{"id":51512,"date":"2026-01-28T00:39:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=51512"},"modified":"2026-01-28T00:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:39:57","slug":"king-of-beggars-1992","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/28\/king-of-beggars-1992\/","title":{"rendered":"King of Beggars [1992] [Eureka! LE Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Stephen Chow is Beggar So, a talented but lazy nobleman\u2019s son who loses everything and has to rebuild himself in Gordon Chan\u2019s 1992 martial arts dramedy King of Beggars, now on Blu-Ray from Eureka!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stephen Chow is best known to American audiences, and to me, as the star of the cross-cultural comedy-martial arts hits of Kung-Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. That pair actually comes at the tail end of an incredibly busy decade, and some for the star, after dozens of hits across the 90s, he transitioned into behind-the-camera producing and directing. I\u2019ve seen a handful of those ’90s hits, but King of Beggars was a new one for me, leaping back to the early days of burgeoning stardom in 1992. From director Gordon Chan, best known to American audiences for the Jackie Chan-led Medalion of 2003 and Jet Li\u2019s Fist of Legend, King of Beggar finds Chow in a new telling of legendary Chinese folk Hero Beggar So Chan. It\u2019s a wild and fun film, written by Chan with John Chan, filled with a sense of scale across great action sequences, incredible feats, and solid character work; all with great cinematography to build it visually.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The special features often call this Chow\u2019s \u201cdramatic\u201d film, which I can see. But even with the higher level of personal drama of the riches to rags to a comfort in between, it never becomes unfunny; just perhaps more of a character arc. So Chan, as played by Chow, is a spoiled son of a regional leader, talented but lazy. In order to win the hand of a woman he meets, he agrees to enter a tournament for the title of Kung-Fu Scholar. Without getting in the mire of the plot, and there is a lot of it, he loses his wealth and has to work his way into something else, joining up with the Beggar clan and cutting off an attempt to kill the Emperor. King of Beggars shifts the focus every little while, keeping fresh in plotting and allowing So Chan\u2019s character to grow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Within this are a variety of awesomely choreographed fight scenes, both large and small. Chow\u2019s specific sort of comic martial arts and his wonderful ability to use his body in very interesting ways. The sleeping fighting, the twisting and turning, and how to use various weapons, and the environment. Each sequence is different and funny, putting a big smile on my face. The film is as big as my smile: large characters, large moments, hilarious back-and-forth banter, and an all-around good time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once Upon a Time in China\u2019s David Chung\u2019s cinematography is vivid and rich, incredibly colorful. He provides an epic feel; there\u2019s a lot of production design to lean into across the journey (filmed all over China). This was Chan\u2019s first big-budget picture, and Chung leaned into it to make it grand. Per Chan, he wanted to go wider-screen and give it an even bigger feel, but Chan kept it in check. Still looks grand as it is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

King of Beggars, from Gordon Chan, is a highly enjoyable comic (with some drama) martial arts film. It\u2019s big, brash, fun, and funny. Chow\u2019s star quality is highly evident and brings a spark to the film with his fighting style.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Package<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eureka releases King of Beggars\u2019 first non-Asian Blu-Ray on a single Blu-Ray disc in a clear case. It has a reversible sleeve, with new art by Sam Gibney on one side and the original poster on the other. It has a booklet in the case. It has an O-ring slipcover with the new art on the front. The O-sleeve and booklet are limited to 2000 units.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n

As noted, the new 2k restoration looks fantastic. The sort of extra detail and presentation that shows wig lines and the like! Not a dig, as I can take seeing production work to get the wonderful detail and color overall. Audio is original stereo Cantonese and an English dub. It features newly translated English subtitles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Features<\/strong><\/p>\n

Commentary by Frank Djeng (in English)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another Hong Kong release, another Frank Djeng commentary! Sad not ot have his frequent partner F.J. DeSanto (he was also solo on Eureka\u2019s The Island). The guy gives great commentary, fully detailing the history of the folk hero in life and on film, Stephen Chow\u2019s filmography and history, and the large making of the film. A great track.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kung Fu Scholar (Cantonese with English Subtitles)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An interview with director Gordon Chan. He talks about his long career in Hong Kong film, working with Stephen Chow (and why, despite both of their long careers after, this was the last time they paired after three films), and the challenges and triumphs of making a larger budget and more scope than he had before. (19m)<\/span><\/p>\n

So Chan & Stephen Chow<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A highly entertaining video essay about, as the title suggests, the character and his actor.\u00a0 It builds with and on Djeng\u2019s commentary. Makes me want to seek out more of Chow\u2019s films.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trailer<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Booklet<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 16-page booklet contains credits and an essay on the film and director Gordon Chan by Andy Willis. It provides more context to his career, with quotes from him and others, and the real-life history around it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gordon Chang\u2019s King of Beggars is a large, fun, and highly entertaining example of Stephen Chow\u2019s comic martial arts style via a retelling of folk hero Beggar So\u2019s story. With wonderful cinematography and a color palette, it\u2019s a great-looking disc as well, with several solid extras. King of Beggars is released from Eureka! Video on January 27, 2026.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Chow is Beggar So, a talented but lazy nobleman\u2019s son who loses everything and has to rebuild himself in Gordon Chan\u2019s 1992 martial arts dramedy King of Beggars, now on Blu-Ray from Eureka!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[58,219,302,631],"class_list":["post-51512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-comedy","tag-drama","tag-martial-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51516,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51512\/revisions\/51516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}