House of Traps
Encyclopedia
House of Traps is a 1982 Shaw Brothers film directed by Chang Cheh
, starring the Venom Mob
.
-dubbed soundtrack. The DVD is from the Shaw Brothers Collection series, which is distributed under the Celestial Pictures banner of Image Entertainment.
Despite the DVD release, the film falls under WTO regulations for fair-use and free distribution. Celestial's release is approximately 20 minutes shorter than the VHS and VCD versions, as many of the most damaged frames were cut entirely. The Celestial version of the film, under Chinese law, is materially different enough to be classified as a new work and is copyrighted as such. Only a handful of VHS originals are known to exist, and the only known original form reel version of the film is owned by Jackson Wu of Osaka
, Japan
. In an article regarding the film in Film Asia magazine, November, 2005, it was implied that he would not sell the film, as it is damaged to the point that it could not be restored in full.
Chang Cheh
Chang Cheh was Shaw Brothers Studio's best known and most prolific film director, with such films as the Five Venoms, the Brave Archer , the The One-Armed Swordsman, and other classics of wuxia and kung fu film.-Career:Referred to as "The Godfather of Hong Kong cinema", Chang Cheh directed over 100...
, starring the Venom Mob
Venom Mob
The Venom Mob is a group of actors from the Shaw Brothers Studio, popular creators of martial arts films in the 1970s and 1980s. Most were friends since childhood and attended the Peking Opera School in Taiwan before meeting director Chang Cheh and moving on to the Shaw Brothers studio in Hong...
.
Plot
When a corrupt prince arranges for the theft of a highly valuable jade antique the emperor dispatches his best men to retrieve it. The only problem is that the prince has hidden the antique in the infamous 'house of traps' from which no man has ever made it out alive. Royal investigator Sun Chien and his men mount a daring raid on the prince's birthday which results in the usual mayhem expected from a Venom's film.Cast
- Kuo Chui
- Lu Feng
- Chiang Sheng
- Cheng Tien-Chi
- Chu Ko
- Wang Li
- Chen Hsiao Hao
- Sun Chien
- Lung Tung Sheng
- Chin Siu-ho
Production notes
House of Traps was previously considered one of the rarest Venom films, as it was only available on poor VHS and VCD formats. However, House of Traps was remastered and released on DVD September 9, 2008 by Image Entertainment http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BEK888. The DVD includes the original Cantonese language soundtrack with subtitles, as well as an EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-dubbed soundtrack. The DVD is from the Shaw Brothers Collection series, which is distributed under the Celestial Pictures banner of Image Entertainment.
Despite the DVD release, the film falls under WTO regulations for fair-use and free distribution. Celestial's release is approximately 20 minutes shorter than the VHS and VCD versions, as many of the most damaged frames were cut entirely. The Celestial version of the film, under Chinese law, is materially different enough to be classified as a new work and is copyrighted as such. Only a handful of VHS originals are known to exist, and the only known original form reel version of the film is owned by Jackson Wu of Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. In an article regarding the film in Film Asia magazine, November, 2005, it was implied that he would not sell the film, as it is damaged to the point that it could not be restored in full.