The Essential Guide to Hong Kong Movies
Rick Baker, Toby Russel - Eastern Heroes Publications - ISBN 1-899252-00-2
One of the best. Oh yeah, it has its flaws: missing movies, missing people but it has the best arrangement and the personalities directory in the back was worth the price of the book alone. And you can tell its written by people who like these films as much as you do.
Unfortunately this is out of print, although I have recently heard a rumor it was on its way back into print. Maybe if enough people nag Amazon.com they will carry it. No question, this is the best book of the list!

Hollywood East: Hong Kong Movies and the People Who Made Them
by Stefan Hammond, Michelle Yeoh - McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books - SBN: 0809225816
Stefan Rocks...
Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment
by David Bordwell - Harvard Univ Press - ISBN: 0674002148
I hear I'm mentioned in here... I don't have it yet so I can't say but the reviews seem good.
Great Martial Arts Movies : From Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan and More
Rick Meyers - Citadel Press - ISBN: 0806520264
From Bruce Lee to the Ninjas: Martial Arts Movies
Richard Meyers, Amy Harib, Bill and Karen Palmer - Citidel Press - ISBN 0-8065-1009-9
Decent overviews but... A lot of pages on Bruce Lee and Japanese Samuri stuff. Goodly amount of pictures and info but I found lots of mistakes and the literary emphasis is on cinematic development rather than who is in what and when.
Currently this book is out of print but to check if they have gotten it in stock, Click on the Amazon Logo.
Asian Cult Cinema
Thomas Weisser - Bolevard Books - ISBN 1-57297-228-9
What a piece of junk. It had excellent potential and I was excited to get it. Then I started reading...Picture captions are wrong, plot synopsis are wrong, people are listed in the wrong films...I'm going page by page for corrections and I'm not half done the book yet...The only saving grace is that the old school stuff in the back is not too terribly wrong... Avoid this at all costs!
Hong Kong Action Cinema
Bey Logan - The OverlookPress -ISBN 0-87951-663-1
Nice overview. Great section on Liu Chia Liang! Not in depth and not meant to be. I like it alot.
To Order it from Amazon, Click on the cover
Sex and Zen and a Bullet in the Head
Stefan Hammond & Mike Wilkins - Simon & Schuster - ISBN 0-684-80341-0
Not a bad book as such. This book is good to pick out rental stuff to watch. I don't always agree with them but hey at least their technical info is right! They have a Shaw section but it covers the usual stuff.
To Order it from Amazon, Click on the cover
Oriental Cinema Magazine
Damon Foster - Draculina Publishing
An intermittent and irregular publication. He finds some amazing stuff. You may not agree with him, but there's lots of info in these if you can find them. If you want to hear more about him, go to Damon Foster Interview
They actually have a website!!!Info on OC#14!
Asian Trash Cinema Magazine
Craig Ledbetter and Tom Weisser - ?
I don't know if they are still doing it in this form. I like this better than the book, although I still see lots of mistakes.
Eastern Heroes Magazine
Rick Baker, Toby Russel - Eastern Heroes Publications
Do yourself a favor and find as many of these as you can. They are a drag to get outside the UK but the effort is worth it. The "Best of Eastern Heroes" ISBN 1-89-925201-0 is excellent!

If you want to look for more Martial Arts Movie Books at Amazon.com

Author: Black Tauna blktauna @ shawstudios . com
Last Updated: 2-17 2003